Too Eazy

55gr Hornady #2266 soft point with cannalure. CCI #400 standard small rifle primer, lake city once fired brass and 23 grains of RL10X with a case over all lenght of 2.20 with a light crimp worked good out of my 14.5 inch barrel. Went up to 23.5 but settled at 23. Now I use the new Alliant Power Pro Varmint powder. Same bullet, same primer, same case, same col, same crimp but 25.0 grains of the Power Pro Varmint and it shoots SUPER flat. @ 25 Yards and 100 yards point of impact is almost the same. @ 50 yards its about an inch high maybe less. No chrono data.. Sorry. And as always start low and work up. Both of those loads are a few tenths higher than the book loads but I have NO signs of pressure. Primers are still round on the edges. 5 reloads on the same batch of brass with the new loads and the primer pockets are still tight, they're re-sizing like normal and they're not stretching out to where they have to be trimmed everytime. Your mileage may vary though so I'd start at 22.0 for the RL10X and 24.0 for the Power Pro Varmint with standard small rifle primers and work up. Mike EDIT: Sorry, what I meant was with a 50 yard zero it has almost the same point of impact at 100 yards and a little less than an inch high at 25 yards. The rifle also has a low sight plane so that helps but it still is a super flat load.

Buffalo Bore makes a 147 grain +p+ that goes Major according to the velocity they advertise on their site. I've never trid their 147 load but I did shoot their 115 gr +p+ through the chrono at 10' and it was over 1400 fps, which is what they advertise for a 4" barrel. So I'm assuming the 147 gr velocity they advertise is accurate also. So you know though that stuff is SUPER spendy.

Do you mean some type of solvent or is it a tool of some sort? I cleaned the snot out of it and scraped the inner edges of the 2 offending chambers with a brass pick. Didn't seem to help. And good luck with getting it back, my "buddies" have a lot of my tools that they "only need for a few more days" Funny, I thought a few days were monday, tuesday and maybe wednesday, not december, january and february... Mike.

Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong area but I need help. I just bought a new to me used S&W model 36-1, 5-shot 38 spl. The problem is I can only load 3 rounds in it. The other two will not fully seat in the cylinder. Thus not allowing me to close the cylinder. I'm pretty sure it is a 80's model. The barrel is marked 38 smith & wesson spl. I tried my normal 38 spl reloads and a box of factory 38 spl. Same 2 chambers wouldn't let the rounds seat with either ammo. I trimmed some cases down from my normal length 1.145 inch to 1.125 and loaded some dummy rounds that were .020 shorter oal and they seat just fine. It has some numbers engraved under the cylinder on the left side of the frame and someone said that means it was built for export and was re-imported back to US. Don't know if that's true but the engraved numbers don't look factory. You can tell it was done after the gun was blued. Also the cylinder is .025 inch shorter than my S&W Model10 and .025 shorter than my Colt DiamondBack. WEIRD!!! I'm confused. Any help is better than no help. Thanks, Mike.

It's a new powder from Alliant called Power Pro 300. The tech at Alliant said the burn rate is about like H110 and it will never work for "standard" 9mm loads. It's definitely a magnum powder, but I was wondering if anyone has tried it for Major 9 loads? All thoughts and speculation welcome. I have just started working major pf loads, mostly with Power Pistol but I just picked up a pound of Blue Dot and I'm going to work up some with that. But I'm very interested in this Power Pro 300... Thanks a lot, Mike.

Sorry for the double taps on my replies! I don't know what's going on here... My fault.

Another thing is one of the posters here said you'll probably have bad leading problems with the cast lead bullets and he's right. Most barrel lead comes from the burning powder melting the base of the bullet so the more hot gas you load behind it the more melted lead you get in your barrel. A good alternative for your practice loads would be the Rainier copper plated 147gr hp. Its cheap (not as cheap as cast lead but close) and as long as you keep'em under 1200fps they're very accurate. They are. 355 diameter like the Hornadys also so the data will be close, just start low and work up to where you want to be. I get mine (115gr hp) from Cabellas but you can find them just about every where on line. My 115's are about $40 per 500.

