Originally Posted by
olstyn
I've found XTPs to be quite accurate as well, but IMO they're too expensive to keep a stock of for range/match use.
Just for any newbie reloaders who may read this thread, I feel compelled to mention that 6.0 grains of Unique under a 124 grain bullet is a fairly spicy 9mm load. I used to use 124 grain Montana Gold JHPs (very similar bullet profile to XTPs) with Unique for USPSA, and out of a 4" barrel (Walther P99), 4.7 grains was enough to make ~130 PF. A 124 grain bullet at 1245 FPS is ~154 PF, which is unnecessarily hot for most uses, and will definitely result in higher felt recoil/slower follow-up shots. Also, not all pistols will be able to take an XTP at 1.11 OAL (the P99 I mentioned needed XTPs and MG JHPs loaded to 1.075" in order to pass the plunk test).
Unless you have a specific need for that much velocity, I would recommend dialing it back a bit, as it'll be much more pleasant to shoot. I went through 500 115 grain XTPs once because I got them for just the price of shipping due to having bought a Hornady press, and the load I settled on with those bullets was 5.4 grains of Unique at 1.075" OAL. A different powder would probably also be a good idea - Unique works for just about everything, but the big flakes make for inconsistent powder charges, leading to high extreme spread and high standard deviation.