I am gearing up to increase defensive type handgun practice with 9mil.

I have a lot (variety) of gun powders for target type loads.

I will be mainly loading jacketed/plated 115/124 range for within 25 yds with a Glock and 1911.

is there a single powder I should focus/search for around 1100 FPS?

Tightgroup? (I have never used it)
PowerPistol? I have never used it either

I am having some elbow/wrist/shoulder pain in my primary arm and want to focus on 9mil this year.

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if you're gonna be a bear...

There are a bakers dozen of powders that will work. what do you have available? HP38? Titegroup? Universal? These are my favorites.

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Science plus Art

I like Titegroup, cheap and a little goes a long way.

As stated, there is a multitude of powders which will work well in 9mm, and you more or less have to decide for yourself what bullet/propellant combination does what you want it to do. My choice for 9mm is Green Dot.

Slower medium burn powders

Power Pistol is my favorite but there are many that work, HP 38 Unique to many to list.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Autocomp and CFE Pistol are both soft shooting in 9mm minor loads (~5gr with a 124 bullet chrono out at around 1100). Titegroup tends to be a bit harsh IMO. W231 and HP38 are good powders too, but they seem to be in short supply (well, shorter supply than other short supply powders).

I'm happy with Unique. Power Pistol should be good too.

The softest shooting powder I have ever used in the 9MM is SR 7625.

I has been discontinued but it was easy to find some available online.

It meters very consistently and I use 5 grains for both 115-124 plated bullets.

SR 7625 should not be used in large cases but for 9MM, 40 and .45 it is
GTG.

BLM

I've worked up 3 equivalent loads with 124gr plated at 1050 using Bullseye, CFE pistol and W231. I don't see much of a difference between the three.

Out of those long barrels you do not need medium slow powders
like Unique for just.................1100 fps plated bullets.

Green Dot, w231, CFE pistol or faster powders will work.
If you like a case that is full rather than at 60% volume with
most ball powders, try some Red Dot if you have it.

With the fast powders I run around 4.0grs of powder and with
the medium fast powders I run near 5.0grs to get near your figures.
990 to 1139 fps are what work in three of my latest pistols that
I just got through testing for with the 124 and 115gr plated RN.

Sometimes you have to fudge on the fps to get a load that will
hit near your POA. All three 9mm liked a different powder and
two preferred the 124 for top accuracy target loads. You never
know what a pistol will like .
My last 9mm has 285 bullets down range in 115 and 124gr. the
next trip to the range will be for "Finals" on what loads to keep
on the shelf.

Good loading.

My favorite plinking load is 5.0 grains of CFE Pistol under a Berry's 124 GR FP. It is around 1,050 FPS from a 3.9" barrel, so should be closer to 1,100 in a longer barrel. Very soft shooting and very accurate.

You can also use 4.0 grains of Bullseye (1,010 FPS), but the gun gets dirtier.

Mike

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NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

My main powder for 9mm is W231. Power Pistol is also good. Tightgroup is economical but one must be very care full not to overcharge. I like the results with W231, but it is hard to find now.

I use HP-38 in all the pistol rounds I reload. Versatile and meters great.

Yes;

CFE and w231 will work with the 9mm pistol.
Just depends on what your needs are..................
( plated RN )

If you're serious about 1,100 fps, I would avoid the fast powders. I like HS-6 for hot loads, Power Pistol should be good too. Someone else mentioned SR-7625, that's another good one.

There's nothing rounder than Unique. I buy in bulk.

I like power pistol and AA2. AA2 could get a double charge but it meters like water.

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Front sight and squeeze

No one has given you any bad advice, but I'm more in agreement w/ Gamecock above. Unique might not meter the best, some folks claim it burns dirty, but I don't think there is a handgun cartridge around that you can't find data for, (ok, I'm sure there are some ). It's not always the best, but you can load it.

I would not feel disadvantaged if Bullseye and Unique were the only handgun propellants on the market. You can make useful and accurate loads in any caliber cartridge with one or the other, except for perhaps very heavy magnum loads. I find Unique meters through my Lyman measure very accurately for me, Bullseye a little less so. I occasionally use 231/HP-38, and find it about as good as Unique, in fact very comparable to it in charge weight. I just have a fairly large supply of both Unique and Bullseye, so that's what I use for most anything I load, from .32 ACP to .45 Colt.

What he said!!!

I have had good results using Bullseye, Autocomp, Tightgroup, Red Dot and when you could get it SR 7625. AutoComp has to be a favorite now and it meters like water. 124gr. plated bullet with 5.0grs shot out of a Beretta 92fs or a S&W 5903 has very light recoil and very accurate. Good luck.

I use Unique for shotshell loads, too.

Yea. Just about any of the powders suitable for pistol will get you 1100fps with 124gn slugs. However, Titegroup is quite snappy. Felt recoil is noticeably greater than some other powders. If you have hand/arm/shoulder issues, then TG might not be for you.
Personally, I like TG. It has been quite accurate with Rainier & Xtreme 124gn plated, out of my Shield. But, only at the lower end of the load range. As powder weight increased, accuracy decreased. IME.
Bullseye and 231 seem to maintain consistent accuracy through the whole load range. I've shot some Unique, also. I've not shot enough to form any conclusions, yet.

WSF is a great 9mm powder. Burn rate is close to unique, it meters very well and works fine in mid range to warmer loads.

Yes they will all work, But these words below are true.
You will not find a softer shooting powder than 7625. It is crazy good.
I just got through working up loads for a 380. I used 10-12 different powders.
When I got to 7625, I thought i Had loaded it wrong, because of the vast difference in recoil, but I double checked, and it was the max load to be used.
I loaded .2 grains more, and it was still just a soft.

I like 4.3 grs. bullseye under a 124RNL cast bullet. I get 1116 fps avg out of my M&P9c. Perfect!

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USAF, 69-92
Vietnam, 72-73

Any special powder..............?

I just ran a quick check on some of the powders that I have
used just for reloading my 9mm Luger ..........

Over the years I have loaded just the jacket and plated bullets
with over twenty one different powders........

from Bullseye to IMR 4227.

Have fun.

Unique is a good all around powder for a beginer because it's hard to overload. HS-6 is my powder of choice, 5.6gr with a Berry's 124gr RFN plated bullet