It looks like from the above posts, I’m not going to have much trouble loading coated cast bullets in a 9 mm. My concern was unjustified. Thank You.

Now comes the hard part. Where to start.

I would like to try 115 or 125 grain Poly Coated RN(?) bullets. I have been ordering my bullets for the other calibers from SNS Castings and have been satisfied with them. I also have a large supply of 231 around and would like to use that if possible but I’m not married to it if a better powder is noticeably superior and readily available.

In the past loading for other calibers I’ve used the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, the powder manufacture’s site or what is considered a proven standard load by experienced shooters. Needless to say, you cannot always find the data for the specific bullet and powder you have on hand.

Hodgdon shows 4.3-4.8 of 231 for 115 grain RN bullet but uses WSF for a 124 Grain RN Bullet. Lyman has nothing specific for a 115-grain bullet. But It does show loads for 125 grain bullets of different shapes and hardness for 231 ranging from 3.9 to 4.4 grains.

My first inclination is to use the Hodgdon data for 115 grain RN bullet. It’s tested. But It seems starting out with about 4 grains of 231 under the 125-grain bullet would be fine too. The 147-grain bullet seems a bit heavy. Thoughts?

When I shot Bullseye, the standard 45ACP load was a 185 or 200 grain SWC cast bullet in front of light charges of Bullseye. This was a gold standard. There must be similar loads for the 9mm since it is used so much in competition. What bullet weight and loads are used most often? Mainly I shoot paper out to 25 yards and generally don’t try to extract the last bit of accuracy out of my loads. My competitive days are mostly over. If a load is reasonably accurate, functions reliably and feels good in the hand. It’s good enough. It not worth a lot of effort to reduce the group by that last quarter of an inch, when the real variable is the shooter

Are there any special things to watch for in loading a 9mm?

I’m a careful reloader and have loaded tens of thousands of rounds mostly 45 ACP and 357 Mag. When I start out with a new caliber, I like to have as much information I can based on other’s proven experience backed by published data. This greatly reduces the sample size. This has always been a great place to learn from other’s experience.

Thanks again for your input and opinions. They are always appreciated.