What bullet gr. would you recommend for Sig X5 Legion?

[9mikemike]

Newbie here. What is the best bullet gr. for softer recoil and less red dot displacement?

[GrumpyOne]

Are you reloading or buying factory ammo?

[9mikemike]

I’ve just started reloading. I’ve tried Hi-Teck coated 125gr and just ordered 147gr. Please share your experience with different bullet gr. and your preferred weight and brand. Thanks!

[BZ919]

Try them both. You’ll find the 125s to be snappier than the 147s. If you find yourself waiting for the slide to return with the 147s, try 135s which split the difference. I like 147s, but my buddy who shoots much faster than me uses 135s 

[Kirkster]

I use 135grain DG Bullets.  Accurate and available…

[GrumpyOne]

For softer feeling recoil, the 147's will have an advantage. 

 

What powder are you using? 

Try some 147's with around 3.5 grains of VV N320, at an OAL that will work in your barrel (1.150 is what I run in my Shadow 1)

[9mikemike]

Thanks for the inputs. I am using a Titegroup. I’ll try to get hold of a N320. I’ve read that the N320 burns clean too. 

[SGT_Schultz]

On 6/19/2021 at 10:30 AM, 9mikemike said:

I’ve just started reloading. I’ve tried Hi-Teck coated 125gr and just ordered 147gr. Please share your experience with different bullet gr. and your preferred weight and brand. Thanks!

 

Building up your hand and forearm strength and, most importantly, learning how to correctly grip a pistol will make the weight of your bullets irrelevant.

[motosapiens]

On 6/19/2021 at 7:08 AM, 9mikemike said:

Newbie here. What is the best bullet gr. for softer recoil and less red dot displacement?

2 completely different things here, and neither is the important one. The important one is the time until the dot has settled for the next shot. This is why so many skilled and experienced shooters prefer lighter bullets (and snappier recoil) in many situations. I personally shoot 115gr in 9mm now, after years of shooting 124 and 147. The gun is simply ready to shoot again sooner. If you are concerned about dot displacement, grip your gun like a grown man and that will help.

 

Note also that the legion is famous for poor accuracy and tumbling with 147s. I tried some that I got for free, and they certainly tumbled in our gun, so I shot up the rest of them in my pcc. Bottom line, most people with legions run 124's.

[Zane1973]

I know someone who shoots a X5. He had his barrel slugged and it showed .356. He swears by the 135gr .357 bullets normally used for revolvers. He can hold an X ring at 50m easily. Just my 5 cents

[Dutchman195]

1 hour ago, Zane1973 said:

I know someone who shoots a X5. He had his barrel slugged and it showed .356. He swears by the 135gr .357 bullets normally used for revolvers. He can hold an X ring at 50m easily. Just my 5 cents

That seems like alot of money and time into something that doesnt really matter when your running and gunning. 

Best advice I can give OP. Shoot the 124s, 135s and 147s and pick which one you want. Most companies offer sample packs, or buy 100 of each and then give them a go. Over time as you shoot more I think you will come to realize it is all a wash. Gripping the gun better probably has more to do with it. As moto said above, 124s will snap the sights back onto the target faster, the 147s seem to have a dwell time as the gun recoils. I feel that with the 147s I am watching the front sight sit there for a milisecond before I see it go back down as the slide goes into battery. 

all that being said, I shoot all three. I used to swear by 135s, until I realized I can get 200 more 124s per case over the 135s so now I just shoot those. (also cheaper by .002 cents a bb)

[Ajsomp]

I ran 124s or 115s. I didn’t have good experience with 147s or the 150 syntech (not sure anyone does?). I think I mostly ended up shooting 124 because of availability at the time, but they also ran and fed just fine. It was as accurate as I needed as well. 

[BillGarlandJr]

I’ve shot a variety of P320s over the past 6 years and I’ve had the best results with 124/125gr bullets in terms of overall performance. The 147s did not want to shoot very accurately out of any of my P320s, while the 124/125s shot very well at a 130pf. I also found the sights/dot return quickly with the lighter bullets in comparison to the heavier bullets. I’ve messed around with some The Blue Bullet 135gr’ers. I like them so far. They kind of split the difference between the 124/125, and 147gr bullets, but I’ve found I need to drive them at a minimum 135 pf to get them to shoot as accurately as I like. At the end of the day what it comes down to is do your loads shoot accurately enough for our game, and do you like how they feel when you shoot them. Only way to know is to mess around with a variety of loads and pick one you like. 

