Check a load for me

[eugene]

I managed to find some components, so while I'm sure there may be preferred brands and loads I have to make due with whats available for now.
9mm Luger, Winchester small pistol primer.
Berry's 115 grain plated round nose lead. Berry's says to use low to mid Jacket loads http://www.berrysmfg.com/faq-q9-c1-H...d_Bullets.aspx
I found some Hodgdon Tightgroup in stock today.
Looking at their site I only see LRN but not jacketed listed:

115 GR. LRN Hodgdon Titegroup .356" 1.100" 3.9 1075 25,800 CUP 4.3 1151 30,500 CUP

The Lee book I have doesn't list tightgroup for jacketed but does for plain lead and has the same specs.

Any one have a book that may list tightgroup for plated or can verify that I could use the plain leaded safely?

[smmassociates]

Eugene:

I've got a buddy who loads Tightgroup in .44Spl rounds with a lead round nose ball. No problems at all....

One of our experts should chime in, but I'm told (if memory serves) that jacketed rounds need a tad more pressure to perform properly v.s. lead. I think Berry's are just plated - like the copper wash on a .22 - which makes 'em nominally plain lead. So, a load for LRN should be a few percent lighter than for a jacketed round, but otherwise close enough to guess at.

In this case, I'd start with about 4gr if I'm reading your specifications correctly, and sneak it up a bit if you're not having problems. (Again, I'm no expert, but we have a few on here.) IMHO, you can consider these as plain old lead, but requiring just a smidge more power.

Regards,

[viking]

Maybe check http://www.handloads.com ? That where I go when I am trying to find a new load with a combo of new components. So far it hasn't let me down.

[eugene]

Checked is. From what I'm reading is many have used lead and FMJ loads so it looks like I'll start with the lower of the two and work up.

[smmassociates]

Eugene:

You might want to ask Berry's - as I mentioned, IMHO, they're just lead, so that'd be a good starting point.

I just scored (maybe - haven't heard that "we're out of stock but didn't get to change the website" yet ) some 230gr LRN from Brownells. About all they think they have in stock. I prefer a 200gr load - less powder, and a little less wear on the gun - but these'll work fine, and if things ever get back to normal, I can swap 'em to a buddy who likes 230gr LRN. Won't be any issues on a load, though.

Regards,

[eugene]

Berry's FAQ says they don't publish data. The 3.9 worked fine at least the few I got to test before the storm started.

[smmassociates]

Eugene:

Aha! You caused the storm!

I would try a few more, just to be sure that your powder measure was "settled down", but you probably are very close.

I got those 230grLRN's the other day. Tested 4.0 and 4.2gr of WST Wednesday night. 4.2gr is a little hot. Nothing the gun can't handle, but more than makes any sense for 20yd (or shorter) indoor shooting ranges. I'm going to load up a small mound of them before next Wednesday. I still think 230gr is a waste of lead on the range, but the price was right.

I've admitted elsewhere to having just gotten into this. However, I did a lot of study many years ago, and I remember most of it. Now, what I had for breakfast is another story, but....

Anyway, noting the slight difference between jacketed and plain lead, if you can find a load that appears to be close in one of the manuals, and another one that's similar in all respects, knock off 10% or something like that and work from there in .1gr or .2gr increments until you decided that recoil (or beating on the gun) is too much and/or see some signs of overpressure in the cases. (Flattened primers, bulged primers, bulged cases, etc.) Somewhere around .1gr below that "too much" load should be fine.

(I was surprised that 4.2gr was a little much, but 4.0gr was fine. With those 200gr LSWC's, 4.7gr seems to be quite well behaved. I'm guessing that I don't know what I'm talking about , and that the heavier ball increases pressure, which is why somewhat less powder helps out. But 0.7gr? Sheesh....)

When I studied this stuff up, anything but lead was a little unusual, and the arguments were about cast bullet hardness and mixing components (lead, tin, etc.) to get a good number. I don't think that's really changed, but from my viewpoint, things may have settled out. Nobody's likely melting down car batteries anymore, and type metal may be hard to find. Lead produced for casting bullets and plumber's solder should still be around, but I think the plumbers have shifted a lot to PVC and solvents ....

BTW, my range is indoors. Unless the weather is really bad, the only issue is getting to or from the car ....

Regards,

[rogerd]

I checked my Lee chart (the one that came with my die set) and the measure for 125gr lead / jacketed only gave about .8gr between min/max with Titegroup. The difference between lead & jacketed was .3 grains (lead being the lighter load). I don't have the chart in front of me, but my opinion is in such a small shell with titegroup, you probably want a very accurate measure.

[eugene]

I'm using 115 grain. Lee's chart says 3.9 to 4.3 grains. I'm using the Lee scale.

[rich 2.0]

I always load plated bullets like jacketed bullets ....

[rogerd]

after about 2 weeks of research (when my 9mm stuff was finally delivered :P ) I settled on a recipe that worked wonderfully for me. I have the lee 2 cavity 124gr TC mold. Using win231 @ between 3.7 - 3.9gr seated just above the crimp groove. It's a rather short overall length hence all the research before I ever loaded the first one :wink: Shot 25 of 'em this afternoon and was just a little less hot than the leftover federal fmj's I had with me.

[eugene]

I tested mine a few weeks ago. Using tight group and 3.9 grains worked fine so I tried 3.8 and it seemed fine too. Loaded up 100 at 3.8 going to shoot some more then.