Light bullets in 9mm and .38 Super

DWalt

DWalt

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I came into several thousand plated 100 grain .380 bullets at a very good price. I don't reload .380s much any more, but I do load 9mm and .38 Super. From what I can find, it seems that, in at least 9mm, 5.5 to 6.5 grains of Unique should make a good load. So far, I haven't found any published .38 Super load data using such a lightweight bullet. I am thinking that around 7-8 grains of 700-X might work well enough in .38 Super and should function the action OK.

Confining powders to Red Dot, Green Dot, Unique, and 700-X (I am fresh out of Bullseye at present or I would add it to the list), has anyone worked up satisfactory functioning 9mm and .38 Super loads using 100 grain plated bullets?
 
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Per a 1982 Hornaday manual (pressures by piezo-electric) in 9mm you're looking at 5.1 gr Red Dot max, 7.1 gr Unique max for the 100 gr fmj with claimed velocities at 1200/1350 f/s respectively. There are no .38 Super loads with a 100 gr bullet, shows 7.1 gr Unique as max, 5.4 gr 700X max, both showing 1350 f/s with a 110 gr jhp.

A more recent manual doesn't show any .38 Super loads with the powders you list.
 
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The Lyman book has plenty of jacketed and cast bullet data for both 9mm and .38 Super using jacketed and cast bullets as light as 90 grs.
 
In .38 Super have been using 100 grain Berry's plated RN-HB .380 bullets for about 15 years since switching from 115 grain CorBon JHPs to 100 grain Corbon PowR'Ball ammo for carry.

Used to run 7.0 grains of Unique that ran in the 1400s but dropped back to 6.0 grains that is running in the low 1300s. VERY accurate...

Bob

#1 was probably 6.0, the other two 7.0 of Unique..

Target #1 is 15 yards

Target #2 is 10 shots in 10 yards with my 1952 Commander that was carried from 1980 to 2007

Target #3 is 7 yards
 

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I like to run bullets with the same weight for practice as I do for carry... Since I am carrying the 100 grain CorBon PowR'Ball (1530 fps) and 90 grain Underwood Xtreme Defender (1560 fps) in my daily carry Commander the 100 grain Berry's bullet gives me the same recoil impulse and POI on the target.

For everything else I use 124-140 grain bullets.

Bob
 
Buy a copy of the "One Book, One Caliber" .38 Super books from "Loadbooks USA". There is plenty of 115 gr. clear down to 90 gr. Or you can just load the light ones using 115 gr. data! Except for some of the newest numbers there is data for just about any propellant you would want.
 
Alk8944 said:
Buy a copy of the "One Book, One Caliber" .38 Super books from "Loadbooks USA". There is plenty of 115 gr. clear down to 90 gr. Or you can just load the light ones using 115 gr. data! Except for some of the newest numbers there is data for just about any propellant you would want.
Click to expand...

Or you can go with my One and Only Load for .38 Super:

10.4 grains of VV N105 behind a 125gr bullet. 1,400 no BS FPS.

1,475 in my long slide.
 
I think some are missing the point of this post....the OP has got a bunch of 100 grain bullets to burn up and needs some suggestions for loads...
 
SuperMan said:
I think some are missing the point of this post....the OP has got a bunch of 100 grain bullets to burn up and needs some suggestions for loads...
Click to expand...

Not at all. The point is shoot them in the 9mm.
 
I think several folks missed the point: he found a good deal on a batch of bullets, he wants to use the powders he already has on hand. I can sympathize, decades ago, Remington decided to get out of the component business and I got a slew of 158 gr LRN .38s for next to nothing. Burned off the last of them this year.

The caliber specific loads books are a good suggestion though, forgot about those. The more recent data books tend to feature newer powders and discard the old standbys. There's always the Alliant website, though it isn't as user friendly as it could be. If you go to the pages that list specific powders and click on the cannister of the one you want, you can access caliber specific load data.
 
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I would think you're going to hard pressed to find the optimal load for those 100's along with a limited powder selection. But it may very well be there somewhere. Sounds like you certainly have enough to work towards it and if not,trade or sell them off.
 
I tried the little 100gr JRN in my old 9mm back in the 70's with
several powders and many OAL's to try to get any accuracy out
of this light weight bullet.

No luck with this one pistol and the 115gr bullet is the smallest that I
will shoot out of a 9mm pistol today. It just works for me.

Good luck. ( Bullseye at 1.10" ? )
 
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In 9mm Luger using a 105 grain cast lead bullet ( Lee 358-105-SWC) , sized .357 over 4.7 grains of Unique , this load is accurate, 100% reliable functioning , and shoots to the fixed sights of a WWII era Walther P38 .
No other load is as accurate or dead center POA-POI as this one. It doesn't batter the old pistol or me...pleasn't shooting load.
Gary
 
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I'm going to make up 10 rounds each with Unique to test for feed and functioning, and also chrony those loads.

9mm - 5.0 and 5.5 grains
.38 Super - 6.0 and 6.5 grains
 
Gamecock said:
Or you can go with my One and Only Load for .38 Super:

10.4 grains of VV N105 behind a 125gr bullet. 1,400 no BS FPS.

1,475 in my long slide.
Click to expand...

My "Hot" .38 Super load (but in 9x23 Win cases) is a 124 grain FMJ 9mm military bullet and 8.7 grains of AA #5. I have tested many propellants, and AA #5 is best for top performance in such high-end .38 Super loads. Its MV runs very close to 1450 ft/sec from a 5" GM barrel. I wouldn't recommend using .38 Super cases at that pressure level. Starline says their 9x23 Supercomp cases will withstand the high pressures of such loads. One should ALWAYS use SR primers for such loads, not SP.
 
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