VanMan1961

I use N320 for my 9mm minor and 40S&W major loads, so I worked up a few loads in 45acp major loads. It's ok, but I was getting extreme spreads of ~80fps, vs 35fps for Titegroup in 45acp major. I'm getting ~40fps extreme spread in my 9mm minor loads. Also, tried working up some soft 45acp target loads, but found N320 doesn't like to be loaded light - lots of unburned powder. Titegroup and Clays worked much better for that.

+1 on the chrono as the velocity will have an effect on POA vs POI. Factory 147gr will be around 980fps. My 147gr reloads using 3.4gr of Titegroup are 900fps. Your reloads at 3.1gr of Titegroup are probably going ~850fps.

I will use 147gr RN for IPSC, 100gr HBRN 380 bullets for Speed Steel, and I found the 124gr HP gave me the best groups so I'll use that for PPC.

I did some testing with my S&W 929's with 38sp bullets. I had slugged my cylinder throats @.357 and bore @.356. No real difference in accuracy between these different loads. The only difference I noticed was that my normal 9mm reloads were ~10% slower in my 929. I was also getting some bullet creep with my normal reloads 3.4gr N320 under 147gr Campro @1.10 COL - 910FPS, Dillon crimp die @.377. I switched my revolver reloads to a Lee factory crimp die @.378 and no more bullet creep.

I just worked up some 180gr 40S&W loads for my S&W 610 and Grand Power P40L

I've switched from Titegroup to N320 because it burns cleaner, meters well, and recoil feels a little softer. The other benefit is that it's a fluffy powder, so a double charge almost over flows the case - so very easy to spot. Not too much of a concern on my XL650, but very reassuring when working up loads on my 550b.

good to know. I may have to get an Apex firing pin to play with now too

I did some testing with the C&S Extended firing pin, but found the stock Performance Center firing pin worked better. I think it has more to do with the pointy profile of the stock PC firing pin (left) rather than the extended length of the C&S firing pin (right). Go for the Apex hammer though, that let's me run ~1lb lower with reliable performance.

glad to hear another happy 929 owner. I'm having a lot of fun with mine, developing all sorts of loads for it from light recoiling steel shoots, IPSC minor PF, and even some wad cutter loads just because I like the nice clean holes they make

the only primer I've set off in ~30k rounds reloaded on my XL650 was with a 9mm brass with a crimped primer pocket. It went in canted and then went off as I completed my push stroke. Developing a good feel for the push stroke to seat the primer is definitely a must.

Do they still sell the old formula Clays? If I stumble upon some at a LGS, are the markings different so I can spot the difference?

Mine took some fitting to get it to work with my 929, but well worth the effort. I get reliable ignition on Federal primers at 5 1/2 lbs, but I keep it at 6 lbs anyways

Apparently the recommended obturation is .001", so slug your barrel and size accordingly.

I ran some 124gr Campro hollow points with N320@3.1 yesterday at a steel shoot. I've only tested this load for accuracy, and haven't run it through the chrono yet. It's pretty soft shooting and I had no problems with the plate rack. I'll work up a light load with the 100gr 380 bullets (maybe 2.8gr Titegroup) and see how that does with falling steel.

I'm looking into getting into steel shoots with my 929 as well. How do your light loads do on a plate rack? Any problems knocking over plates or any other falling steel?

Couldn't stand the stock trigger on that S&W 929 anymore, so gave it a trigger action job and spring swap to bring it down to 2lb SA & 6.5lb DA trigger pull. Did another round of testing (17m, 8 shot groups shot in SA, supported off the bench). Better groups overall, with any flyers and bad groups directly attributed to me. Could not find any difference in accuracy between shooting 38 (.357") bullets vs 9mm (.355") bullets. So just going to stick with 9mm 124gr HP for steel shoots and 9mm 147gr RN for IPSC. Still going to load some 148gr HBWC just because I like the nice clean holes it makes. Just bought a couple boxes of .380 100gr bullets - going to develop a light load for steel shoots

Definitely sounds like you are getting some blowby. Sorry, no experience with the coated bullets. What sort of crimp are you doing? I've seen on copper plated bullets, you can crimp too much which can cut through the copper plating, as well as swage down the bullet even smaller. Could that be happening to your reloads?

clipping off coils to shorten the rebound spring will reduce the "pre-load" on the spring, but will not have any effect on the rated compression rate of the spring. It's been a while since my mechanical engineering classes, but it goes something like this. A "15 lb" spring would nominally increase 15lbs of resistance force for each inch compressed. If it was compressed .200" during installation, it has a pre-load of 3lbs. It will increase 1.5 lb in resistance for each .100" compressed, assuming .500" compression, it will increase by 7.5lbs to a net of 10.5lbs Here's an example comparing a 15lb spring, a 15lb spring cut down so the initial compression is only .100", and a 11lb spring. (note these are just examples. I don't have the specifications for the actual S&W rebound springs) So compared to the cut down 15lb spring, the 11lb spring has the advantage of higher preload (more positive trigger reset) and a lower incremental resistance for distance compressed to a lower net resistance force.

