Some background rambling on my experience. My dad taught me how to load pistol ammo in 2014. Having been a gun guy through two election cycles (and specifically the post-Sandy Hook panic), in 2016 I stocked components to load 9mm for two to three years of shooting at my then-low consumption rates. That election went in an unexpected direction and, like most shooters, I was blessed with several years of incredibly cheap ammo. With 9mm at .15-.20cpr, I quickly lost interest in reloading and my components sat unused. Indeed, in late 2019 between Black Friday and Wal Mart turning in an anti-gun direction, I’d acquired 10,000ish rounds at an average cost of .12cpr - small potatoes for some shooters here, but for me that was a hell of a lot of ammo. In January 2020, I decided to pick it back up because I wanted to mimic my carry ammo and the inexpensive 147gr 9mm I’d been shooting was becoming harder to find and a bit more expensive. I bought more components to complement my 2016 election stash. The timing was… fortuitous. As I write this at the beginning of 2023, my handloads are now pretty much the only pistol ammunition I shoot. I’ve gotten better over the past couple of years and branched out into working up and verifying my own loads instead of following somebody else’s recipe (for a long time I never owned a chronograph). My interests remain the same: I want reliable, full power 9mm ammo, but I’ve also branched out into .38/.357.
Where I’m at now, I’ve unfortunately got quite a bit of several very similar powders and smaller quantities of more diverse powders. I have a good amount of Titegroup, Winchester 231, and Winchester 244 - all fast powders - as well as a small amount of Alliant 2400 and a few pounds of CFE Pistol. My goal late last year was to work up to 140PF with my bulk (fast) powders, in hopes that this will be sufficiently powerful to work a compensated pistol and “feel” like carry ammo when practicing. Recognizing I may have the wrong tools for the job on the compensator front, I selected a 135gr bullet as the best way to get there. The loads I worked up to and tested:
9x19
135gr “A”
135gr SNS RN .356”
Titegroup 3.8gr
1.125” COAL
Winchester SPP
Mixed brass
Staccato P 4.4” bbl: AVG 1047FPS ES 25 SD 6 (141PF)
135 “B”
135gr SNS RN .356”
Winchester 244 4.1gr
1.125” COAL
Winchester SPP
Mixed brass
Staccato P 4.4” bbl: AVG 1063FPS ES 42 SD 13 (143PF)
135 “C”
135gr SNS RN .356”
Winchester 231 4.2gr
1.125” COAL
Winchester SPP
Mixed brass
Staccato P 4.4” bbl: AVG 1052FPS ES 49 SD 13 (142PF)
Each of these loads are right at Hogdon’s (online) book max, though the COAL is shorter (their data uses a 1.150” COAL).
The load I’d been using for some time is a typical USPSA load as found on Brian Enos’s forum and elsewhere. It is:
Brazos Bullets 147gr FP .356”
Titegroup 3.2gr
Winchester SPP
Mixed brass
1.13” COAL
Staccato P 4.4” bbl: AVG 950FPS (I failed to record the ES and SD) (139PF).
Last year, for grins I wanted to duplicate the late Stephen Camp’s Hornady XTP load. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any Unique. I substituted CFE Pistol. This is a true +P load; Hornady published data maxes out at 5.3gr and 1150FPS. Camp claimed 1243FPS through a Hi Power for his 6.0gr Unique load. I didn’t quite get there, but I found a load I was happy with. This stuff is very accurate and, I presume, would have good terminal effect in the field use demonstrated by the late Mr. Camp.
124gr XTP
CFE Pistol 5.4gr
Federal SPP
1.10” COAL
Federal once-fired brass
G17 Gen 5 4.49”: AVG 1180FPS ES 38 SD 11 (146PF)
This is +P ammo and I’m some random guy on the internet, so use at your own risk.
Last for now is my .38-44 duplication load. I wanted these for woods use around here, which in the worst case could include black bears. I selected the Lyman 358156 bullet cast by Montana Bullet Works. Through a 4” Model 28 velocity seemed a tad low (I was hoping for closer to 1100-1150FPS), but it’s not exactly weak ammo.
Montana 358156 .357”
Alliant 2400 12.5gr
CCI 550
Remington brass
S&W Model 28-2 4”: AVG 1079, ES 55, SD 16 (167PF).
My next projects are a 148gr wadcutter in .38, a 170gr Keith load duplicate, and another stab at a “match” 9mm for bullseye shooting.
