Advice for a newbie

[1911in9mm]

I’m fairly new to reloading, and sad to say the gentleman that got me started into it passed away several months ago.  So I’m looking for advice.  I only reload 9mm. 

So here’s my question, what powder would you recommend in 9mm to do the following things?  

1)push a 124 grain bullet roughly 1075-1100fps   2) meter reliably in a Dillon  3) lower flash than PP   4) have lot to lot consistency   5) reasonably available 

I currently have a good bit of VV N330 that fits these criteria, but it’s pricey and can get hard to find at times.  So far, Sport Pistol and BE-86 look promising, but what else and what do you like about it?  

[Tunachaser]

VV N-320 is more available but still expensive, however the price has come down some.  Also you need less N-320 so the cost per round is less.

[4n2t0]

Titegroup.

[MemphisMechanic]

Sport Pistol is vastly cleaner and more accurate than Titegroup. I’d make that my #1 choice: it’s designed to replicate N320 and it does it well.

[Hi-Power Jack]

I've been using WW231 (same as HP38) since Custer gave it up.   

 

Very nice powder for 9mm and .45.      

[ajblack]

Sport pistol is a great powder for starting out in 9mm reloading. Cheap, clean, good case fill (harder to double charge by accident). The only downside is that everyone else seems to like it as well, and it's becoming hard to find in stock.

[36873687]

1 hour ago, MemphisMechanic said:

Sport Pistol is vastly cleaner and more accurate than Titegroup. I’d make that my #1 choice: it’s designed to replicate N320 and it does it well.

Is that Alliant powder

[MemphisMechanic]

1 hour ago, ajblack said:

Sport pistol is a great powder for starting out in 9mm reloading. Cheap, clean, good case fill (harder to double charge by accident). The only downside is that everyone else seems to like it as well, and it's becoming hard to find in stock.

 

I also really like Vectan BA9.5 for 9 minor, and it’s still easy to find.

 

Soft, accurate, etc. If I were buying more it’d probably be that.

[B_RAD]

11 minutes ago, MemphisMechanic said:

 

I also really like Vectan BA9.5 for 9 minor, and it’s still easy to find.

 

Soft, accurate, etc. If I were buying more it’d probably be that.

BA 9.5 is the poo!

 

I love it!  About to order 10 more bottles. 

 

Though, sport pistol is probably easier to find locally if you ever need to buy a bottle to hold you over until you can order some. 

[RAP]

Sport Pistol is a great powder. Meters very good, accurate and clean. I’ve tried many different powders from Noble Prima V, VV N320, IMR Target, etc. a lot of them will do the job, but Sport Pistol checked all the boxes for what I wanted out of a powder. Accurate, clean, available and reasonably priced.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[4n2t0]

3 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

Sport Pistol is vastly cleaner and more accurate than Titegroup. I’d make that my #1 choice: it’s designed to replicate N320 and it does it well.

 

That's probably the first time I've ever heard of a pistol powder being inherently more accurate regardless of all the other factors that actually influence accuracy. I wonder what all those USPSA competitors were thinking when they chose inaccurate Titegroup as their powder of choice.

 

https://uspsa.org/magazine/view//2019-00#page=36

Edited January 15, 2019 by 4n2t0

[MemphisMechanic]

@4n2t0  I shoot plated 115s and titegroup in PCC because I have a ton of it I'm trying to get rid of, and the accuracy is sufficient for the task. But if I switch to prima V at the same PF the gun goes from 3" to 1" groups @ 25yd.

 

Through the same powder measure and the same barrel, I see triple the SD and ES. For whatever reason, through a PCC I always get an SD of 30-40 with titegroup, and velocities vary by almost 10 percent. Have your sarcastic fun, but this one's based upon chrono-verified fact, and not opinion.

 

 

[4n2t0]

10 minutes ago, MemphisMechanic said:

@4n2t0  I shoot plated 115s and titegroup in PCC because I have a ton of it I'm trying to get rid of, and the accuracy is sufficient for the task. But if I switch to prima V at the same PF the gun goes from 3" to 1" groups @ 25yd.

 

Through the same powder measure and the same barrel, I see triple the SD and ES. For whatever reason, through a PCC I always get an SD of 30-40 with titegroup, and velocities vary by almost 10 percent. Have your sarcastic fun, but this one's based upon chrono-verified fact, and not opinion.

 

 

 

Through YOUR setup. Through MY setup WSF is the most accurate load I have.

 

I wasn't being sarcastic, I was being real. I understand that Sport Pistol is the latest hotness but c'mon man! lol. If what you claim was actually true EVERYONE would load Sport Pistol.

Edited January 16, 2019 by 4n2t0

[MemphisMechanic]

WSF is a great powder and would quite possibly outshoot prima V if my pistol testing carries over to PCCs.

