I just bought a 9mm pistol. I haven't loaded for 9mm in over 40 years. I have several powders on hand that I can use, but wanted to see what others are using. I plan on using my H&G #7 molds to cast 125 grain cast boolits.
Thanks.
1Iron
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I just bought a 9mm pistol. I haven't loaded for 9mm in over 40 years. I have several powders on hand that I can use, but wanted to see what others are using. I plan on using my H&G #7 molds to cast 125 grain cast boolits.
Thanks.
1Iron
I like TiteGroup myself. Meters well and is available locally for $29.99 a pound. I use it for both jacketed and cast.
True blue for me, (135gr cast RF).
Buddy got into reloading and he picked up silhouette. Works nicely as well.
For target loads I use WST; 231; and 244. For higher performance loads I use Unique.
Aa2 because I have a lot of it. Ramshot Silhuette does good work also.
I like WSF, Blue Dot, Promo/Red Dot in that order.
N320/W231 for target
HS6/power pistol for power
Started with SW Clean Shot (double base) and have moved to Vihtavuori N310 (single base). Both powders meter really good on the Dillon.
Lots of powders work well in 9mm, my usual is CFE pistol.
Titegroup or 231. Usually 231 is my go to.
231 or Clean Shot here.
CFE Pistol and HS-6
RED DOT for many decades -
Mostly have used W231/HP38, but as mentioned, there are plenty of powders that will work.
My google effort shows the #7 to look a lot like the Lee 120. I have loaded a ton of my powder coated Lee 120s. These are not really ideal "self defense" bullets, so I will just assume that you are interested in range ammo.
For me, getting leading free full power loads from the 9mm took a lot of effort. I played with all my powders in the process with no improvement from one to another.
I eventually determined that I needed a bigger expander die.
Once I worked out a process that worked, I found that any powder I had would work for "full power" loads with my range scrap alloy. When I say full power, I am not talking about maximum possible velocity, just a load that is not "reduced".
If you are interested in "just shooting" ammo, comparing what it takes for various powders to get the same predicted velocity is an interesting exercise using Quickload. My bet is that each of the loads below will all perform about as good as any other for plinking / making holes in paper. I would tend to go with one of the faster choices (the upper half of the list) just because they give you the same end result with less powder used.
Code:Cartridge : 9 mm Luger (SAAMI)
Bullet : .356, 120, LEE 356-120-TC
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 1.075 inch = 27.31 mm
Barrel Length : 4.0 inch = 101.6 mm
C A U T I O N : any load listed can result in a powder charge that falls below minimum suggested
loads or exceeds maximum suggested loads as presented in current handloading manuals. Understand
that all of the listed powders can be unsuitable for the given combination of cartridge, bullet
and gun. Actual load order can vary, depending upon lot-to-lot powder and component variations.
USE ONLY FOR COMPARISON !
Powder type Filling/Loading Ratio Charge Charge Vel. Prop.Burnt P max P muzz B_Time
% Grains Gramm fps % psi psi ms
--------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------
Accurate Nitro 100 87.2 3.6 0.23 1050 100.0 27799 3696 0.461
Alliant RED DOT 93.6 3.7 0.24 1050 100.0 28647 3585 0.464
Alliant GREEN DOT 89.7 4.0 0.26 1050 100.0 26901 3773 0.473
Hodgdon TiteGroup 62.4 4.0 0.26 1050 100.0 29249 3512 0.456
Vihtavuori N320 86.0 4.0 0.26 1050 100.0 26438 3701 0.473
Shooters World Clean Shot 71.2 4.0 0.26 1050 99.5 27578 3898 0.460
Alliant BULLSEYE 77.3 4.1 0.26 1050 96.0 23570 4516 0.486
Hodgdon Universal 84.6 4.3 0.28 1050 99.8 23869 4306 0.498
Hodgdon HP38 64.9 4.3 0.28 1050 100.0 26283 3896 0.472
Ramshot Zip 65.4 4.4 0.28 1050 100.0 25915 3974 0.474
Winchester 231 72.9 4.4 0.28 1050 100.0 25915 3974 0.474
Shooters World Ultimate Pistol 56.4 4.4 0.29 1050 96.6 23542 4508 0.493
Vihtavuori N330 85.4 4.4 0.29 1050 99.9 23167 4235 0.491
Accurate No.2 84.9 4.5 0.29 1050 93.7 26504 4222 0.465
Alliant UNIQUE 90.1 4.6 0.30 1050 94.9 22543 4708 0.505
And here is a repeat of the previous, but with a higher velocity and with more of the slower powders included.
