My wife will be shooting a new Shield that I bought her for protection. I'm thinking 147 grain bullets with either HP-38 or W-231. Trying to take as much Snap out of the recoil with the 147s. Thoughts? Thanks.
If you want less snap with a 147 you need to get it under 900 fps................
a 115 at 926 fps has a lot less recoil than the slowest 147 you can muster..........but if a 147 is all you have.......
go for it.
(You did not state barrel length or if the loads were for practice or SD)
A 24.5 oz 9mm with a 147 at 930 has......... 5.1 ft/lbs of recoil
a 115gr at 926 fps has............................. 3.01 ft/lbs of recoil
You might check out the standard Federal 124 HST before you make your final decision on factory SD ammo.
I agree with Ed (for some reason I usually do ) If you load 115gr bullets you should reduce the felt recoil. I can't find w231 ANYWHERE. I mostly use SD factory ammo and reload for "shooting". Most SD ammo is expensive and loaded hot IMO.
The 115 at 1200 fps and the standard 124gr GD do not do well in the short 3" 9mm barrels.
You need the 124gr +P or short barrel to get the expansion needed for the bullet to work correctly.
The minimum SD 115gr for the 3" is the Hornady CD ..........
Defense, not the Duty round for the 3" barrel...........
if it will cycle in your pistol.
The Cor-Bons shed their jackets and a lot of the others only get 10" in plain gel test......some are too slow and do not start to expand and go through a 18" block of gel.
The ONLY standard loads that work and expand in the 3" test were the 124 and 147 HST factory loads. The 147 had a average diameter of .60" !!
A good load for the M&P Shield?
Linear Mode
