Blue Bullets 125 LRN 1.115” 3.9gr N320. ~134 power factor from a Shadow2.
Lehigh Extreme Penetrator 9mm 115gr
Accurate #7: 7.0gr. COL 1.100”. 1165fps sd7 from a P-07
Blue Bullets 125 LRN 1.115” 3.9gr N320. ~134 power factor from a Shadow2.
Lehigh Extreme Penetrator 9mm 115gr
Accurate #7: 7.0gr. COL 1.100”. 1165fps sd7 from a P-07
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
So, due to the ammo shortage and rising prices I’ve finally decided to get off my bum and get my reloading setup put together and going. I typically shoot 124gr Speer Lawman for practice and USPSA Production.
I’ve got a handful of CCI primers, 1lb of HP-38, and about 10,000 pieces of processed 9mm brass. I also just ordered a handful of 125gr RN bullets from The Blue Bullets. How much powder should I be using and at which OAL to get around 136 PF?
According to Hodgdon's website, 4.4 grains under a 125-grain LCN at 1.125" OAL gives 1086 fps. That's their recommended max. PF would be 135.75.
I'd probably make up 10 or 20 rounds each at 4.0, 4.2, and 4.4 and run them over the chronograph to see what the results are before making any final decisions. Always gotta do some experimenting with a new load to find what works best in your specific gun. I guess if 136 PF is the goal for some reason, that's fine, but if it's more accurate and/or feels nicer to shoot at 130 or 132 or whatever, I wouldn't feel obligated to make it do 136. As long as you have some cushion above 125 and it's accurate and runs the gun well, you're good IMO.
The goal is to crank out my own 9mm load that comes as close to factory specs as possible. I don’t see how making the loads lighter for competition really gives me that much more of a competitive advantage when it’s far less advantageous to not meet power factor. If, for whatever reason, I don’t have access to my own loads for whatever match I’m shooting, then I’m going to have to buy and shoot factory loads anyway. Ultimately it’s about saving money and not being dependent on factory ammo that may or may not be available for XYZ reason, but moreso the latter reason than the former, specifically in the case of 9mm.
Honestly, we're not talking about earth-shattering differences anyway - I mainly meant that you should try to be flexible and be willing to experiment a little vs trying to stick to creating an exact match of whatever factory load you normally buy. I also prefer not to jump straight to a book max load in order to be safe. Matching your desired 136 PF exactly is most emphatically not worth blowing up your hand/gun.
If you really do want to run a feistier load, work with a medium-speed powder like Unique, BE-86, CFE-P, or AA#5. You'll be able to get over 1100 fps without getting close to max.
This is a good call
I would definitely prefer CFE-P over Unique, though - Unique is fairly dirty, and its big flakes don't always meter well through powder measures, leading to larger charge weight variation than a lot of other powders, and as a result, significantly higher standard deviation. (In my experience with a Hornady measure, Unique is +/- 0.2 grains or so, where something like N320, Titegroup, or CFE-P will be more like +/- 0.05 or +/- 0.1 grains.)