9mm advice needed

[chrismetallica1]

Hi all,
Its been a while since I last posted. Well a couple weeks back I went to the races with a few friend and ended up winning £2000 on a horses accumilator bet :) . So after giving the girlfriend a few hundred to go shoping with, I rang my local gunsmiths and orderd a 9mm AR15. Hopefully it should be built and ready for me to collect in a month or so.

So in the meantime I intend to reload some 9mm rounds. I was wondering if anyone had any favorite loads or tips. I was thinking arround 3.5 gr of bullseye with my 125 gr cast lead bullet and arround 4.5 gr of bullseye with a 124gr frontier TMJ.

I have been loading for a while .45acp, .357, 38sp and .44 mag but never loaded 9mm as since the pistol ban its not a popular calibre in the UK.

Rgs

Chris

[MtGun44]

Groove diameter will be the key issue with cast. MANY 9mms have substantially oversized
barrels and require .357 or .358 diameter for accy and no leading. Note that you will be
getting substantially higher velocities compared to a 4" bbl and the lube may run out in a
longer barrel, so recognize that you may not have the same results as in a pistol. You will
need plenty of lube. I recommend the Lee 356-124TC conventional lube. Avoid the tumble
lube designs as they are pretty marignal on lube quantity.

I do not know the UK gun laws, but I had the impression that semiauto military pattern
rifles were banned in addition to handguns. Clearly this is incorrect. Are there terrible
restrictions on AR15s or are you free to own them without serious limitations?

They are extremel popular here, and many people buy the kits and assemble their own,
a bit of a sense of accomplishment, although it seems that the parts are usually so
dimensonally consistent that they typically just work without any highly skilled labor.

Bill

[chrismetallica1]

Bill,
There are major restrictions aon AR15 as well. Basically you can only own a semi auto one in .22lr. All Centerfire and pistol calibre AR15's must either be straight pull (requiring manual manipulation of the bolt each shot), Lever action eg. The mechanism is modified and pushing the pistol grip forward and back like on a marlin cycles the gun. Or finally the new breed of lever release AR15's such as the Southern Gun 9mm. These basically have a trigger and a button on one side of the handguard . You fire the rifle and the bolt comes back and lock. At this point you click the button with your thumb and the bolt unlocks and cycles the next round.

Here is an example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsDqE9j3bzI

They are otherwise known as the Unicorn. Basicaly it took years for them to be released and up until the release date knowone had actually seen one. However now they are catching on. Thats why I have to wait for it to be made as they have quite a waiting list at the moment.

[ReloaderEd]

wow a 9mm AR15 you can have a shoot out at about 100 yds maximum. Seriously though, pressure wise the case is not heavy walled and four grains of bullseye and the lee 124 grain cast should do pretty well. I have a 45apc carbine that takes a 1911 frame. It is accurate out to about 75 yards with the 200 gr swc cast lyman bullet. Guys at the range have 9mm carbines and they do about the same. Hope it works out for you. be safe

[Artful]

for subsonic I load VV N320 or N340 - under a .357 RN 147 grain plated to keep the suppressor clean - being your country is more friendly with suppressed you might want to look into that option.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfbhZuFlzXQ&playnext=1&videos=PVwYbDxna28

[GabbyM]

A 124 grain round nose like the Magma or others of ball profile. Loaded over a charge of medium burn rate pistol powder like Power pistol. That’s the norm and the easiest to work with.

For some kick but loads. VV 3N38 powder under a 147 grain bullet or boolit.
The slow burn rate powder heavy bullet will give the best punch in a long barreled gun.
However for targets and such the 124 RN is the bullet that fits with your standard loading dies. For the long bullets you need an expander which is longer and a few other tweaks.
In short standard reloading dies are not made for heavy bullets or even TCFP bullets. So a 124 RN is the easy way to get a load in 9mm to work. Then after all it’s not like that load hasn’t worked for a hundred years.

However the VV 3N38 load will drive a 147 grain Hornady at over 1200 fps from a 4” barrel. I’ve fired a few with my Magma mould cast lead 147 gr FP but am not ready to publish. VV published data seams to be good to go from what little experience I have. In the big gun an AA #7 or VV 3n38 powder would seam a good choice with heavy bullets. Depending on what you have over there.

7.8 grains of Blue Dot under a 124gr is always a good hammer in a 9. The round nosed bullets leave more powder space than a similar weight TC bullet. There in lies the catch.

[epj]

I use the Lee 120 gr. TC boolit. With my straight wheel weight alloy it weighs about 122 gr. I water drop the boolits to get them a little harder for the auto loader. I am loading these over 3.3 gr. of Clays and getting excellent accuracy, no leading, and very clean burning. I size the boolits in a Lyman 4500 with a heater, and use Lars Carnuba Red lube. The combo works for me.

[9.3X62AL]

I had the fine fortune at work to occasionally carry and operate Colt SMGs, select-fire variants of the AR-15 chambered in 9mm Parabellum. These were all TACKDRIVERS with the sub-sonic 147 grain JHP loads we used--a fact about which several streetlights bore darkened witness to when the Road Department couldn't be bothered to get out of bed to turn them off for us. All that was audible in the suppressed examples was bolt clatter while functioning.

[chrismetallica1]

for subsonic I load VV N320 or N340 - under a .357 RN 147 grain plated to keep the suppressor clean - being your country is more friendly with suppressed you might want to look into that option.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfbhZuFlzXQ&playnext=1&videos=PVwYbDxna28

I did enquire about the option of a suppressor in future. I was informed by the local firearms licensing team that I would need land such as a farm to shoot on as they are no longer issuing permits for suppressors for range use unless it if fullbore.

[x101airborne]

i dont have any load data, but you will love your ar-15. I carried a full auto suppressed mp-5 for a while and liked it a lot. That 9mm is a hot little package out of a 10" barrel. ENJOY!!