9mm carbine/pistol load favorites please

[Hogtamer]

I hang out mostly in the shotgun forum, been loading shotshells since '75. I'm about to begin loading 9mm and use Vs CASTING MACHINES 122 hi-tec coated bullets initially. From what I read these seem like a good choice. I like the big meplat and there seems to be ample choices using shotgun powders I have on hand for medium to high power loads. (Longshot, HS-6, 800x, Green Dot) The first question is how much pressure/velocity increases I can expect for data using 4" pistol barrels in a 16" carbine and are they safely interchangeable from one gun to another? The second question is would you gents share your experience and pet loads in rhis regard? Not really interested in light loads as my interest is in stopping potential bad guys or poking holes in a pig or two at 50 yds or less. Thanks for your help in this regard!
221987

[nagantguy]

http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/9luger.html

This is a great resource; I’m also enjoying my new 9mm carbine, haven’t had a 9mm in years and haven’t loaded much for this one yet, been finding to many good deals of factory 9mm to spend the time
Casting and loading for another caliber right now... I think you will enjoy this; mine is quickly becoming my favorite plinking rifle.

[shortlegs]

I read somewhere that IMI loaded for carbines with AA7 , and velocity was around 1400 fps with 120/125 gr bullets. My highpoint carbine loves this combo.

[tazman]

I hang out mostly in the shotgun forum, been loading shotshells since '75. I'm about to begin loading 9mm and use Vs CASTING MACHINES 122 hi-tec coated bullets initially. From what I read these seem like a good choice. I like the big meplat and there seems to be ample choices using shotgun powders I have on hand for medium to high power loads. (Longshot, HS-6, 800x, Green Dot) The first question is how much pressure/velocity increases I can expect for data using 4" pistol barrels in a 16" carbine and are they safely interchangeable from one gun to another? The second question is would you gents share your experience and pet loads in rhis regard? Not really interested in light loads as my interest is in stopping potential bad guys or poking holes in a pig or two at 50 yds or less. Thanks for your help in this regard!
221987

For your first question, there is no pressure increase in a 9mm cartridge due to being fired in a carbine as opposed to a handgun. The loads are the same. The only difference you will have is a velocity change due to the difference in barrel length. nagantguy suggested looking at the ballistics by the inch website. That will give you an approximation of what to expect in that regard.
As far as pet loads, this depends on what your particular weapon likes. Most people use the same loads in a carbine that they will use in a handgun. There is some thought that slower powders MAY give more of an increase in velocity with the longer barrel, but so much depends on how a particular gun handles different loads that it is a guessing game.
The 9mm carbine I had liked just about anything. All jacketed ammo worked fine. With cast, it preferred heavier boolits. I have no idea why since my handguns work fine with everything.

[dougader]

IMI may use AA7 now, but I have some of their carbine ammo from the 1990's and it is not AA7 powder.

[marek313]

For 9mm I use 4.2gr of HP38/W231 or 4gr of Tite Group. These are not very hot loads though. I've shot 4.4gr of HP38 but I didnt see any gains from that and since 9mm is my plinking round I would rather get more rounds per lb of powder. There are so many fast powders that would work for 9mm its hard to list them all. I use site below to compare my loads to others.

http://www.castpics.net/project2/CastDatalist.php

[Hogtamer]

Thanks guys, great link Nagantguy.

[gpidaho]

If you have any WSF on hand give it a try. Works very well in both my pistol and carbine. Gp

[GhostHawk]

I have a Hipoint Carbine in 9mm, and a Handi rifle stub barrel also in 9mm.

Both are totally unfussy on bullet size, 125 gr to 158 gr they care less. Same for nose shape.

I load mine with Red Dot. Common is 3 grains as they can also be shot in my Hipoint C9 9mm pistol.
But I have gone as high as 4.5 grains with no issues. And from what I can see no real advantage to burning more powder. Possibly a bit less rainbow. But not a lot of difference.

[doctorxring]

Faster powders, like those usually used in 9mm Luger factory
loadings produce very modest increase in velocity in carbine
length barrels. Maybe 100 fps or so.

I just bought a Ruger PC Carbine and am tinkering with
AA #7 in it right now. It produces stellar accuracy with the
115 Hornady HAP bullet. I'm going to chronograph it
next week sometime. I'll report back.