Code:Cartridge : 9 mm Luger (SAAMI)
Bullet : .356, 120, LEE 356-120-TC
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 1.075 inch = 27.31 mm
Barrel Length : 4.0 inch = 101.6 mm
C A U T I O N : any load listed can result in a powder charge that falls below minimum suggested
loads or exceeds maximum suggested loads as presented in current handloading manuals. Understand
that all of the listed powders can be unsuitable for the given combination of cartridge, bullet
and gun. Actual load order can vary, depending upon lot-to-lot powder and component variations.
USE ONLY FOR COMPARISON !
Powder type Filling/Loading Ratio Charge Charge Vel. Prop.Burnt P max P muzz B_Time
% Grains Gramm fps % psi psi ms
--------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------
Accurate Nitro 100 93.4 3.9 0.25 1100 100.0 32011 3908 0.432 ! Near Maximum !
Alliant RED DOT 100.6 4.0 0.26 1100 100.0 33167 3803 0.435 ! Near Maximum !
Shooters World Clean Shot 75.5 4.2 0.27 1100 99.9 31756 4083 0.431 ! Near Maximum !
Alliant BULLSEYE 81.9 4.3 0.28 1100 97.4 26628 4804 0.459
Alliant GREEN DOT 96.0 4.3 0.28 1100 100.0 31019 3977 0.443 ! Near Maximum !
Hodgdon TiteGroup 66.9 4.3 0.28 1100 100.0 33937 3714 0.427 ! Near Maximum !
Vihtavuori N320 91.9 4.3 0.28 1100 100.0 30785 3887 0.443 ! Near Maximum !
Hodgdon Universal 89.8 4.6 0.30 1100 100.0 27287 4506 0.467
Hodgdon HP38 69.2 4.6 0.30 1100 100.0 30233 4081 0.443 ! Near Maximum !
Accurate No.2 89.3 4.7 0.31 1100 95.4 30272 4469 0.438 ! Near Maximum !
Shooters World Ultimate Pistol 59.6 4.7 0.30 1100 98.0 26696 4775 0.465
Winchester 231 77.6 4.7 0.30 1100 100.0 29762 4157 0.445 ! Near Maximum !
Ramshot Zip 69.7 4.7 0.30 1100 100.0 29762 4157 0.445 ! Near Maximum !
Vihtavuori N330 90.5 4.7 0.30 1100 100.0 26703 4407 0.461
Alliant UNIQUE 95.1 4.9 0.32 1100 96.5 25514 4996 0.475
Vihtavuori N340 94.6 5.0 0.32 1100 97.3 27594 4649 0.456
Ramshot Silhouette 78.3 5.4 0.35 1100 94.7 26733 4862 0.460
Vihtavuori N350 100.0 5.8 0.38 1100 89.8 25933 5012 0.461
Alliant POWER PISTOL 92.7 5.8 0.38 1100 79.2 24594 5436 0.473
Ramshot True Blue 73.4 5.9 0.38 1100 89.6 26923 4948 0.459
Accurate No.5 71.3 5.9 0.38 1100 84.2 26431 5111 0.461
Vihtavuori 3N37 96.2 5.9 0.38 1100 89.3 25593 5103 0.467
Shooters World Auto Pistol 71.3 5.9 0.38 1100 84.1 26431 5112 0.461
Hodgdon Longshot 74.6 6.0 0.39 1100 89.3 26519 5000 0.462
Hodgdon HS-6 78.2 6.1 0.40 1100 87.1 26781 5001 0.460
All of the following are good , and depending on what powders I can get / or what I have ... I will use with
124 gr. cast ... NOE 358-124-TC GC or RCBS 09-124-CN
700X
Bullseye
Red Dot
HP38 / W231
Unique ..................... old favorite
Acc Arms #2 (AA #2).. new favorite
Acc Arms #5 (AA #5).. might be a good powder , need more testing .
If I have it ... my first choice is Unique .
Accurate Arms powders are new to me but seem to work fine in the Nine !
