Loads for a 147 grain 9mm

[gunseller]

Just wandering what others are using. 4.5 grains of HS6 won't always cycle the slide on a 92 Beretta. Works fine in two different Browning HPs. Accuracy was on par with other bullets. Going to shoot some out of my Ruger flat top convertible today. Next week I will shoot some with 4.8 out of a gen 5 Glock 19.

[Dantiff2]

I can run a Sig P365 XL and a AR9mm PCC carbine down as low as 2.8 grains of CFE Pistol powder and have gone up to 4 grains. Great shooting load! Very accurate!

[downzero]

I use Solo 1000, 3.5 grains or so. Friend shoots WST, 3.8. HS6 is way too slow of a powder for subsonic 9mm.

[walnut1704]

4.0gr CFE Pistol with a Lee 147gr TC sized .357

[nueces5]

3.4 win 231

[Plate plinker]

Up to 4.3 of 231 for hot stuff. plinker load is more like nueces5 mid 3's

[fredj338]

Unless running a comp, or max loads, hs6 is the wrong choice. Think faster powders, WSF is as slow of a choice for midrange stuff. Lighter loads want faster powders. I shoot a lot of wst under 147gr coated. 3.1gr runs in anything i shoot, makes about 840fps in a g19.

[Half Dog]

I have a 1911, 9mm. I use 2.9 gr Bullseye, which gives 855 fps. Everything combined gives me a Standard deviation of 7.7 fps and a very mild recoil. I’ve found that the seating depth is critical for accuracy.

[HodakaGA]

I use Solo 1000, 3.5 grains or so. Friend shoots WST, 3.8. HS6 is way too slow of a powder for subsonic 9mm.

Wish I could find Solo 1000! Haven't seen it for sale in years. I use WST.

[downzero]

Wish I could find Solo 1000! Haven't seen it for sale in years. I use WST.

I'm on my last jug. When it's gone I'm changing to Ramshot Zip.

[Mk42gunner]

I just don't understand using a 147 grain projectile in the 9mm. To me a standard 9mm runs a 115-125 grain projectile at about 11-1200 fps. Using a 147; you basically turn it into a high capacity .38 Special, unless I am missing something?

Robert

[dondiego]

I just don't understand using a 147 grain projectile in the 9mm. To me a standard 9mm runs a 115-125 grain projectile at about 11-1200 fps. Using a 147; you basically turn it into a high capacity .38 Special, unless I am missing something?

Robert

I need them for my suppressors.

[Plate plinker]

I need them for my suppressors.

Exactly! also if you need to remove a nasty old bowling pin you need a higher power factor like 150-160pf.

[steve urquell]

I need them for my suppressors.

For suppressor use I have been down the rabbit hole trying for the most quiet rounds. I have found that the faster the powder, the quieter the report. I really like TiteWad and Nitro100NF and use the data for both interchangeably. 2.2gr is enough under the Lee 147TC in my AR9 but pistols need a little more to cycle.

[atfsux]

I'm on my last jug. When it's gone I'm changing to Ramshot Zip.

Back in 2020 when the last shortage hit, ZIP was one of the last powders available, so I bought a jug. I like the fact it is a ball powder, so that it meters nice in my Dillon measures. I found that 3.5 grains produced 950 fps in my Glock 19 with a coated Magma 145grn RN.

[downzero]

I just don't understand using a 147 grain projectile in the 9mm. To me a standard 9mm runs a 115-125 grain projectile at about 11-1200 fps. Using a 147; you basically turn it into a high capacity .38 Special, unless I am missing something?

Robert

For competition it produces the softest recoil while still making power factor

[Mk42gunner]

Okay, I'll buy the suppressor usage and the softest recoil for competition. That does make a bit of sense.

What didn't make sense to me in the late 1980's and still doesn't, was people claiming the 147 grain JHP as something awe inspiring from a handgun because the Seals used it in suppressed MP5's for accuracy.

This was during the big change over from law enforcement using revolvers (often .357 Magnums) to Wondernines with a typical 15 round capacity, then going backwards in power to something less than a typical .38 Special LSWCHP +P.

For specialized uses, I can see it and agree. For general use, no.

Robert

[atfsux]

Okay, I'll buy the suppressor usage and the softest recoil for competition. That does make a bit of sense.

What didn't make sense to me in the late 1980's and still doesn't, was people claiming the 147 grain JHP as something awe inspiring from a handgun because the Seals used it in suppressed MP5's for accuracy.

This was during the big change over from law enforcement using revolvers (often .357 Magnums) to Wondernines with a typical 15 round capacity, then going backwards in power to something less than a typical .38 Special LSWCHP +P.

For specialized uses, I can see it and agree. For general use, no.

Robert

Well that ties into an other entire argument over whether "light" 9mm JHP (and other cartridges) penetrate too shallowly to produce reliable stopping power on dangerous people, which came about because of the famous FBI Miami Shootout where armored car robber and murderer Michael Platt took a 9mm 115 grain Winchester Silvertip to the chest which was an "unsurvivable wound" according to his autopsy. But that expanded bullet (which had traversed him laterally from the side) stopped just shy of smashing his heart very early on in the shootout. Yet he went on to kill the agent that put that shot in him, and another, and wounded all the other agents except one. He ended up absorbing several more rounds of 9mm and .38 before he succumbed. Analysis afterward led to the FBI adopting 10mm. Later that was modified to allowing agents to field 9mm again, but loaded with the heavier and deeper penetrating 147 grainers.

While perhaps it has occurred and I am just not aware of it, I do not know of any other documented instance since the FBI shootout where it has been documented and scietifically proven that anyone else has been killed because they shot their attackers/suspect with light 9mm JHP that didn't put them down when heavier 9mm JHP would have. I think 9mm JHP in the traditional 115 and 125 grain weights are still entirely effective, and in fact my daily carry ammo is exactly that. I'm far more concerned with an over-pentrating projectile exiting the target and hitting someone else that does not deserve to be shot than my Silvertips punching deep enough.

However, I do also enjoy suppressors, so I have a huge stockpile of my PC 145grn loads.

[Dantiff2]

I need them for my suppressors.

Not necessarily. I run the 120 gn LEE TC bullets, powder coated and sized at .357 with 3.0 grains of CFE Pistol powder thru my 9mm's suppressed. It's even softer and quieter than the 147's. No issues cycling a AR9mm PCC. I went down to 2.8 gn's but started experiencing issues with locking the bcg back on an empty mag. If you cut some coils off of the buffer spring you can run 2.5-2.8 gn's reliably. STUPID QUIET!

[Bigslug]

I just don't understand using a 147 grain projectile in the 9mm. To me a standard 9mm runs a 115-125 grain projectile at about 11-1200 fps. Using a 147; you basically turn it into a high capacity .38 Special, unless I am missing something?

Robert

Terminal ballistics.

When shot through all six of the FBI's barriers in their gel testing protocol, the 147 JHP's tend to be more consistent in depth of penetration than the 115's and 124's. More momentum, so a lower percentage of it gets spent on getting through the barrier. You don't really see that just shooting bare gel.

With ball ammo or solids, it's pretty much tomato/tomahto, but the whole genesis of modern wound ballistics occurred in 1986 when a single round of 115 grain Silvertip turned into a parachute on impact and failed to reach the Tootsie Roll center of the Tootsiepop. The modern 115's and 124's are WAY better than they used to be, but added mass and sectional density still make a difference.

And how ISN'T the 9mm a high capacity .38 Special?