First one! (updated with range results!)

[NcongruNt]

Nope, been out of town on vacation until today.

[NcongruNt]

It's more a matter of scheduling than anything else now. I was on vacation for a week and a half, so I wasn't able to do it then.

I'm hoping to coordinate with someone who has a chronograph so I can see what the loads are doing. I may end up simply buying one of my own instead, since I've been wanting to buy one anyway. I'm going to try and get out to shoot them this weekend sometime, anyway.

[ghostrider]

I may be available this weekend, though with all this rain, Matt's range may be swampy. I don't know of another nearby range we can chronograph at. (I'm not a member of ARC).

[NcongruNt]

Well, I was hoping to get out to the range this morning, but the weather didn't want to cooperate.

Instead, I simply headed to Cabela's. Got myself a couple more manuals (Hornady and Sierra), a chronometer (Shooting Chrony Beta Master), some Challenger Lock bushings (to keep multiple sets of dies in adjustment for quick change-out), and various other sundries including some S&B 7.62x54R ammo and some 25-count boxes of 12ga #4 buck that has been impossible to find up until now.

Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend is scheduled for other things, so I STILL don't get to try out my reloads.

But I've got my Chrony now!

[ghostrider]

>Instead, I simply headed to Cabela's. Got myself a couple more manuals (Hornady and Sierra), a chronometer

chronograph.
I think chronometer is a watch :-)

[NcongruNt]

My Bad.

>Instead, I simply headed to Cabela's. Got myself a couple more manuals (Hornady and Sierra), a chronometer

chronograph.
I think chronometer is a watch :-)

[NcongruNt]

Okie doke! Fired my first batch of reloads yesterday! They functioned nicely, and I'm happy with the consistency I got.

This was my first time using the chronograph, so I ran 10 rounds of WWB through it, just to get a good idea of a baseline. I thought it was 10, anyway. My chrony shows 9.

All rounds fired through a Browning Hi-Power, with 4.75" barrel.

Winchester 9mm WWB 115 grn FMJ
Low: 1190
High: 1226
Average: 1203
Extreme Spread: 36.04
Standard Deviation: 11.00

I'd loaded up 25 rounds, and shot them in two strings of 10 and one string of 5.

Load #1
9mm, Winchester Brass
Federal #100 SPP
7.5 grains Blue Dot
124 grain Hornady XTP
OAL 1.125"

String 1 (10 rounds)
Low: 1243
High: 1297
Average: 1270
Extreme Spread: 53.31
Standard Deviation: 17.94

String 2 (10 rounds)
Low: 1241
High: 1315
Average: 1287
Extreme Spread: 74.33
Standard Deviation: 24.89

String 3 (5 rounds)
Low: 1242
High: 1304
Average: 1281
Extreme Spread: 62.93
Standard Deviation: 23.87

I recovered all but 2 of my cases, and they all look good. The rounds felt good, and recoil felt normal. I did find that ejected cases got a couple of feet more distance, landing something like 10 feet away instead of the 8 feet that WWB gave me. The rounds all fed nicely. I do find it it quite interesting that the Low on all 3 strings were within 2fps of each other. Maybe it's concidence, I dunno.

So... given everything above, what do y'all think? Any tips or advice? Suggestions?

[ghostrider]

Data looks good to me.

[NcongruNt]

Thanks for the replies. I noticed a couple of things that I didn't mention earlier. The WWB I shot was 115 grains, while my loads are 124 grains. My loads had a higher velocity, yet overall recoil was similar to me, with my loads feeling actually a bit lighter. The most noticeable difference here to me was the absence of the small bit of snap that I feel with WWB.

As ghostrider mentioned another thread, Blue Dot is a slow burning powder. Even though my loads are hotter, they felt tamer to me, and I'm guessing that this is the reason. The slower pressure buildup makes less of a jolt in sending the bullet forward, thus less "sharp" felt recoil. This is not something I considered, but it makes sense now that I think about it.

I wasn't really testing for accuracy this time around, and was mainly concerning myself with how the rounds felt and verifying that the chrony was reading out, but I did notice that the rounds went reliably exactly where I aimed them (this doesn't surprise me, as I've always had great experience with XTP rounds when it comes to accuracy). I didn't even use a target, just a whatever was left over (a blue man silhouette) from the last person who used the target board. Next time around, I'll set up a target a little further out so I can see how the loads do.

One question while I think about it... where do y'all get bullets from and in what quantities? I have a suspicion that Hornady XTP in boxes of 100 from Cabela's isn't the cheapest way to go about it. I want to stick with jacketed ammo for the time being, either FMJ or JHP is fine. Local would be great (I hate paying for shipping, especially for boxes full of lead), but I'd be interested to see where folks get supplies.

[MoJo]

Check the prices of Berry's plated bullets and Precision coated bullets both are quality products and have no exposed lead.

[NcongruNt]

Thanks for the info. I've heard good things about Winchester bullets, but it looks like they're all out of them over at Midway. They do have 124 grain Remington FMJ for $102.99 per 1000, with around $18 on shipping. I'm still on the fence with those. 115 grain bullets are cheaper, but alas they are out of stock.

I guess I'll have to look around some more.

As far as plated/coated bullets, I've not tried them yet. What's the difference in seating them? It seems that you'd have to bell the case a bit more to ensure they don't scrape/deform when seating.

[ghostrider]

As ghostrider mentioned another thread, Blue Dot is a slow burning powder. Even though my loads are hotter, they felt tamer to me, and I'm guessing that this is the reason. The slower pressure buildup makes less of a jolt in sending the bullet forward, thus less "sharp" felt recoil. This is not something I considered, but it makes sense now that I think about it.

Interestingly, over on Brian Enos' forum (USPSA/IPSC shooting) in 45acp people tend to recommend faster powders for lower recoil. It really depends on a lot of variables.


>One question while I think about it... where do y'all get bullets from and in what quantities?
Despite the cost of shipping, it can still be more cost-effective to mail order, especially in bulk. For 9mm I tend to use Montana Gold or Zero JHP bullets:
http://www.montanagoldbullet.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.targetbarn.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For 45ACP, I've been using Rainer plated bullets, but I've not tried them in 9mm; I have now switched back to lead in 45ACP since I can buy them cheaper than 9mm JHP, from Missouri bullets:
http://www.missouribullet.com/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;