[Boomstick303]

There is a lot of threads and info on this topic on this board already.  You can get 147gr bullets to group well as long as they are not powder puff loads (i.e. sub-sonic) out of a Legion.  When I ran 147gr bullets with a PF of around 130 the grouping was not acceptable with my Legions.  Once I bumped the velocity up and ran the PF up around 140 the groups became much tighter with 147 gr bullets.  Upon this revelation I started paying attention to PF more and did a lot more testing.  I actually prefer 124 gr bullets with a PF up around 135-140 where I find the gun is snappy and the groups are much better than lower PFs.  In other words, Velocity is king for accuracy from the limited testing I have done.  I also found I did not like the lock up on the Legions running 11-12 pounds 1911 springs when running loads with a PF of lower than 130.  I prefer a heavier spring which gives my Legions a more positive lock up after cycling.  When using lighter springs you also batter the take down lever.  Some have run into issues of breaking their take down levers.  It seems the *thumb rest [generic]* *thumb rest [generic]* have seen some failures at round counts that would seem rather low for that part to failure when using softer springs. 

 

It would seem from input from other the Barstow barrel which I believe has a higher twist rate than the stock legion barrels does much better with the 147 gr bullets.  I have not tested this at all, this is just what I have other observed reporting and reading on various forums.   

 

Others will have other observations and opinions and by all means my opinions and observations are not the end all be all.  

 

I recommend you find some good starting points and pay attention to a lot of things when doing load testing.  How the gun recoils, how quickly it returns (the dot comes back on target if you are at a level to recognize that), how the gun locks up after recoil, how tight are the groups for each load, etc.  I also think people get too caught up in creating powder puff loads because they always here that is what you need to do to have fast tight groupings.  I found that always comes back to grip more so than the PF of the load.  Keep good records of what  you find for each load so you can refer to them later.  I often go back to load testing I did in the past to help develop new loads, or see if the trends I am currently seeing with the new load data is what I saw in the past.

 

Creating the softest shooting pistol which heavier weight bullets allows for, does create other issues that need to be accounted for.  Something to keep in mind.

 

[Murzikrv]

I use 124 freedom.

[LDRIDER]

124g or 135g Freedom here as well. At 11.00 a box its hard to beat and I

can save time not reloading. As for accuracy, it almost always comes down to factors other than ammo.

[JoeMKY]

Mine works well so far 147 and 124g. Reloads and factory.

[LHshooter]

I use 147 gn Missouri Bullets with 3.2 gn of Titegroup powder in my X5. No issues with accuracy or tumbling of bullets.

Yes, the Titegroup is kinda dirty. I'd like to switch to VV N320 but now it is hard to find and costs about $10/lb more than other powders. But if I can get my hands on some N320 I'll buy it to try.

 

Should probably add that I use a KKM barrel.

Edited December 16, 2023 by LHshooter
To clarify

[99mpower]

Im a huge advocate of 135 TC bullets. the TC nose profile means it will pretty much feed in anything, and the 135 gn is a great compromise of price and quantity between 124 and 147s in regards to felt recoil/etc/etc

[csailer]

124 is a great happy medium.  115's will be snappier but all return faster.  147s will be softer but return the gun slower.  124's are perfect for me.  I think you should get your friend's best 115, 124, and 147 load.  Shoot doubles with the loads and choose for yourself.  Truly don't think it matters thattttt much.  Best of luck.

[JonasAberg]

I've been competing for 7 years so not quite a newbie and still far from an ace.

I have tried a bunch of different loads and when I started reloading I was convinced a heavier bullet would make me a better shooter. However, what I've noticed is that it doesn't really matter all that much. I've shot great matches with all of the bullet weights I've tried and many more bad matches with all of them as well. Bottom line for me, is that there are so many other factors that are way more important.

 

From a purely practical standpoint, it makes sense to just choose a bullet, set up your reloading station for that particular load and just crank 'em out. Focus your time and energy on training and shooting matches.

 

Learning and experimenting with different loads, trying new things, is a lot of fun though. In that sense, I say get a couple of thousand of everything and spend a season (or two) trying them out. The bullet weight isn't going to make or break your match so don't worry about it.

[sujumanji]

I have a pair of X5 legions.  90% of what I shoot and reload is 147gr FN FMJ.  The rest is 124gr RN FMJ. I'm very happy with the 147s, that is what I shoot in matches.  

[LMS]

Summit 135's with 3.7gr of N320 and 1.12OAL has been the most accurate for me.   I tried dozens of 124, 135, and 147 recipes and have settled in that.

[akarhi]

In my legion when I had it. I tried 137gr BMB (old version) and about 1.12" OAL and 3.5gr of n320. It seems fine and accurate

[OptimiStick]

mine was awful with 147s, but loved 124s