CFE Pistol - 9mm Minor Loads

[kdhill]

Well I was just about out of pistol powder (been using Green Dot) and ran across some CFE Pistol locally so I picked up two lbs of it. Loaded up some test loads and went to the range to chrono them. Unfortunately the wind dust kicked up so I don't know if that messed up any of the readings or not. I shot these out of an XDm 5.25" 9mm. The charges were set from my RCBS electric scale and powder dispenser. Here is the load info and the Results.

Powder CFE Pistol CFE Pistol CFE Pistol CFE Pistol

Load 5.0 Gr 5.1 Gr 5.2 Gr 5.3 Gr

Bullet 124 gr FMJ MG 124 gr FMJ MG 124 gr FMJ MG 124 gr FMJ MG

COL 1.135 1.135 1.135 1.135

Shots

1 1082 1110 1144 1141

2 1089 1133 1119 1163

3 1082 1126 1148 1148

4 1092 1127 1109 1136

5 1111 1133 1112 1145

6 1108 1110 1116 1145

7 1102 1121 *1104 1151

8 1105 1124 1112 1159

9 1084 1103 1139 *1112

10 error *1099 1116 1182

Average 1095.00 1120.78 1123.89 1152.22

STDV 11.61 10.74 15.28 13.97

ES 29.00 30.00 39.00 46.00

Avg PF 135.78 138.98 139.36 142.88

Max PF 137.76 140.49 142.35 146.57

Min PF 134.17 136.77 137.52 140.86

8/30/2014 8/30/2014 8/30/2014 8/30/2014

Cloudy Windy Cloudy Windy Cloudy Windy Cloudy Windy

80 Deg 80 Deg 80 Deg 80 Deg

I ended up dropping the lowest value of each string since the first sting had an error in it. The 5.2gr results seem out of place from the other loads. For USPSA I normally shoot for about 133 pf, so I might try a 4.9 gr load. Will probably load up 20 rounds of 4.9 and 5.0 out of my progressive and see which give the best results.

[Brooke]

Thanks for the information. I have been using CFE Pistol with 124 gr MG RN FMJ as well (Glock 34). I settled on 4.8 gr and a PF right around 130. I think that pretty well agrees with your data.

I was told that CFE Pistol is AutoComp with the copper fouling additive blended into it which slows the burn rate slightly. Since both are ball powders and the load data is very similar that appears to be a reasonable conclusion. When I could not buy more CFE Pistol, I bought some AutoComp and ended up with a load of 4.9 gr for the same result with the same bullet and gun.

For whatever reason it appears the CFE Pistol is a little cleaner, but that might be my imagination since I can't quantify that result. At the moment those are my go to powders because I have them and cannot keep a steady supply of anything else.

Edited August 31, 2014 by Brooke

[empire12369]

Good to know, if I can actually find pistol powder!