Shorter OAL to gain 3 pf?

[Craig N]

I have a nice little 9mm load that I like the feel of . I load to 1.14ish OAL. I shot the following velocities out of a 5" M&P Pro yesterday on a rainy overcast day.

147 grain lead 9mm

FPS

863

841

843

839

856

861

862

847

836

823

854

843

862

853

830

866

836

To get 125 PF with 147 grains you need 850.

The load I use for matches right now run 135 to 143 PF. I'd like to play with trying to get a "stable" just over Power Floor to see what I can do. But lately my testing and experimenting has had less that good results.

[LilBunniFuFu]

What powder and charge are you using?

1.140ish? What press are you loading on and how much of a range is "ish"?

[Hi-Power Jack]

Nine of your 17 shots were under 125 PF, and your lowest shot was 823 fps

(27 fps under PF).

I'd bump the load up by another 0.2 grains of powder and try it again. I like to

fire 20 rounds over the chrono and have ALL of them at PF 125, but that's

just me.

OAL, I'd leave alone if it feeds properly and accuracy is good.

[Craig N]

I'm using e3 and a lee auto disk. One drops 2.5 and the next one up drops 3.0 with e3. The 3.0 gives 135 to 140. I use it for matches. I was just wondering about playing around with it to see if I could get it with my set up.

The ish is 1.140 to 1.1450 depending on the fired brass.

[ZackJones]

I'd go with the 3.0 and not worry about getting too close to 125. Nothing worse than going under the 125 floor. As an experiment load 15 - 20 rounds with 2.5 and same with 3.0 and then mix them up and shoot them. It would be interesting to see if you can tell a difference. I can't.

[Hi-Power Jack]

I'm using e3 and a lee auto disk.

Oh, in that case, sure, why not try decreasing your OAL a bit.

I really prefer Zack's suggestion, but no harm in dropping

your OAL to 1.12" and see what that does - in terms of velocity,

accuracy & feeding thru your gun.

Good luck with it.

[Craig N]

Yeah I don't wanna take any chances at a major match but I'd like something to ride the line with for club matches and stuff.

[LilBunniFuFu]

Just a question, why do you play with 2.5 at the club level and then major at 3.0? Why don't you just practice the way you would at a major? Half a grain of powder isn't something that I would bother over and make sure I'd make the floor.

[LilBunniFuFu]

Doubled

Edited May 12, 2014 by LilBunniFuFu

[BeerBaron]

if you get a small round file you can open up the hole you are using at the moment to get 2.5 to get it to drop 2.7. that's what I'd do.

[Craig N]

Just a question, why do you play with 2.5 at the club level and then major at 3.0? Why don't you just practice the way you would at a major? Half a grain of powder isn't something that I would bother over and make sure I'd make the floor.

Just something to play around with.

[LilBunniFuFu]

E3 is of the faster variety, I would try it out and post your results.