9mm Major at sub-insane pressures? QuickLoad says yes, but I'd lik

[MoNsTeR]

I found Power Pistol unimpressive in 9 major, but more to the point it suffers from a velocity plateau. I don't have my notes in front of me but I believe around 7.4-7.6gr it stopped gaining velocity as charge weights went up, and at that point it was just barely making major in a 5.4" barrel. There is another thread floating around where someone reported Longshot exhibiting the same behavior.

That may be a case that QuickLoad does not deal with properly.

For my part I think of safety a little differently when it comes to 9 major. A truly safe powder for 9 major is one where you can't fit enough powder in the case to blow up the gun. That includes Power Pistol, 7625, #7, 3N37, 3N38, and probably one or two others that I haven't tried. HS-6, Silhouette, and Autocomp are relatively more dangerous in that you can fit a lot more powder in the case than you would ever want to use. None would allow a true double charge though, so they're all safer than (for example) Titegroup in 40.

Beyond that the only concern with high pressures is wear and tear. From observation I would say that how precisely one's gun is fit, and the quality of steel in the parts, are far more significant than pressure when it comes to longevity and probability of failure.

[Akkid17]

7.2gr + 124 = 162pf in my Glock. It took 7.7gr to make 166pf. 8.2gr was 179pf with no pressure signs.

What primers were you using? I got close to 160 pf and had serious primer flow with fed small pistol

[Steve RA]

You might try 4756, I used it in a Glock 17L when they first came out and it worked quite well.

[Yardbird]

I've used both CCI small pistol and small rifle and never had a hint of pressure signs.

[MainlineSteve]

None would allow a true double charge though, so they're all safer than (for example) Titegroup in 40.

I keep reading the Silhouette is so much safer than TiteGroup because it's easy to double charge TG, but not Sil. But is that really true?

Take these similar loads for the

Sierra 125gn JHP

MAX TiteGroup load is 4.2gn/1045 @ 31,200

MAX Silhouette load is 5.0gn/1050 @ 34,061

Looks like a big diff in qty, but it isn't. Silhouette weighs more per cc. The corresponding volumes are TG: .36cc Sil: .38cc. They look very similar when viewed from overhead.

Sorry for the hijack.

Tip with PP - always use magnum primers.

4.2gn TG