Best bullet weight for coated 9mm competition

[Haalck]

What are peoples opinions on the best 9mm bullet weight for competition (IDPA) using coated bullets(125 pf) I understand that 125,s cycle faster and 147 have less felt recoil. Are 135,s a happy medium? 

[himurax13]

Yes.

[Guy Neill]

I've always liked the 124 - 125 grain bullets in the 9mm.

 

[Ben53]

I've been using 147's, but I'm going to try some 135's my next match.  I've been told it's an excellent compromise.  

 

[vegaspete61]

I've always been a 147 grain fan although I have also shot alot of 125's & 135's. I always go back to the 147.

[OpenshooterMclass4lyfe]

A 135 is a great middle ground weight.  Not as soft as a 147 and not as snappy as a 124.   Nice slide velocity and softer then a 124. 

[BigMoneyGrip]

Get 100 of each and see what you like best. For me, it's a Summers 145.

 

[Joe4d]

half a dozen of 1 six of the other,,,  Its 9mm MINOR !,,,   None will make any difference on the clock or scoreboard unless a steel doesnt fall.  I say 124's and load em up to about 132pf..  You get a couple hundred more in a flat rate box. 

 

[motosapiens]

it doesnt really matter. i buy 115's because they are cheep cheep and a little snappier and quicker-cycling than 124. But we are shooting heavy guns (shadow 2 and sig legion) so recoil is not even a thing.

[Orlandoech]

I prefer 135s, then 124/5, then 147s. I just didn’t care for the impulse of a 147 with several different powders I tried from TG, Sport Pistol, W231, W244, N320, and N340. 

[Orlandoech]

On 9/15/2022 at 2:41 PM, motosapiens said:

it doesnt really matter. i buy 115's because they are cheep cheep and a little snappier and quicker-cycling than 124. But we are shooting heavy guns (shadow 2 and sig legion) so recoil is not even a thing.

im a girl with recoil, so I’ll happily disagree lol. But anything under 130pf is soft ha. 

[motosapiens]

1 hour ago, Orlandoech said:

im a girl with recoil, so I’ll happily disagree lol. But anything under 130pf is soft ha. 

my wife is a girl too, at least last time i checked.

[tmorg]

I settled on SnS 125 coated 3.8 TG 1.150 . I was using 147’s and liked the recoil push a slight bit 

better than 125’s . My daughter is starting to shoot now ( she’s a girl ) and likes the 125’s.

So to keep things simple we both use the same bullet

[Farmer]

Now that I have some of each I’m going to load them up to the same PF and load them in one mag to see how much difference there is in accuracy and recoil. 

[Orlandoech]

9 hours ago, Farmer said:

Now that I have some of each I’m going to load them up to the same PF and load them in one mag to see how much difference there is in accuracy and recoil. 

 

Focus on dot movement and slide return more than recoil impulse.

[echotango]

Tried 147's and 135's and always end up back at 125's. 

[jkrueger]

135 is the best... or at least what I use 

[v1911]

The plus that 147gr have are the flat nose making a cleaner ring to be scored. 
 

Otherwise, it’s all personal preference, what powder/charge your use and what spring rate you have.

 

I use 147gr in my pistol, but 124gr for my PCC. Yes, my PCC load is hotter. 

[Kwontanamo]

1 hour ago, v1911 said:

The plus that 147gr have are the flat nose making a cleaner ring to be scored. 
 

Otherwise, it’s all personal preference, what powder/charge your use and what spring rate you have.

 

I use 147gr in my pistol, but 124gr for my PCC. Yes, my PCC load is hotter. 

I plan to do this as well. Except the load data I have is for 135 (CO) and 115 (PCC).

 

do you mind sharing your load date for 124 and 147?

[v1911]

I’m a bit old school and have some older powders.

 

I still have old recipe Clays for loading. 3.0gr over Acme 147gr. Was good for 135pf.

 

As far as 124gr go, I currently use Precision Delta 124gr JHP. The 124gr are used for my MPX. It doesn’t play well with coated.

But back when I used to pick up the phone to order Bayou Bullets, I used 3.4gr of Clays under his 124gr round nose. 

[mveto]

I prefer 135’s as well, very good recoil impulse and for me the dot tends to track a bit better over 124 and 147 for som reason

[MaX_1]

On 10/2/2022 at 7:02 PM, mveto said:

I prefer 135’s as well, very good recoil impulse and for me the dot tends to track a bit better over 124 and 147 for som reason

+1,  I use 135 RNBB NLG from IbejiHeads

[chgofirefighter]

IMO, there's no "best" bullet weight for anything....  Each individual has their own likes, dislikes, their loads, etc...  Consider testing a few honorable mentions, blues, etc, test all the weights out and see what you'll like and take it from there~ 

[bigboy69]

I love the 135TC Blue Bullet.

I use it for minor and major.

[Farmer]

I finally had a chance to test 125,  135 and 147’s together. I haven’t shot for several months and pretty rusty so I did a couple of tests. I basically just took a target, put three dots on them. Bullets were 125g Precision bullets, 135 Blues and 147 blues. All were loaded to 129-133 PF. My splits were better with the 125 and 147’s by .08 but accuracy was much better with the 125’s. Today I tried several different combinations to get the 135’s to shoot accurately with no success. I don’t know if I’m in some kind of shooters funk or what but those 135’s are all over the place. I know my gun does like the larger size when it comes to coated but these are really bad and I don’t know if it’s a combo of that and me or what, but it’s discouraging. As far as recoil impulse they pretty much feel the same. Just as a test I’m going to try the same loads in my other gun to see if there’s any difference.