Loading 9mm with WST powder?

One of my 9mm pistols has had the chamber re-reamed twice. Despite this it still has over sized rifling at the case mouth, enough to cause many 124 gn bullets to engage the rifling before the slide is closed.

For many years I used 105 gn LRNFP bullets propelled by a charge of WST powder. Shooting one handed I used this gun and ammunition combination in our club ISSF Centrefire competitions. When those bullets became unavailable I stopped shooting this gun for a few years.

Now with 100 gn LRNFP .358 bullets available for Cowboy shooting, I have decided to size some of these down to .356 and load them up again for this pistol. The problem is the powder I have chosen (locally known as "Action Pistol" and believed to be repackaged WAP) is simply not up to the accuracy I used to achieve with WST.

WST is not recommended for 9 mm and there are no loads listed for it not he Hodgdon/Winchester loading site.

Does anyone have any experience with this powder in 9mm?

In the event of being unable to duplicate my old WST loads I will probably go for Tightgroup as the powder.

Most of my competition 9mm is loaded with wst. I shoot mostly 147gr but it works with any wt 9mm bullet. I prefer it to TG, but then I have never been a TG fan.
I run 3.5gr under a 147gr coated lead, about 910fps in a g19. For 124gr, 4.5gr runs about 1030fps, same g19. Both are well below max imo.

I see no reason you can't use your old 105gr bullet WST load data with the 100gr bullet. Drop back slightly and work back up.

I'm just curious, why not just replace the barrel after all these years?

ArchAngelCD said:

I see no reason you can't use your old 105gr bullet WST load data with the 100gr bullet. Drop back slightly and work back up.

I'm just curious, why not just replace the barrel after all these years?

Click to expand...

It has been that long since I loaded these rounds I cannot recall what the charge was. I think it was 3.6 gn, but based on an answer above that might be light. (4.6????)

The gun is a Tanfoglio P19, a pre Witness CZ 75 clone. Not sure the current barrels will fit. Even if they do, the barrel minus any fitting costs is near enough to what the gun is worth these days, given the Witness, Shadow I and Shadow II incarnations currently available.. And I prefer the 1911 platform now.

I just thought it would be nice to take the gun out now and then if I can find a suitable load.

My favorite powder for 9mm, 45acp and 38spl. plinking loads.
From I believe Hornady #4 and a Winchester manual.
9mm with WST

115gr. jacketed
5.2gr - 1050fps
5.4gr - 1100fps
5.6gr (max) - 1150fps

124gr jacketed
4.8gr - 1025pfs
5.0gr - 1100fps
5.2gr - 1075fps
5.4gr (max) - 1100fps

It is a long shot but maybe Bullseye or Red Dot powder might work?
Red fills a case better than most powders and Bullseye takes up
less space in my 9mm cases for maybe higher fps, if needed.

CFE Pistol is a third powder that in my 9mm's with all weight bullets
will give me GOOD accuracy at a medium range or lower fps speeds.

Good luck finding your powder and loads.

I struggled with powder selection for a VP9 ... 124gn and lighter shot high. Kept slowing the powder down until I found mine ... 800X. POI=POA, 124gn JHP averages 1225fps.

800-x............ oh my gosh.

I had trouble with that powder just loading 12 Ga. shotgun hulls..........
I can't imagine having that big flake powder going through a
powder tube and funnel into a little pistol case!!

Mercy.

This pistol has been keeping me awake at night.

Earlier this year I ran out of 124 gn 9mm PRN bullets for reloading. I had a comp coming up and my indent import order I placed last year through a wholesaler had been held up in Singapore.

I borrowed 1000 124 gn plated bullets, but they were SWC/Truncated Flat Point and fed horribly in my Kimber 1911. Luckily I found some PRN loads (loaded with "I can't remember which" powder) and finished the comp out of the placings. I stripped the remaining TFP bullets and ended up with around 700 of them under my bench. As the PFP bulets are a little shorter than the PRN of the same weight I decided to load some with my 1911 9mm load of 4.4 gn Tightgroup to try in the Tanfoglio. I figured they would not jam in the rifling.

Last week I dropped by the range and while they fed reliably I just couldn't hit anything with them, yet a fellow shooter holding dead centre at 15 meters was hitting a 10" plate every shot with he same pistol and load.

Next I loaded up some more of the 100 gn LRNFP bullets with 4.8 gn Tightgroup (max recommended TG load with100 gn jacketed rounds was 5 gn). Again accuracy in my hands was disappointing but the velocity was just a little higher than I wanted (about 1295 fps).

So I got my hands on a .356 sizing die and ran those .357 lead projectiles through it before loading again with the 4.8 gn TG . Yesterday these were shooting high.

I was going to see if I could get my hands on some WST powder this week but before doing that this morning after exercising I went out to my reloading room. I have two 9mm turrets for my reloading press, one for the "short" rounds I need in the Tanfoglio and the other for my 1911. (As I use a mix of 9mm and .38 Super mags I have this set to load slightly longer than usual 9mm OAL). Taking the Tanfoglio turret I reset the seating die for a 124 gn LRN dummy round on my bench, then turned the die in about 1/3 turn to account for the different nose profile. I then ran 50 of my 1911 loads through the seating and crimping dies.

This afternoon I called into the range. At 10 meters I put a nice 4 shot group in the A zone (IPSC target) at point of aim and a 5th round at 3 o'clock on the A/C zone line (my fault, I called it a bad shot).

At 12.5 meters all 5 rounds in the A zone. At 15 meters 4 A zone and one out in the C zone (again my fault).

At 25 meters I put 2 rounds in the A zone, 1 in the C zone then turned to that 10" plate and hit it once with the remaining two shots.

17 A zone hits, 2 C zone and 1 miss.

I need to get the front sight hollow for the white dot filled in (I find anything other than a plain black sight distracting and as the sun was behind me and to my left it really stood out today). And at 25 meters the rounds were a fraction high. But I can live with that.

I think I've found my load for this pistol. Unfortunately i am now so used to the feel of a 1911 I find the 16 round double stack a little uncomfortable.

Oh well, if someone at the club wants it I'll sell it.

4th edition Hornady load data book has 9mm WST data.

Issue with WST is its kinda dirty if you download it , but I was running it with 135'g cast. TG is cleaner but will produce smoke with coated lead, and maybe cast depending on lube.

Honestly though I think you are chasing symptoms instead of fixing the problem. Your THROAT needs to be reamed, not the chamber. Hopefully chamber isnt fubared . Its a pretty simple procedure so if you have had it done twice and still have the issue might be time to find another smith, or just ddo it yourself if you ca find a finnish throat reamer.

All powders burn poorly when you go below their min load/pressures. I shoot a lot of wst in 45acp, pretty low pressure, burns fine. I run it in 9 & 40 minor with no ill affects. Yes it can smoke some with lead bullets but then what doesnt