Gary
ive got some of just about all the powders that there is load data for 9mm and have settled on be-86, and in past ive used a lot of power pistol, bullseye and others, silhouette gives excellent performance with cast bullets, ive tried cfe pistol its pretty good too. but be-86 gives reduced muzzle flash and top performance. about 5.3 grains with mp 359-125 From old group buy. one powder that I do not have and would not mind trying is sport pistol.
I've had good luck with 231/HP38 and Bullseye in 9mm (but have lately been saving what little Bullseye I have left for 38 special wadcutters.)
I remember seeing somewhere that Red Dot/Promo works and need to work up a load with it since I have a few pounds of it on hand.
231 or Unique for me.
GONRA's justa Collector/Tinkerer.
Used WW 231 for all (normal) auto pistols, aged collector items etc.
(Developed "loads to function" - NOT beat up the pistol !!)
BUT -Used Blue Dot for .44 Auto Mag, .44 MAG . .45 Win Mag, etc. auto pistols.
I have been using Sport Pistol with 140 gr cast with Hi-Tek coating for the last 2years.
Unique or Titegroup for me
Thanks everyone for the input. A lot of thought and effort went into your responses and it all is appreciated.
1Iron
(1) Get several manuals.
(2) Study the written info about .9mm & what the publishers have to say about what they discovered as the most accurate.
(3) Using several manuals,, you will find a selection of different powders that seem to be more prevalent than others.
(4) Select a couple of those powders and start low & build some sample ammo.
(5) Your gun will then tell you which powder & load it likes the best.
(6) Tweak a couple of the best ones to find the best overall powder & load.
Titegroup meters well.
Accurate #2 is my go-to.
I am going through my powder inventory and using up odds and ends of powder I will not be stocking. The fast powders will load 9mm and .38 loads for plinking. Some “odds” are less than a pound and some “ends” are under four pounds.
My “go to” powder for both calibers will be Clean Shot because I have over 25 lbs of it. IMO people tend to overthink things. For what I do, the difference of an inch at 25 yards is not worth worrying about.
If I run out of Clean Shot I will revert to Promo. I am not shooting to win pickup trucks. Still like W231/HP38 but have less expensive choices at tge moment.
As you can see, lots of powders work well in 9mm. I load thousands of 9 every year, using VV n320, WSF, and Nobel Sport SV. All of those are just fine for range ammo, all will make power factor for USPSA.
w231, cheap, measures accurately on the powder measure, it is always available, at least here in Argentina. I have no complaints.
In my country, a very good one is made in the military factory, which until recently sold to us civilians. It's called the A22b and it's the best powder I've ever used for 9mm, which is the caliber it was designed for. It burns very cleanly, fills the brass well, and measures very well on the dillon powder meter.
Unfortunately it is not exported.
I have not used all the powders you mention above either, but from my short experience it is the one I liked the most.
Unique....also in .40 S&W, .45 Colt, and mid-range .357, and mid-range .44 magnum.
Makes logistics easier! But, "I am a man,...I can change...I guess...if I have too!" (Red Green words of wisdom)
Bullseye, cuz I have lots of it. Downside, is that you have to weigh every charge, if you're picky like , even though they are just target loads
Personally, the two powders I use for 90% of my handloading of Pistol cartridges are Unique and Red Dot.
Honestly, when it comes to 9mm I use Unique for most cast loads, and Red Dot for jacketed. I load a lot of jacketed in 9mm due to having an AR9 SBR that doesn't feed all cast boolit types easily, often get flat spots from the impact into the feed ramp... That said, my new MP357-125-RN doesn't seem to have this problem, and feeds without issue. So I am just now starting to work up a load for it starting with 4.0gr Unique at 1.100" OAL. With jacketed, what I load most is a 115gr FMJ at 1.100" over 4.3gr of Red Dot. This is a decently spicy load, and may be close if not at a max load based upon the data I have seen and the recoil felt with my pistols.
But, the there are three other powders I want to dip my feet into: Power Pistol, Ramshot True Blue, and Ramshot Silhouette. But with pounds and pounds of Unique and Red Dot left, it may be a while before I do.
700X and PB
Longshot as I load it in 20 ga, 28 ga and 12 ga HV loads.
Red Dot for most 9mm loads, as I have a lot of it. Still using some from the 70's.