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9mm Major Primer Results?


rbuck

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1 hour ago, bret said:

You are shooting 9mm major,  I don't think you have enough case volume for 3n38, it is a slower powder.

 

Hmmm.  3n38 seems to be my gun's favorite powder for accuracy and dot stability.  8.6 gr at 1.170", pf 170.  

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2 hours ago, teros135 said:

 

Hmmm.  3n38 seems to be my gun's favorite powder for accuracy and dot stability.  8.6 gr at 1.170", pf 170.  

Surprised you have enough case capacity in 9mm.

 

I use it in .38 Supercomp and 9.6 grains is almost a full case, N105 fills the case pretty much.

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5 hours ago, bret said:

You are shooting 9mm major,  I don't think you have enough case volume for 3n38, it is a slower powder.

 

Mostly true.  I think some barrels and using 124s do make major in 9, but barely.  I don't think you can fit enough 3N38 to safely pass every chrono.

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4 hours ago, teros135 said:

 

Hmmm.  3n38 seems to be my gun's favorite powder for accuracy and dot stability.  8.6 gr at 1.170", pf 170.  

 

 

121 or 124s.   Don't tease us with just "8.6 gr at 1.170", pf 170."  and are you shooting IPSC floor of 160 PF ?

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1 hour ago, lcs said:

 

 

121 or 124s.   Don't tease us with just "8.6 gr at 1.170", pf 170."  and are you shooting IPSC floor of 160 PF ?

 

124 gr PD JHP.  Chronos at 170 pf.  CK Hardcore, 9 major.  

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10 hours ago, bret said:

You are shooting 9mm major,  I don't think you have enough case volume for 3n38, it is a slower powder.

 

There is enough room for 3N38 in 9mm cases for 9 Major.  Several shooters on this forum use 3N38 with 115 grain bullets, and love it. It fills close to the top, but it still works. 

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9 hours ago, bret said:

Surprised you have enough case capacity in 9mm.

 

I use it in .38 Supercomp and 9.6 grains is almost a full case, N105 fills the case pretty much.

I used 9.5 gr 3n38 under a 115 for a while in 9 major. It was a bit of a pain to load but shot great.

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I used 9.5 gr 3n38 under a 115 for a while in 9 major. It was a bit of a pain to load but shot great.

From talking to some very trusted fellow open Shooters, along with what I've read on enos, the disadvantages of 3n38 that I can see are that it's a pain to load, the rounds will grow from being so compressed, and it's expensive. In that order.
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1 hour ago, Gooldylocks said:


From talking to some very trusted fellow open Shooters, along with what I've read on enos, the disadvantages of 3n38 that I can see are that it's a pain to load, the rounds will grow from being so compressed, and it's expensive. In that order.

Sounds about right.  If your freebore allows, you can load an MG 124 grain bullet out to ~1.21"  You don't have to worry about setback because of the compressed powder.  You also get lower initial pressure as you're loading closer to Super v. 9mm length. 

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1 hour ago, Gooldylocks said:


From talking to some very trusted fellow open Shooters, along with what I've read on enos, the disadvantages of 3n38 that I can see are that it's a pain to load, the rounds will grow from being so compressed, and it's expensive. In that order.

 

Being a pain to load is what caused me to switch. The increase in cleanliness and very minor (unnoticeable at my current level of shooting) gain in performance isn't worth the headache while loading. So I went to HS6. Cost was a nonissue and I didn't notice OAL growth.

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9 hours ago, al503 said:

Sounds about right.  If your freebore allows, you can load an MG 124 grain bullet out to ~1.21"  You don't have to worry about setback because of the compressed powder.  You also get lower initial pressure as you're loading closer to Super v. 9mm length. 

 

My experience is that doesn't leave enough of the bullet in the case. Not enough case tension to hold bullet reliably.

 

I ran MG 124 JHP's at 1.200 until a bullet fell out of case inside magazine during a stage. Kinda messy malfunction. I adjusted OAL to 1.185 with 124's and 1.165 with 115's and have never seen this again.

 

 

Edited by racer-x
corrected typo
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27 minutes ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

 

Guess that was 1.200" ?   That's Very Long for 9mm ... 

Thanks, that is correct - I did mean 1.200 :)

 

Seemed like it was enough tension on the bullet, until it wasn't.

 

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8 hours ago, racer-x said:

 

My experience is that doesn't leave enough of the bullet in the case. Not enough case tension to hold bullet reliably.

 

I ran MG 124 JHP's at 1.200 until a bullet fell out of case inside magazine during a stage. Kinda messy malfunction. I adjusted OAL to 1.185 with 124's and 1.165 with 115's and have never seen this again.

 

 

I've shot several K loaded at 1.21" without issue.  You have to go a slightly shorter with zeros and PD as they're slightly shorter than MG).  I load non compressed loads (AA7, SP2, True Blue, etc.) at 1.19" (with PD, MG and Zero bullets) without issue.  I'd check your crimp.  I leave a .0 to .0005" bell at the case mouth to avoid over crimping.  

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1 hour ago, al503 said:

I've shot several K loaded at 1.21" without issue.  You have to go a slightly shorter with zeros and PD as they're slightly shorter than MG).  I load non compressed loads (AA7, SP2, True Blue, etc.) at 1.19" (with PD, MG and Zero bullets) without issue.  I'd check your crimp.  I leave a .0 to .0005" bell at the case mouth to avoid over crimping.  

I ran nearly 5000 rounds at 1.200 before I had a bullet fall out. Was running True Blue at the time as well, so it wasn't compressed at all. 1/5000 isn't a high failure rate, but I still don't like to get burned by the same thing more than once if I can avoid it either.  

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2 hours ago, racer-x said:

I ran nearly 5000 rounds at 1.200 before I had a bullet fall out. Was running True Blue at the time as well, so it wasn't compressed at all. 1/5000 isn't a high failure rate, but I still don't like to get burned by the same thing more than once if I can avoid it either.  

I hear ya.  That's why I load un-compressed loads to 1.19"  

 

Besides the powder keeping the bullet from setting back into the case, I think it also helps stop any movement that might allow the bullet to rock/work itself out of the case as well.  

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On 06/06/2017 at 11:03 PM, bret said:

Surprised you have enough case capacity in 9mm.

 

I use it in .38 Supercomp and 9.6 grains is almost a full case, N105 fills the case pretty much.

 

9.6 is a stout load but no where near a full case. I've loaded 10.4gn of 3N38 in supercomp. still able to load as short as 1.240 without compressed load issues.

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