Another thing is one of the posters here said you'll probably have bad leading problems with the cast lead bullets and he's right. Most barrel lead comes from the burning powder melting the base of the bullet so the more hot gas you load behind it the more melted lead you get in your barrel. A good alternative for your practice loads would be the Rainier copper plated 147gr hp. Its cheap (not as cheap as cast lead but close) and as long as you keep'em under 1200fps they're very accurate. They are. 355 diameter like the Hornadys also so the data will be close, just start low and work up to where you want to be. I get mine (115gr hp) from Cabellas but you can find them just about every where on line. My 115's are about $40 per 500.

VV is a european company and the way I understand it is the way the measure pressure is different than ours. I'm pretty sure their max standard 9mm pressure is 36300 psi. A tech at Hodgdon told me euro data is a bit faster than ours. My VV 1st edition max data for a 147 gr Hornady XTP/HP is 6.1 gr of 3N37 with a CCI500 primer and a col 1.142 and it goes 1152 fps out of a 4' barrel and pressure is 36300 psi with their pressure testing method. I've never tested it but that's what VV has printed in my manual. My Hornady 7th edition book lists the 147 gr XTP/HP max charge using AA No.7 powder at 6.7 gr. using a win wsp primer with a col of 1.100 and that's going 1000fps out of a 4" barrel, they don't list what the pressure is. Hope that helps, Mike.

VV is a european company and the way I understand it is the way the measure pressure is different than ours. I'm pretty sure their max standard 9mm pressure is 36300 psi. A tech at Hodgdon told me euro data is a bit faster than ours. My VV 1st edition max data for a 147 gr Hornady XTP/HP is 6.1 gr of 3N37 with a CCI500 primer and a col 1.142 and it goes 1152 fps out of a 4' barrel and pressure is 36300 psi with their pressure testing method. I've never tested it but that's what VV has printed in my manual. My Hornady 7th edition book lists the 147 gr XTP/HP max charge using AA No.7 powder at 6.7 gr. using a win wsp primer with a col of 1.100 and that's going 1000fps out of a 4" barrel, they don't list what the pressure is. Hope that helps, Mike.

Well what you said about plated bullets answers a problem I've been having so far. I've only tested to 7.0 grains so far with PP and Berrys 115 hp's ( just looking for signs of over pressure mainly) and accuracy started to get really bad at 6.7, 6.8 and is laughable at 7.0 I thought it might be col thing but what you say makes sense. Thanks! Have you tried Hornady hp XTP's? If so is there any velocity difference between them and the MG or the Zero bullets with all other factors being the same (powder, charge weight, primer, col etc)? Thanks, Mike.

I have been using it for awhile for production loads and I want to move to open and shoot major pf. I have a lot of it and like it so I want to keep using it. I found some power pistol data in the decade long thread here, but not muc on power pistol. So if anyone has worked anything up with POWER PISTOL help me out please. Will be using ranneirs or berrys 115's hp and can't go longer than 1.160. Thanks, Mike.

Yes Galloway Precision has a stainless steel guide rod, it's threaded at the muzzle end so you can have it captured or un captured. I have one and love it, combined with his 20lb spring the gun shoots ultra flat. You can't shoot ultra week ammo with the heavier spring though but that's what's nice about his guide rod, it's easy to slip the factory spring back on. Mike

Don't get me wrong, I love my .380 LCP! And yes the LC9 will be my next ccw. I was just ranting a bit because I'm noticing a bit of a trend with Rugers new designs. They're all really cool, but they seem to be sending'em out a little early. I'm with you though. For a carry nine the LC9 will be the way to go. I'll get one I'm just going to wait now to see if his firing pin was an isolated issue or if its going to be some sort of recall. Mike

Yep, I thought Ruger where about the tuffest on the market. Got a 93 94 and a stainless GB had a custom 1022 . I'm with ya. I've always had the utmost faith in Ruger. I've got 2 new 581 series mini 14's in sage int. aluminum cqb stocks, one I had shortened to 14.5 with a perm fh installed and the other is 18.5 that I had threaded and installed a fh. No problems with either. Over 40k rounds between them not one failure. I had a P95, same thing it never failed but I sold it got an SR9 had to send it back a week after I got it for the recall. It worked fine before but it made me nervous so I sent it in. Then my bro got the SR556 about a year and a half ago and it wouldn't work! Had to send it back! It has been flawless since back but they wouldn't tell him what was wrong before. Weird... I still really like Ruger but they need to stop rushing these new designs out the door BEFORE they are ready. If you give the LC9 another chance let me know how it shoots. Mike. Mike