STI SteelMaster (with compensator) minor 9mm load?

[davsco]

way back when i bought this gun STI said it was made for Winchester White Box 115g which is what I've been using.  now that i'm starting to reload, l'd appreciate any recipes y'all might have.  I have vv 3n38, hs-6, e3, titegroup, n320 but open to buying something else if it works better.  also i have Zero 115 and Prec Delta 115 as well as hornady and prec delta 124, but again open to something else if it's better.  this will be primarily for falling steel matches.

 

thanks!

Edited March 9, 2021 by davsco

[Farmer]

Out of my XD 4.5, 3.2g of E3 under a 125g Precision FN gets me 1025 FPS. Very clean, accurate  and nice recoil. You could probably bump it to 3.5-3.8 with a 115 or more uummph. 

[drewbeck]

With no pf requirement, pick any medium book load, make sure it functions/is accurate, then load all of that bullet that you have.

you honestly have too many options without a defined purpose. Trust the manuals vs internet until you want to venture outside of the published data.

 

 

 

 

 

[davsco]

yeah but with the compensator, just wondering if there was some secret sauce...  i did load up some test loads using the 3n38 that was rec'd for full open (comp'd) guns, obviously with less powder.

[Rez805]

On 3/8/2021 at 4:36 PM, davsco said:

way back when i bought this gun STI said it was made for Winchester White Box 115g which is what I've been using.  now that i'm starting to reload, l'd appreciate any recipes y'all might have.  I have vv 3n38, hs-6, e3, titegroup, n320 but open to buying something else if it works better.  also i have Zero 115 and Prec Delta 115 as well as hornady and prec delta 124, but again open to something else if it's better.  this will be primarily for falling steel matches.

 

thanks!

I shot my buddy's Steel Master for a few months (I'm a production diehard and they wanted to see what would happen). I ended up using my Production load which was 3.3 grains of Red Dot under a 147 grain coated bullet. This load chrono'd at 134PF at the Top Gun Championship out of a 4.25" M&P. In the Steel Master it was pretty violent and dot bounced quite a bit.

 

I upped the powder charge to 3.5/3.6 (It's a Lee Autodisk so there's only so much fine tuning available). It steadied the dot, but the smoke/soot/residue was nuts.

 

In the following video a Production shooter learns the meaning of "24 / 23 reloadable". Probably could have been more aggressive on the first paper. Bad positioning into the plate rack. Yes, the last plate on the plate rack was a surprise hit so there was a bit of a delay.

https://www.facebook.com/6413977/videos/10105339865773045/

 

Keep in mind: Red Dot is a very fast powder--faster than titegroup. I wouldn't recommend it if you have other powders available. If nothing else, you can see that the gun survived a few months of it.

[missed it by that much]

I load for my dad who has the same gun I use zero 115 conical loaded to oal of 1.080 and 4.4 grains of titegroup. He has I believe a 9 or 10 lb recoil spring for reliability. Got rid of the spring that came with it. 

[zzt]

For falling steel, especially forward falling steel, I like hotter loads.  144-155 PF works best.  I use 7.0gr 3N38 under a 124.  However, I have a very efficient comp and two 3/16" poppels.  That load might overload your comp and increase recoil.  Basically, you want all the gas exhausted by the comp with very little exiting the front.  HS-6 might work better for you, but it's really dirty at low pressures.  I've found 3N38 stays clean even when loaded to under the recommended starting load.

 

BTW, I'm using the 124s because I have a lot of them, plus I'm reserving the 115 JHPs for major.  The same 7.0gr under a 115 barely cycles my 1911 Open gun, but it is clean and accurate.

[open17]

Wife wanted to go minor with her Major 9 2011 open gun.  Arthritis in her hands, major was getting painful.

5.4",  3x.156 poppels, Bedell comp.

I found this load online.   8.1 HS6, 95 gr jhp, OAL 1.130.  Not a lot of bullet in the case, use a U die sizer.

Chrono's in the mid 130's.   Recoil spring is 6.5 lbs. on my spring tester.

Runs very flat and very soft.  She gets a little dot bounce.  It doesn't move for me, and hulk types get a 

little dip.