AdvocatusDiaboli

Thank you! Unfortunately, I'm sitting on 3600 of these. I'm not new to reloading... just new to reloading 9mm. I've never had so much trouble getting accuracy before. Usually, with my rifles, I can have a sub moa load in less than 150 rounds. I'm already double that with my 9mm and still no clear direction to go. On a side note, I was at the range last weekend and saw another shooter using blue bullets. No smoke whatsoever. He said the accuracy has been great and he prefers them over the bbi.

Printing a ring.

I don't have any factory 147 gr bullets to try. I haven't seen them in any local stores for a very long time. I could order some online, but it seems pointless to buy 1 box online for testing purposes. My chrono will be in later this week. I will do some testing over the chrono to see what I'm getting. I'm also going to tighten up the diameter at the mouth of the case .002" & see it that helps at all.

The only powder I've tried is Titegroup. I have 8 lbs of it. Factory ammo seems to group okay.

Thousand or even hundreds of rounds for load development seems excessive, but I am going through the same thing right now with 9mm in my G34.When I developed loads for my rifles, I don't ever recall needing more than 150 rounds to develop a sub moa load. And that is for 7mm-08, 300 win, 30-378, & 204.

Yes

I ordered a pro chrono digital. In not going to shoot any more ammo until I get it. I'm loading some rounds at 1.170 because they passed a plunk test in my gun.

Was that from a Glock?

I have not slugged the barrel. I will put that down on my list of things to do. The only problem is, I'm sitting on over 3600 bullets of the .355, 147s.

My seating die insert does have two ends. I'm using the end for round nose and not flat nose. I'm hesitant to adjust the mouth of the case to .378-.379 because everything I've read and been told by the Dillon Precision people is to keep the mouth at .380-.381. Any tighter than that I could deform the diameter of the bullet, which would affect how it moves through the barrel. I have a hard time believing the the small marks on the tip of the bullet affect the accuracy that much, given that bullets come with flat noses, hollow-points, etc. If I can't get the 1.17 OAL bullets to group, I will try the tighter mouth case.

I have been doing OAL in .010" increments. I was hoping to see one load more accurate than the others and then fine tune that load by .005" increments. I've had no such luck.

I will look into a Chrono. I may just try and buy one this week if I can't get my latest reloads to work. As for powder throws. I have been measuring the powder before I run a set of 25-30 rounds (for a given weight) and then I check the weight again before I reset for another load. So if I were loading 3.2 grains, I would drop 6 charges to ensure my new setting is in fact set. Then I would measure a charge. If the charge was off, I'd make an adjustment to the powder bar nut (I think that's what' called), drop 6 charges and then measure again. Once I had it dropping 3.2, I'd measure it again just to make sure. It the second throw was at 3.2, I'd run a load of 25-30 rounds. Then before I changed for another powder charge, I'd drop another charge just ensure I'm still dropping 3.2. So far, (knock on wood) I've been spot on after running a batch. As you suggested, I grabbed 20 bullets from the same box of 500. I weighed and measured each individually using an RCBS 5-0-5 scale and my Caliper. Each and every bullet diameter was spot on at .355". The weights (I zeroed the scale before measuring and then when I was finished, I rechecked the zero to ensure it had been maintained...and it had been). The results were: 147 146.7 146.7 146.7 146.5 146.7 146.7 146.7 146.8 146.6 146.9 146.8 147.1 146.6 146.7 146.8 147 146.8 146.8 146.8

What kind of grouping were you able to get? As for the Speer brass, I get it for free. I'd hate to have to toss it all and buy new brass. It is right at 2.07". Not spectacular by any means, but it was the best I could get. What is your goal? I wouldn't toss the brass. As long as it is all the same brand, that is the important part. At this point, I would be thrilled with 2" groups at 15 yards. Like I said, I've reloaded rifle ammo for several years. I could always get them (rifles) to group better with my reloads than with factory ammo. I'm so frustrated right now that if I get these bullets to group comparable to factory ammo in my G34 I'd be content. All of the brass is Speer.

My bell is .02". I measured the brass prior to putting the bell on the case and then I measured the bell after it had been put on. My 'crimp' if you will, simply takes out the .02". This is what Dillon recommended. I have pulled 4 bullets at different times to check the marking left from the seating and crimping. It is very difficult to see any markings whatsoever. If I am doing anything correct in this process, I'm relatively confident the bell and crimping is pretty darn close to perfect. EDIT: Every reloading manual I've come across says the 9mm should be .380 at the crimp. My ammo is consistently right at .381.

Thanks for the reply Raven. To answer your questions: 1. I did try some of the loads at 25 yards. Same garbage grouping. I did not notice keyholing. 2. I don't know the muzzle velocities. 1) I don't have a Chrono yet. 3. I have 3600 more of these bullets, so I've got to use them up. I did buy 100 Speer FMJ (147 gr) jacketed bullets. I just loaded some up today and will test them at the same time I test the loads I made today.

What kind of grouping were you able to get? As for the Speer brass, I get it for free. I'd hate to have to toss it all and buy new brass.

I should add that I've also tested 3.2 grains Titegroup at 1.110 OAL, 1.135 OAL, and 1.155 OAL. Same crappy groupings. I've just loaded up some 1.170 OAL of 3.1 gr, 3.2 gr. 3.3 gr., 3.5 gr. and 3.6 grains. I will try to test them later this week. If that doesn't work, I'm fresh out of ideas. I've loaded rifle ammo for several years on an RCBS Rockchucker. The 550B and loading for 9mm is new to me. If you can think of something I'm doing wrong, please let me know. I did notice my dillon die is leaving a small mark on the very top of my bullets. But I don't think that is the culprit.

Blazer 115 grain FMJ Factory ammo.

This factory Speer Lawman 124 grain FMJ at 15 yards off-hand. I think that I can rule out shooter error for the previous groups. More pictures to follow

Here is 3.3 grains Titegroup. Again, the OAL is 1.110 Here is 3.5 grains Titegroup. Same OAL More pictures to follow.

Like the title says, I could use some advice. Trying to find a load for my G34 and Xtreme 147 gr. bullets with Titegroup is starting to get out of hand. I'm already 300 rounds into this endeavor and still not closer to getting a decent group. Some basic info: Gen4 G34 Stock barrel 13 lb. ISMI recoil spring custom trigger Xtreme 147 gr. round nose plated bullets Speer once fired brass Remington small pistol primers Dillon 550B .381 Diameter (where the crimp would be) All groups where shot at 15 yards. This picture is 3.1 gr of Titegroup. OAL is 1.110 I put the stock spring in to test this group. I was thinking that the 13 lb. spring wasn't locking the gun consistently so I tried the stock 17 lb. spring. As you can see, there was no improvement. So I went back to the 13 lb. spring for the remainder of the groups. Edit: For reference, the targets are 5.5" x 7.5". More pictures to follow.

+1 I was having the same problem. Swapped out the slide stop with a standard one. No more issues.

Love my Hondas. 2010 Accord & 2013 Pilot.

I'm going through this now. It is a PITA. It's not that I don't enjoy shooting. I just feel like I'm wasting valuable range time and ammo because it doesn't do much for improving my speed with my gun... which is what I need.

I shot my best match to date last Tuesday. Normally, I'm shooting with the "C" class guys, but Tuesday, I managed to keep up with the "A" class shooters. I even had several positive comments by M and GM shooters after some of my courses of fire. I was hoping to build upon that this morning. I ended up shooting one decent stage and three horrible stages. Damn that is frustrating.