Bullet Weight Lite Loads for Tanfoglio

[akeefer]

Hey all,

 

Any thoughts on this? Shooting Steel Challenge and I'm all out of 9mm components, so I want to start fresh with whatever is best. I want a light shooting 9mm that will be reliable in my Stock II. I have springs ranging from 6lbs-14lbs so I can play with that as well to match a lite load.

 

I often see a lot of people loading 124gr or 147gr in the 9mm for competition, but is going lighter better for steel challenge? We're running steel that falls on .22LR so going too light isn't really an issue. Also, there is no minimum PF. I'm not opposed to running coated lead or whatever those "Laser Cast" bullets are either. I've used that extensively in my .45 loadings for my bullseye 1911.

 

I currently have Titegroup, WST, Bullseye, WSF on hand as far as powders. I'm not opposed to buying other powder if someone has a sweet loading.

 

Thanks for any help all!

Aaron 

[akeefer]

Did some searching, finally figured out how to search decently, so it looks like people are using even 380 weight bullets over a fast powder. I assume that's the same common knowledge? Any good recipes for <115gr?

[Darrell]

Try Bayou 105 TC with 3.3 gr of WST @1.045". power factor is 107 and in my EAA Limited shot an avg of three 5shot group of 1.17" at 15 yards.

[johnbu]

95 gr bullet [0.356] and 3.6-3.8 gr of clays. You will need the 6# recoil spring and slicked up slide action. It loads short, but feeds fine in my s2.

[Service Desk]

115 gn Lswc Bayou over 2.8 gns of Clays or VV310. Works great in 1911 so you could drop 2 tenths for Eaa and still have good feedback from the gun. Shoots around the 2" mark at 25 yards from my Targetmaster.

 

[akeefer]

Found good deal on 100gr copper. Gonna try something there

[akeefer]

Ok! So the results!

 

Used Berrys plated 100gr hollow base. Tried Titegroup and WST.

 

Found that the plunk test is very important! My first loads were to 1.15" and those wouldn't even chamber. Crazy how short those bullets need loaded in this gun. Meanwhile, the ones loaded to 1.055" did work. Obviously at this OAL I stuck to the minimum powder charge to avoid pressure issues.

 

I did two loads of each. Titegroup 3.5gr and 3.8gr, WST 3.1gr and 3.3gr. The results seem to be WST feels noticeably softer. All cycled the action with a 8lbs spring. But Titegroup was very much noticeably snappier. Not exactly what I was expecting.

 

The charges with a step up from minimum did group better with very little change in felt recoil. So, it appears the winner is WST 3.3gr with this particular bullet. I've now gone out and gotten the 147gr and a 124gr to try as well as added a lbs of HP-38/W231 to try with that. Interested in seeing the recoil difference.

 

Thanks!