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Favorite powder for 9mm Major in open pistols


Chillywig

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15 minutes ago, cconnection said:

I am a fan of the Winchester Auto-comp.  I have a new svi 9mm barrel and can make major power with 6.6 gr with a 124 Jacketed round PD bullet.  Does not seem to make sense to me to use a powder that you have to get up over 9 gn. to make Power, am I missing something?

 

Lower pressure, softer on the hand, flatter shooting

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1 hour ago, bigboy69 said:

For the people that are using Longshot powder for 9mm major, how soft/hard is it in the hand in comparison to HS-6 and WAC??

HS6 felt harsher to me over Longshot. WSF was my favorite powder, similar to N340, N350 felt softer but I could never find a reliable source. I can find WSF locally on the shelf all the time. 

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13 minutes ago, HoMiE said:

HS6 felt harsher to me over Longshot. WSF was my favorite powder, similar to N340, N350 felt softer but I could never find a reliable source. I can find WSF locally on the shelf all the time. 

 

WSF will make major in 9mm?????

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I've tired AA#7, Silhouette, HS6, Autocomp and CFE pistol. I'm still pretty new to open and will need more time to figure out what works best but so far my favorite powders are AA#7 and Silhouette.

I'm loading 7.6gr of Silhouette, 1.170oal, 125gr zero jhp and win small pistol primers its right around 172pf.

9.7gr AA#7, 1.170oal, 125gr zero jhp and win small pistol primers its right around 173pf.

To me AA#7 shoots a little flatter than Silhouette but AA#7 has more concussion and a harder hit in the hand. AA#7 is pretty clean burning so far from what I've noticed and still not sure on Silhouette yet but I'll know better after this weekend. I'm also starting to mess around a little with 115gr bullets but dont really have any info or opinions for them yet.

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Sean you'll like the 115s. Only draw back is case fill compared to 124/125 loads. When I was using Silhouette the little specks of fouling I got with 124 loads disappeared when shooting 115s. I can tell the AA7 makes more gas with the same PF loads in Silhouette. I can feel my hair moving with the AA7. Not sure if its concussion or just that much more air moving from the gas output from the comp. 

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Hello: Autocomp burns a little hot compared to some of the other powders. Good powder but I still like HS-6. In order they are HS-6, Silhouette, AA7, AutoComp, and 3N37. I tried some others but these seem to work for me. Silhouette is reverse temp sensitive so take that into account. 3N37 burns hot as well. AA7 leaves some unburned powder using 115's for me. I just seem to keep coming back to HS-6, 115 Montana Gold JHP, Winchester small rifle primers and range brass. Thanks, Eric

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I ran some 3n38 and didn't like having to use so much to make major in my 9mm. It felt similar to HS6 but didn't get the gun as hot.

 

I will finally get my hands on my N340 that I purchased a while back and will try it! If Johnny Lim says it is his go to powder then I want to try it. 

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Jack, yes I have tried 3N38 but it was years ago. Testing some Shooters World powders right now. I was told years ago, buy powder that available, works well and is cheap. At this point it is not the powder that is holding me back. I think I need glasses. Thanks, Eric

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20 hours ago, Chillywig said:

Sean you'll like the 115s. Only draw back is case fill compared to 124/125 loads. When I was using Silhouette the little specks of fouling I got with 124 loads disappeared when shooting 115s. I can tell the AA7 makes more gas with the same PF loads in Silhouette. I can feel my hair moving with the AA7. Not sure if its concussion or just that much more air moving from the gas output from the comp. 

I had tried some loads using aa#7 with a 115gr and worked up to 10.2gr at 1.150 and it made about 166pf. I plan to work up a little more and as far as i can tell its still not compressed at 10.2gr. I cant say anything on feel yet i was just working up loads to get up to make pf. I hear a lot of people like 115's and i have about 400 115gr bullets left so ill be loading up more and compare them to the 125gr.

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4 hours ago, sean_stw said:

  people like 115's and   i'll be loading up more and compare them to the 125gr.

 

I started with the 115's, but gave them up for 124's because there was too much

powder in the case - spilled all over my SDB.

 

But, I could tell the difference - the 115's were more pleasant to shoot - less

muzzle rise.

 

Going to try them again, one day     :) 

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5 hours ago, sean_stw said:

I had tried some loads using aa#7 with a 115gr and worked up to 10.2gr at 1.150 and it made about 166pf. I plan to work up a little more and as far as i can tell its still not compressed at 10.2gr. I cant say anything on feel yet i was just working up loads to get up to make pf. I hear a lot of people like 115's and i have about 400 115gr bullets left so ill be loading up more and compare them to the 125gr.

I ended up with 10.27gr of AA7 under a MG 115 CMJ ~1.160" 170ish PF. Depending on the case brand I think 10.5+ is doable

 

I have a hard time telling the difference till I do bill drills. 124s it starts to feel like the gun could come out of your hand compared to 115s

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51 minutes ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

 

I started with the 115's, but gave them up for 124's because there was too much

powder in the case - spilled all over my SDB.

 

But, I could tell the difference - the 115's were more pleasant to shoot - less

muzzle rise.

 

Going to try them again, one day     :) 

The spillage is real - I run my press about half as fast as I could to help keep all the powder in the case

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2 hours ago, Chillywig said:

The spillage is real - I run my press about half as fast as I could to help keep all the powder in the case

 

My current load is 10.7 grains AA#7 under MG115JHP's @ 1.165 OAL using mixed range brass.

Not compressed and I don't have to slow down loading with my 1050. Smooth is fast.

More powder=more gas.

 

I loaded 10.8 for a while and it wasn't an issue either.

9MM case holds 13.8 grains AA#7 full to the top - 10.8 is only 78% full.

 

To get the full case experience complete with lethargic loading speed, try 3N38!

9MM case holds 10.2 grains 3N38 full to top of case.

115's at major PF are a no go in any gun I've owned. I've loaded as high as 10.0 grains 3N38 compressing with a powder ram to just squeak major.

Seriously not worth that amount of trouble. 124's are very doable, but you must slow down loading and still deal with the compressed load and OAL's that frequently increase after loading. My most recent 124 load was 9.2 under MG 124JHP @ 1.185 OAL. That case is 92% full and the 124 is definitely pushing into the powder.

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Chillywig said:

The spillage is real - I run my press about half as fast as I could to help keep all the powder in the case

I just tried 10.6gr of aa#7 in my press just to see what the spillage might be, and thankfully it had little to no spillage though I had just gotten a Hornady progressive press and had to do a couple things to smooth out the rotation of the shell plate because I was having a ton of spillage with 7.6gr of silhouette and after I did those couple things it had little to no spillage. I was really disappointed with the hornady when i first got it but now it works great. 

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