 

But I've never had stellar accuacy with titegroup in any handgun or a PCC. Other powders nearly always outperform it, but it continues to be the most popular recommendation because most USPSA shooters don't really do any load development for accuracy, whatsoever.

 

If it's soft, the load is easy to copy from the internet and get right right the first try, it makes PF, and it's affordable? They run it.

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by MemphisMechanic

[ajblack]

2 hours ago, 36873687 said:

Is that Alliant powder

Yes Sport Pistol is made by Alliant

[1911in9mm]

I’ve ghosted these forums for quite some time, reading the past several years worth of posts.  And it seems there are certainly plenty that love TG and SP.  From all I’ve read and as far as my local availability I think I’ll lean towards SP and keep some VV N330 onhand as supply allows.  Use the 330 to replicate the same velocity my carry load prints.  And work up a SP load that gets as close as possible for general plinking.  I certainly have learned volumes by reading up on you guys’ first hand experience.   So for that I say thank you all. 

[BallisticianX]

For 9mm minor in all 3 of my guns (2 auto's and one revolver);  my powder choice for plated bullets was Titegroup, found it relatively clean, consistent and accurate. For lead (cast or coated) I preferred WSF as it was clean, consistant, and again accurate. Titegroup did not seem to like driving hi-tek coated bullets at all....weird groups and velocity deviation. For jacketed bullets I actually had best accuracy with HS-6.  

 

[Bench]

17 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

 

I also really like Vectan BA9.5 for 9 minor, and it’s still easy to find.

What's your load for 9 minor with this powder?

Edited January 16, 2019 by Bench

[MemphisMechanic]

6 minutes ago, Bench said:

What's your load for 9 minor with this powder?

 

I haven’t worked one up to hit a known PF yet sorry.

 

Ask @B_RAD

Edited January 16, 2019 by MemphisMechanic

[Mcfoto]

I'm new to reloading too and will pass on some good advice given to me: Don't get hung up on the flavor of the month powder quest. Pick something tried and true and like you said, readily available so you can repeat good results. I started with HP-38 which I found excellent results with. The problem is our local retailers don't stock it regularly. Fortunately, I had a reloading mentor with a stash of Universal he bought during the powder drought and had moved on. So I'm working my way through that. My only issue with Universal is it doesn't meter well. It's a lot of work to get a consistent charge. I did piggy back this friend's order of Sport Pistol and have worked up a load in .40 major that seems to work well. But when the two pounds I bought ran out, I'll probably go back to HP-38. I haven't seen Sport Pistol on the shelf anywhere here.

[Bench]

17 hours ago, B_RAD said:

BA 9.5 is the poo!

 

I love it!  About to order 10 more bottles. 

 

Though, sport pistol is probably easier to find locally if you ever need to buy a bottle to hold you over until you can order some. 

What would you say is a good load for starters for 9 minor for 124 coated? I saw the load data for BA9.5 but saw nothing for coated. Thanks.

[B_RAD]

37 minutes ago, Bench said:

What would you say is a good load for starters for 9 minor for 124 coated? I saw the load data for BA9.5 but saw nothing for coated. Thanks.

My load is 4.3gr of BA9.5 , for a 124 gr Xtreme rn @ 1.150".  This got me 131 pf at Area 4 Chrono out of my Glock 34. 

 

I'd start at 4.1 for a 124 coated. 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by B_RAD

[Bench]

10 minutes ago, B_RAD said:

My load is 4.3gr of BA9.5 , for a 124 gr Xtreme rn @ 1.150".  This got me 131 pf at Area 4 Chrono out of my Glock 34. 

 

I'd start at 4.1 for a 124 coated.

THANKS!

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by Bench

[AHI]

I am going to recommend what I use.Not the flavor of the month. 

Should be available everywhere. BULLSEYE.     3.8 to 4.0 with 124/125s 

will do what you wont to do . accurate , meters well . second choice would 

be the new reformulated BULLSEYE known as Sport Pistol.

[BallisticianX]

4 hours ago, AHI said:

I am going to recommend what I use.Not the flavor of the month. 

Should be available everywhere. BULLSEYE.     3.8 to 4.0 with 124/125s 

will do what you wont to do . accurate , meters well . second choice would 

be the new reformulated BULLSEYE known as Sport Pistol.

I agree with you. I often find the older powders often perform equally or still better in some cases than the newer miracle blends. They are still around for a reason. Also I can say I never had a bad load with Bullseye. Not a bad choice, I use it for low volume accuracy loads in my non purposed handguns. For high volume competition shooting I personally find an alternative powder for the sake of soot reduction especially in revos. They tried cleaning it up some years ago but its still soots the hell out of the host gun. For a 100 year old formula its still hangs with the powders of today in terms of accuracy though. 

Edited January 16, 2019 by BallisticianX