Precision 9mm 147's And 'clays'

[instructor]

I am considering loading Precision 9mm 147's with Hodgdon 'Clays'. Have any of you reloading gurus worked up any of these loads? What would be a good starting load? I heard that I need to be careful with the crimp (little or none)........or should I forget Clays and use something else. I am after a load that has very little recoil.

Thanks,

Jim

[bufit323]

I am considering loading Precision 9mm 147's with Hodgdon 'Clays'. Have any of you reloading gurus worked up any of these loads? What would be a good starting load? I heard that I need to be careful with the crimp (little or none)........or should I forget Clays and use something else. I am after a load that has very little recoil.

Thanks,

Jim

The softest recoiling load will be with the heaviest bullet and the fastest powder. There are those around that will test this to the extreme. I feel comfortable shooting N320 with 9mm 147gr Precision Delta bullet. It recoils like a joke, I get standard deviations of velocity around 0.5% and accuracy is great (no problem hitting poppers at 50).

[BillGarlandJr]

My experience with the coated bullets such as Precisions vs.jacketed bullets has been this: With jacketed bullets you can run a heavy bullet with a faster powder and get the soft recoil we all want and still maintain good accuracy. With the coated bullets such as Precisions (of which I am a big fan) you get a very soft recoiling load by running a heavy bullet over a fast powder, but in my pistols I have often sacrificed too much accuracy with those types of loads. Clays is a very fast powder, and while I think you will definitely like the feel of the load, you are likely to be unhappy with the accuracy you get.

One of the great things about the Precisions is that in general they are a soft shooting bullet, so you can run lower charges of slower powders than you would with jacketed bullets, get the velocity you need to make the required power factor, and still enjoy the benefit of a soft recoiling load.

A load I messed around with and kind of liked was 3.7gr of WSF under a 147gr Precision. It felt good and if my memory serves me it made about a 130pf out of my Barsto barreled G17. If you give this load a try start a little lower and work your way up.

Good luck with your load development.

[revchuck]

Jim - I got some of those bullets sized to .358 to try in my revolvers, and didn't like them due to the bullet shape (too hard to speedload). They're too big for my CZs, but work in my Beretta. 3.7 grains of Unique with an overall length of 1.14" runs about 935 fps (137 PF). You could probably back off a couple of tenths and still make a 130 PF.

Clays has a reputation of bridgding in a powder measure at low charge weights (I'd try about 2.5 grains for a starting load with the 147 Precision). I've only tried it once and don't have experience with charges that low, just repeating what I've read here and other places.

[19852]

I also like the Precision bullets. But I use a medium powder like VV N340. Still shoot soft and accurate in my CZ.

[Carlos]

Clays is a very fast powder, and while I think you will definitely like the feel of the load, you are likely to be unhappy with the accuracy you get.

Good luck with your load development.

Agreed. However, if you proceed, there is actual PUBLISHED DATA on 147 lead bullets and straight Clays in the (I believe) Lyman pistol reloading manual (its the manual with the chapter by early IPSC guru Arnt M. Myhre. I would not try TG with a coated or lead bullet - to hot burning & too much smoke. I am expiramenting w/ Solo 1000 and 147s.

Have you considered Universal?

[bufit323]

In concurrence with the above, I should note that I tried my loads with lead bullets (which were rediculously soft) but experienced accuracy problems as well. The exception was if I used the hardest lead bullets I could find (laser cast). Then I was good on recoil, good on accuracy, good on standard deviation, bad on cleaning and bad on smoke.

I went jacketed, costs the same as the really hard lead stuff, no smoke, and easier cleaning. I only sacrificed the slight increase in recoil. Now that I begin to improve I of course am starting to see that it does not matter that much. Eventually, I think that I will go to a lighter jacketed bullet to save the money. I will wait until I am good enough that the snappier load does not affect me at all.

[Steve Moneypenny]

Agreed on the Tite Group and 147's i can't make them work out of any gun but one!

you folks think TG makes more smoke than others.

so my options are VV and what? behind a 147 precision?

[DougCarden]

Clays and lead 147s are a good way to have a lot of bad rounds due to the bullets not obiturating and sealing the bore due to the low charge. This leads to "poof" instead of bang, and then pushing the bullets out of the bore. Accuracy was not there either. Dont' get me wrong, CLAYS and jacketed bullets (115-125) to minor are great with CLAYS, but I gave up on using it with lead bullets. I think that the powder is too fast as well for the coated bullets too.

Give it a try, but there are too many good recipes here with other powders to do what you want without a lot of work....

Regards,

DougC

[Mike Wood]

I am considering loading Precision 9mm 147's with Hodgdon 'Clays'. Have any of you reloading gurus worked up any of these loads? What would be a good starting load? I heard that I need to be careful with the crimp (little or none)........or should I forget Clays and use something else. I am after a load that has very little recoil.

Thanks,

Jim

I used their bullets in 200 grain SWC for my CDP gun for some time. They're accurate and had very little standard deviation with the Clays. They also make PF easier than standard coated or jacketed bullets. The reason I stopped using them was the difficulty of getting the moly coating out of my barrel. I even bought the special solvent to remove moly and it's still a bitch.

I contacted them and they're the ones that turned me on the special solvent. If you poke around enough you will find all kinds of complaints about that black stuff getting laminated to the inside of your barrel. It is absolutely the hardest thing I've EVER tried to get out of a barrel. It is a fitted Nowlin match barrel and was quite smooth and had been shot quite a bit before going to the moly bullets.

If not for the mess moly bullets would be highly recommended.