9mm carbine

[div]

I know, it's been posted here and there in other forums. I've read them.

 

I have a CX4 Storm in 9mm, as well as a RI 1911 doublestack 9mm, and a SR9c. Working on putting together a nice general purpose 9mm load. All of those are rated for +P ammo.

 

Starting off with the storm. Loaded 4.5, 4.7, and 5.0 grains of unique (i had it on hand) using a motley collection of once fired brass and 124g Hornady XTP JHPs. The best group was hands down the 4.5 grain load. See the pic in the next post. I've got a chrono, but haven't ran the loads through it yet, but what i'm expecting from other posts from the internet elite (and Bill Gates personally verifies everything on the internet daily, so we all know it's legit) is that this load is going to be ~1000fps out of a 4.5 inch barrel and ~1150fps out of the 16" carbine. 

The 5.0g load grouping was almost double the size at 25 yards. If you want pics i'll post them. 

My question is - where do i go from here? I'd like more velocity, but i don't want to give up accuracy. I'm driving the 3 hours to Murfreesboro for the gun show tomorrow (later today) to see if i can pick up some power pistol or blue dot, as the internet commandos say those powders, along with VV 3n37, are the way to go.

 

Does anyone have any real world experience that can provide suggestions?

 

 

[div]

[Dolomite_supafly]

I have used Clays, Longshot, HS-6, VV3N38, VV3N37 and Power Pistol for my 9mm. I prefer Power Pistol over all of them. A close second would be 3N38 but that is because you can load a 147 grain bullet to 1,200 fps using it (yes it is listed in their manual). Power Pistol isn't as miserly as some of the other powders I have used but I do like it a lot.

[Static_USMC]

+1 on the power pistol, it seems a little louder suppressed though.

[molonlabetn]

Not trying to derail the thread... But how has your reliability been with the CX4? I had one when they were first introduced and it never went through a whole magazine without a stoppage. I'd be very interested whether they got out the kinks, I might give one another go.

[div]

Struck out on powder over the weekend. No power pistol at the show. Thanks for the suggestions guys - looks like I just need to find powder and try it out. molonlabetn - I've only got about 300 rounds through it, but I've not had a single issue of any kind. My biggest complaint is the awful trigger. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[1gewehr]

I use 6.4gr of Power Pistol with a 124gr Rem Golden Sabre or 124gr Winchester bulk round nose.  That gets me right at 1200fps from my CZ75, and about 1350fps from my Sterling with a 10" barrel.  That will probably get you to about 1450fps from a 16" barrel.

 

For powder around Nashville, try Reloaders Bench in Mt Juliet or Outpost Armory at exit 89 on I-24 south of Murfreesboro.  I'm sure somebody nearer to Memphis carries a decent selection of powder, though.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

 

Difficult to complain with the results!

 

I've been using ramshot sillhouette for 124gn 9mm, which is well suited to loading hot 9mm that won't blow up the gun. Maybe the other choices are better. Often silhouette is just as hard to find, or harder to find, than the alternatives. Just mentioning the alternative.

 

Though it looks like lower velocity is giving you better accuracy, unless maybe a different powder burn rate would have a different accuracy vs velocity sweet spot?

 

I have a cx4 storm, hasn't given any trouble but haven't tried to wear it out. Am such a poor shot, maybe it would be fruitless to tune ammo for accuracy. :)

Edited April 28, 2014 by Lester Weevils

[div]

That's sort of what I'm trying to figure out. In my limited reloading experience I've seen the best accuracy in the lower 1/3 - 1/2 of the published load data in both my pistol and rifle loads. But almost all of the tests I've seen on bullet performance in ballistics gel have used loads at the upper end of the velocity range, and the few that have used lower velocities (3.5 inch barreled pistols) have had poor performance. Using the 124g bullet at 1200fps at 25 yards, if my calculator is correct, would have the bullet impact energy at ~355lb-ft. Moving up to 1400fps with the same scenario you get 473lb-ft. That's a 33% increase in impact energy for a 20% increase in muzzle velocity. So... How do I get the velocity needed to get the best bullet performance while maintaining the best possible accuracy? From what I've seen here and there, if I can load power pistol or blue dot to where I can get ~1600fps with a max load, I might be able to get 1400fps in that lower half of the load range where I get the best accuracy. I think I need to buy quickload and play around with some scenarios. I'm also wondering just how much seating depth affects velocity/pressure/accuracy in a case as small as a 9mm. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I'm so ignorant about it. Neglecting accuracy, reckon it would be "safer" running near the edge loads in a blowback rifle than in a pistol?

 

I ought to chrony my loads in the cx sometime. As best I recall without looking it up, my 124gn xtp hp loads are a little hotter than 1200fps in a beretta 92, about nato levels. Dunno what that would do in the cx, velocity wise. The oal of an xtp hp bullet is shorter than average, and by some references I'm "on the top end of safe".

 

Tiny changes of oal supposedly account for potentially large changes in peak pressure. Last time I studied up on it, there are only a few powders good for safe really hot 9mm 124gn loads. At 115gn or lighter there are a much wider variety of powders that are "safe" to load hot with. Or so I read. As you say, the internet is never wrong, and its been years since I stayed at a holiday inn.

[BJB]

No one has mentioned it yet. But I love bullseye in my 9. I run 4.8gr with 124gr bullet and get real good results. That's is out of my XD, XDm and XDs. I have also run them thru a 9mm AR an have never had any problems. I do not know my FPS. But it is an Awesome combination