Are these plated or lead bullets? And do you know what kind of speed you are getting? I've been running .355" 147gr copper plated bullets at ~910fps without any problems in my 929's.

I got a chance to do some accuracy testing using a fresh (new and untinkered with) 929. I posted the results in this thread http://forums.brianenos.com/index.php?/topic/239265-slugging-a-929/&page=2 The net was no definitive difference in accuracy between 9mm and 38sp bullets reloaded into 9mm cases. I did find a load (124gr .355" bullet HP, N320@3.6gr) that gave very tight groups so I'll be following that one up for bullseye and steel shoots

Finally got some definitive (for me anyhow) results on the accuracy testing of my S&W 929 using various 9mm and 38sp bullets loaded into 9mm cases, and some 147gr 9mm rounds from a commercial reloader as a benchmark. The net is, even with a 4X scope and shooting bench-rested, I am still the weakest link in testing accuracy. I found no meaningful difference between using 9mm and 38sp bullets. I could tell when a bad trigger pull pulled the scope off line and gave me a flyer. Surprisingly the Campro 124gr HP gave excellent groups. I can`t say this is definitive with only a 2 target groupings, but I do intend to follow this one up work up some bullseye and steel shoot loads. The only downside I can see from shooting 9mm bullets out of my 929`s is that it does not efficiently use the powder charge as there would be blow-by of gasses between the .355" bullet in the .357" cylinder throat. I did measure a 80fps decrease in speed between my Grand Power X-Calibur and my 929. Here's some details on the test I ran and pic's of the targets. Handgun - S&W 929: New, unmodified. 4lb 7oz SA/ 11lb 6oz DA trigger pulls cylinder throats measured (slugged) @ .357", bore @ .356" 4x fixed power scope Projectiles tested: 147gr Campro Round Nose Truncated Point (.355" @ various loads) 147gr Berrys Round Nose (.355 @ 130pf load) 124gr Campro Hollow Point (.355" @ light bullseye load) 158gr Berrys Round Nose (.357" @ various loads) 148gr Berrys Hollow Base Wad Cutter (.357" @ various loads) Custom Reloading Services (commercial reloads) 147gr Round Nose Flat Point Testing Method: gun supported on bench on top of case all shots fired in SA 2 groups of 8 shots fired for each type/load all groups shot at 17m, indoors. Test Target #1 158gr Berrys RN, N320 @ 2.8gr 158gr Berrys RN, N320 @ 3.0gr 158gr Berrys RN, N320 @ 3.2gr 158gr Berrys RN, N320 @ 3.4gr 147gr Campro RNTP, N320 @3.5gr (my 132PF semiauto load) 147gr Campro RNTP, Titegroup @ 3.6gr (my revolver 132PF load) Test Target #2 148gr Berrys HBWC, N320 @ 2.8gr 148gr Berrys HBWC, N320 @ 3.0gr 148gr Berrys HBWC, N320 @ 3.2gr 147gr Campro RNTP, N320 @3.1gr 124gr Campro HP, N320 @ 3.6gr 147gr Custom Reloading Services

are they both around the same round count? Wondering if you slugged the chamber throats and barrel if you would find one has larger dia? Haven't had a chance to run parallel tests of my 929's with the same load. Will see if I can get to that in the next week or so.

are you sure you are getting a complete powder burn? I was testing out some light loads in my 625 and went too light on one batch. The way I noticed was the rounds would not slide into the chamber and get stuck ~1/2 way. All it took was a couple of grains of unburned N320 to hang things up.

LowBoost, when I started reloading on my 650, I started very simply and then added on more processes as I got more confident. ran decapping and sizing first, to make sure my decapping was going ok. There's bug where the old primer sticks to the decapping pin and then gets sucked back in to the primer pocket. Station 2 then reseats the old primer and leaves the new primer still in the primer feed disc. You can minimize this by slightly tapering and polishing the decapping pin. I then set up and ran the seating die, and added the crimping die once I got that dialed in using the decapped brass (just making dummy rounds with no primer or powder) then I added the powder measure to station 2 and once that was set up for the proper case flare, I added primers and started running rounds through, while manually placing bullets in station 4 - still using decapped brass once all that was running smoothly, I started running cleaned unprocessed brass. You need to develop the feel on the push stroke to identify any issues with priming. after I was comfortable with the each stage of the progressive processes, I added the Mr Bullit feeder and really started to pound out the rounds (after I worked up and chrono'd a good 9mm minor load) I actually just got a 550B to work up other 9mm loads and tinker with 40S&W and 45acp loads. It's much easier than trying to run small 20 round trial batches on the 650, and caliber changes take only take a couple of minutes.

weight is great for stability I was still getting some movement though. I really should have doubled up the 1" plywood when I built this bench. A strong-mount would have helped a lot, but I didn't have enough height in my basement. Putting a 5th leg directly under the press did the trick though