First Load - 9mm

Rathmatik · Sep 22, 2019

Howdy,

I just finished my first load of 10 9mm rounds. Here’s the recipe and a picture:

Berry’s 124 gr copper plated RN bullets
CFE Pistol powder, 4.9 gr (min for 124 gr bullet)
CCI #500 small pistol primers

Please let me know how these look. I used Lee dies, including the factory crimp at the end.

Dawico · Sep 23, 2019

Look a little long but fine besides that.

Crimp looks good.

Rusty Gun · Sep 23, 2019

Your rounds look good. Have you shot any of them yet? I am surprised you only made 10, I might have made 20-30 just to run a few mags and make sure everything cycles properly.

robertc1024 · Sep 23, 2019

What's the OAL? They look kinda long to me too at a glance.

Rathmatik · Sep 23, 2019

Dawico said:
Look a little long but fine besides that.

Crimp looks good.

Thanks, it could be the angle but they are just under 1.15” in OAL. Berry’s said 1.16 for this bullet, but is that the max? The Lee book said 1.15 for this type of bullet.

Rathmatik · Sep 23, 2019

Rusty Gun said:
Your rounds look good. Have you shot any of them yet? I am surprised you only made 10, I might have made 20-30 just to run a few mags and make sure everything cycles properly.

Thanks! Not yet, I plan to make 50 before taking them to the range, just wanted to make sure these look fine before finishing the rest.

robertc1024 · Sep 23, 2019

That should be good to go then!

TheMailMan · Sep 23, 2019

Did you plunk them in your barrel?

Rathmatik · Sep 23, 2019

TheMailMan said:
Did you plunk them in your barrel?

Yes they plunked fine, seemed to be at a good height. I compared to a Federal factory round, seemed to be the same.

SQLGeek · Sep 23, 2019

Rathmatik said:
Yes they plunked fine, seemed to be at a good height. I compared to a Federal factory round, seemed to be the same.

Then you should be good to go.

I don't reload 9mm so out of curiosity, how stout is that charge?

Rathmatik · Sep 23, 2019

SQLGeek said:
Then you should be good to go.

I don't reload 9mm so out of curiosity, how stout is that charge?

For 124gr copper plated and CFE Pistol, the starting load is 4.9gr with a max load of 5.5gr. I used a trickler and stopped right when my scale said 4.9.

SQLGeek · Sep 23, 2019

Cool. Happy shooting!

Vaquero · Sep 23, 2019

I'd grab a box of factory loads and head for the range with those 10. Check cycling and overall function. Recoil comparison.
Your gun might prefer a bit stronger charge. It might run just fine. You never know.

Rathmatik · Sep 23, 2019

Vaquero said:
I'd grab a box of factory loads and head for the range with those 10. Check cycling and overall function. Recoil comparison.
Your gun might prefer a bit stronger charge. It might run just fine. You never know.

That's a good idea, thanks for the tip. I'll definitely bring some factory ammo along for comparison.

Chips n Salsa · Sep 24, 2019

Vaquero said:
I'd grab a box of factory loads and head for the range with those 10. Check cycling and overall function. Recoil comparison.
Your gun might prefer a bit stronger charge. It might run just fine. You never know.

Yes, agree with Vaquero, I am running CFE Pistol (and some other slow powders) in that upper 4 gr range with a 124 gr Precision coated bullet. I am running a 13# recoil spring in the Gluck and a 14# in CZ75 with those loads. That 4.9 gr load could be on the lower end for the recoil spring on some defensive pistols. If you Google an updated burn rate chart, I think CFE is fairly slow.

Charley · Sep 24, 2019

Bottom end loads will not cycle some guns reliably. Start with the 10, and take other ammo. Pulling one or two bullets is not a problem, pulling 40 or 50 is a PITA.

GasGuzzler · Sep 25, 2019

Making less to start is a good idea. If you like the load then make more.

I use a slightly over book load of Bullseye under a 115gr plated Berry's at 1.135 which is actually long (negates the slight over-charge) for the bullet I use. I have a cast load too but I haven't done near the testing with it.

One more thing many do not consider...9X19 is considered a high pressure round (regardless of recoil feel or opinion) so because of it's small capacity and tapered wall case, hand loaders need to be very careful loading it. Look at the very small difference between minimum and maximum charges.

Rathmatik · Sep 25, 2019

Update:

I ended up loading 30 rounds in total. I took them to the range with some factory rounds. All cycled without any problems (in both my HK VP9 and CZ P-10 C), and I'm quite happy with the load and how it felt. I've shot some factory 124gr (such as American Eagle) that had a little too much English for my liking (and flash), so this was much better. Bullseyes right away, which was pretty neat.

These seemed to shoot more consistently accurate than the factory rounds, which was awesome. Now, I did shoot more factory (75 rounds I believe), but there were a few outliers compared to mine that had more consistent groupings. Of course, I'll have to do a more equal comparison at some point, but promising nonetheless.

Overall, it was a great experience loading these rounds and with satisfactory results, I'm looking forward to loading more!

Thanks again to all suggestions and things to check.

Deavis · Sep 28, 2019

Berrys has a forgiving profile, many other bullets you can't get away with a 1.150" OAL because they hit the chamber leade. For instance another brand of bullet I use requires a 1.080" OAL to chamber versus the berrys at 1.140" in a tight CZ I have. Since you guns like it, long is fine but just be aware in case you swap brands.

CFE pistol is a great powder but I've found it performs better when it is at least at mid range loads. It is slow and gets cleaner with the added pressure in my experience. It makes fantastic velocity, like True Blue, BE86, or Power Pistol. The flash suppression is nice as well, it is a solid choice.

xdmikey · Sep 29, 2019

I use CFE pistol but load at 5.4.

OP, is this your first ever loading experience?
Tell us about your equipment; if you already have, my bad.

First Load - 9mm

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