50 yards, 4 shots


222232

[doctorxring]

I chronographed some loads today in the PC Carbine.
All loads were with AA #7 with the 115 grain Hornady HAP bullet.
The OAL for this loading was 1.100

8.2 grains 1420 fps
8.3 grains 1451 fps
8.4 grains 1483 fps
8.5 grains 1509 fps

9.3 grains 1618 fps

The Speer manual that I have lists a Max load of 9.5 grains
for AA7 with a 115 grain bullet. The 9.3 grain load showed some
flattening of the primer but no cratering. I would consider
it a +P load however. The PC Carbine is rated for +P.

All of the loads showed good accuracy, with some showing
very fine accuracy. Of the load levels listed in this test the finest
accuracy was with the 8.2 and 8.3 grain loads, with accuracy similar to
the 8.7 grain load I shot last time and pictured in the post above.

I would rate AA#7 powder very high for this particular carbine.
Accurate with excellent speed. 1509 fps with a 115 grain
bullet is delivering 581 foot pounds of energy. 1618 fps
is delivering 669 foot pounds. Very efficient considering
case capacity of the 9mm Luger.

AA #7 being a slow powder relative to most powders
that are used for 9mm Luger indeed produced significantly
higher velocities in the 16 inch carbine barrel than the
same load would produce in pistol barrels. Whereas
faster powders show much less increase in velocity in
carbine length barrels.
.

The rifle is holding zero and point of impact between trips.
I take down the rifle each time and keep it in a case.
Overall, I'm very pleased with this rifle. Surprisingly accurate
and a lot of fun to shoot. I am going to load the 8.2 grain
level of AA#7 for my plinking and target shooting.

[doctorxring]

Just another handload tidbit for pistol caliber carbines --

115 grain Hornady HAP bullet
10.5 grains WC820
OAL 1.131
velocity 1480 fps in Ruger PC Carbine 16 in. barrel

Notes -- seated bullet resting on powder charge, not "compressed" but
load is full, as much WC820 as I could get in case to give this OAL.
Operates gun well. No pressure signs at all. Good accuracy.

[TCLouis]

3.2 grains of Red Dot or PROMO is what is in all of my 9mms with a cast HP 127 grainer.
I got those boolits from someone here several years ago and they are fantastic.

[Lloyd Smale]

my generic 9mm load is a 130 grain round flat pc coated with 4.2 grains of pr200 surplus. Im down to my last couple lbs of it though and will have to switch to aa2 soon which is the same powder. It is an accurate load in every 9mm I own both rifle and pistol.

[rsrocket1]

Of the powders you list, they would all be satisfactory. Green Dot being the fastest will max out only at medium 9mm speeds (1100 fps or so with a 4" gun) before you reach max SAAMI spec pressures but it will perform nicely. I've used it in most handgun calibers and it works well. 800-X works great, but be very careful when metering this stuff. I have problems of > +/- 0.3g with my powder drops and while that doesn't matter when dropping 20g in a shotgun load, it is not a good spread when metering handgun loads especially in such a small volume as 9mm. When trickling up 9mm loads with 800-X, I get great performance with this powder.

I have not used HS-6 nor Longshot but there is load data on the Hodgdon site for 124g bullets and a good spread of charge weights for both which means it's pretty tolerant of charge in terms of safety.

My first concern for you is leading. There are more leading problems with 9mm cast than other calibers simply because there is such a wide spread of barrel diameters. The nominal groove diameter of 9mm is 0.355". This means a 0.356" lead bullet will seal the gases and not lead the barrel. Some barrels (especially European guns) have much more generous bores, some as wide a 0.357" to 0.358". This will cause gas cutting and leading of the barrel. Others like my S&W M&P9 have a nice tight 0.355" groove and a 0.356" leade which means fatter bullets will fail to chamber.

Slug your barrel(s) and make sure your bullets are fat enough to seal the bore as it rides the barrel. You could simply shoot the bullets and trust to luck and it may actually work fine. If it doesn't, you can scrub the lead out with a bore mop wrapped with a couple of strands of Chore Boy or bronze wool. Easy to do in a pistol barrel, a little more work in a rifle barrel.

Good luck.

[Hogtamer]

Thanks, good advice I know. I did load some with mid range HS6. Got some fatter PC boolits too, 124 gr.. Shot both from pistol and both feed and fire, Will shoot a lot more to get results I can report back. Thanks again to everyone for the input. Call on me if I can ever walk you through some slug or buckshot loads.