9mm reloads

[Joel Chavez]

I just started reloading 9mm and soon will be reloading 38cal and possibly some 357mag. Just curious if anyone reloads 9mm? My reloads consist of 115gr Berry bullets under 4.1gr of Red Dot with an OAL of 1.162". This length is consistant with WWB 115gr FMJ. They were wimpy and I did have 3 out of 50 FTE with my XD 9 service. They felt like a 22s almost. I'm going to try again, but this time I'm reducing the OAL to 1.120" as per Allaint Powder reload guide. Reloading rocks!

[one-eyed-fatman]

I reload for my XP pistol in 22-250. Works for me.

[agalindo]

115 gr berry's and rainier (spelling not sure) 4.0 gr red dot, 4.0 gr titegroup, and bullseye haven't had any problem with FTE. Red Dot is a not very good with auto powder measures had loads vary from 2.5 to 4.5 the 2.5 or less get stuck in the barrel. Just waiting to use up my 3 lbs so I can go back to bullseye or titegroup. I also use the same weight on my .40 180 gr berry's 4.0 grains. Gives me about 750 - 800 fps. I never said this but you can use your 9mm dies to size you .38 cases, I do. haven't had any problems. One thing is the will shorten the case life on the 38 since they are getting sized a bit small. Try sizing them half way.

[ampleworks]

1.162 sounds just a tad bit long, no manual in front of me to check.

I found reloading 115gr isn't really worth it to me given the cheapness of WWB value packs. I shoot 147s exclusively since they feel more like a 40, when places want nearly $8/50, that's why I reload.

[Old School]

I reload 9mm using a 147g Zero JHP with 3.0 of TiteGroup. My OAL is 1.155. This give me a power factor of 130.

Anything over 1.16 is too long and may give you some feed troubles. The XD seems to have no issue with a shorter OAL, from what I can tell.

[Joel Chavez]

Thanks for the insight guys. I'm hoping to learn more and more about reloading as time goes on. Many fine folks here have said over and over that reloading 9mm is a waste of time due to the low cost of ammo at such places as Wally World. Well, my Wally World sells WWB for just over $6.00 a box of 50. I can reload a custom round for less than $3.00 a box making it quite inexpensive to shoot my 9mm. Brass is cheap, so cheap it free at the range. I've purchased a Lee Anniversary press kit at Cabela's for less than $70. I'm having a ball with this aspect of our shooting sport. I weigh out every charge and measure the OAL of every round. Yes its slow, but lots of fun and very educational. Again, thanks for all of the insight. Keep it coming.

[one-eyed-fatman]

Academy sells CCI Blazer for 3.87.

[Joel Chavez]

Yea, but Academy is over an hour drive there and back from my house and at today's gas prices, I'd be losing on that deal. Thanks for the info. though. Besides, I'm having a whale of a time reloading and learning more and more about our shooting sport.

[JD McDorce]

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[agalindo]

We have to reload 9mm here because the nearest Academy is 170 miles away and the nearest WallMart is 65 miles. And the cheapest local 9mm is 9.95 per box of 50.