125 grain coated bullets with unique

[swiley383]

I have some 125 grain Gallent coated bullets I want to load with unique. The only cast data I have with 124/125 grain cast bullets is with Speer #15 data. It shows 125 cast with 4.1-4.5 grains of unique at 1.13 COL. 1.13 wont plunk I loaded 1.10 at 4.2 grain and the slide didn’t lock open. Should I try this load again or bump up to 4.2-4.4?. Just want to make sure I was not riding the slide lock. Any suggestions? Still fairly new to this.

[chances R]

Assume you are referring to 9mm.  1.130 is generally good to go.  Your taper crimp should be around .377 - .378

 

[Jamie Jackson]

What gun are we talking about swiley383?

And Welcome to the world of handloading!

 

I/we have cast and powder coated 9mm in a 125 gr mold that drops at 130 grs with our lead. We size them at .357.

I see that the Gallant bullets are sized at .356 and they use Hi-Tek coating. That coating seems to work well for folks from what I read, but I've never tried them.

Our powder coating may be a bit thicker than Hi-Tek, I don't know... but we tried our rounds through 5 different 9mm Glocks (26-19 (x2) -17-34), all barrels slugged at .356. All factory barrels. All loaded using a "U" die. We found we needed to load OAL to 1.095 in a couple of the Glocks, but an OAL of 1.025" works well in my Glocks. These rounds work well in my S&W 9mm Shield as well.

I think @chances R hit the nail on the head. Glocks have very generous chambers, other 9mm makes may be a bit tighter.

Below is some data from 2016. I prefer 4.0 grs of Unique personally, but the 3.5 grs functioned well in all of the Glocks we tried them in. No issues with cycling.

 

130 gr PC RN (.357 sizing)         Unique 3.5 gr         WSSP              OAL 1.025”   

FPS: 1020  1018  1059  1066                     Avg Vel: 1042                 PF: 135

[swiley383]

Shooting from a G19 gen 4, G43X and a S&W SD9VE. Have not tried the in S&W yet. I wit give it a try again with 4 grains. I know unique is an old powder but seem like it works well from my reading. 

[chances R]

unique works just fine....just doesn't meter as well as some others.  My concern would be your 'plunk' test and as a result your crimp.

 

[Jamie Jackson]

I have the same concerns as chances R related to failing the plunk test and perhaps some step in your reloading, sizing, or crimping process.

Unique is one of my favorite powders and I've used it for over 30 years. I'm fortunate in that it meters great in my Dillon 550 and my ancient Lyman powder measure. I don't think the charge weight is the problem. As I've posted earlier, 3.5 grs of Unique cycled our Glocks. All of our Glocks do have factory recoil springs btw.

Back to your process @swiley383.

Are you full length resizing? (fully running the brass all the way into the sizing die?) I ask because I have been guilty of not fully resizing some .38 brass before (the die had loosened and backed out a bit...) and the rounds wouldn't fully chamber. It was "fixable" but a PIA. Thankfully it was only 40 rounds or so before I caught it.

Have you adjusted your seating die to give a bit of a taper crimp? or are you using a factory taper crimp die?

Lee makes a factory taper crimp die that may prove helpful.

https://leeprecision.com/carbide-factory-crimp-die-9mm.html

and last. but not least, is there any measurable bulging noted after you seat your bullets? 

It may be helpful if you could post a pic or two of your loaded rounds.

J.

[swiley383]

No bulge and I am using a lee factory crimp did. I loaded 200 rounds last night with accurate no5. All but 1 plunked and it appeared to be a fat bullet. I try the unique again this weekend thanks everyone.