Anybody load for 9mm Major?

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Dvus

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I'm just getting into USPSA open class and will be shooting 9mm major. I'm using a comped STI 2011 in 9mm with a little extra "freebore" so I can load long if I need to, but right now I'm loading at a standard overall length. I have a load that I'm working on using an amount that I won't disclose of Hodgdon CFE and Xtreme 124 gr. plated bullets with a CCI magnum primers. I have heard that AA7 is an excellent choice as well. I was wondering what others were using, and why? I'm using what I'm using because it's what I have on hand, and really no other reason.
Since 9mm major is outside of published max loads, and each load must be developed for each individual gun, I'm not asking for charge weights. Just what components you use/recommend, oal, tips and stuff like that.
 
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I put an undisclosed charge of 800-X behind a 124gn. JHP, standard primer, short OAL, for 1250 fps. Your burn rate is certainly in the correct ballpark.
 
I usually never load anything too hot for myself and the shooting I do, but, I did get some 3N38 as an add on to a primer order since it was the only thing in stock that I could add to soften the HazMat bonus for having to order online.

Since I normally would have never bought it, from my research on what to do with it, it seems to be popular for 9mm Major.

I'm loading 8.8gr behind a 124gr FMJ, which works great out of the PCC's, but as I said, I don't shoot competition and have never bothered to try it out of a pistol, this is more of an experiment to see what happens since I have the stuff.

From what I have read you can go a lot hotter than this for 9 Major, but I really have no desire to do so.
 
Rogeronimo said:
I put an undisclosed charge of 800-X behind a 124gn. JHP, standard primer, short OAL, for 1250 fps. Your burn rate is certainly in the correct ballpark.
Click to expand...
How are your pressure signs? That load only makes 155 power factor, 10 short of major. Do you think there is any room to push it Or do you think it's maxed out?
jag22 I understand your position, but it doesn't seem to matter in USPSA, fmj, plated and coated bullets seem to all be in use in 9 major by top ranked shooters. I have some fmj bullets that I will work on once I finish load development with the Xtremes.
Nevada Ed, thanks for that. No surprises there except that I would have expected CFE where #7 is. And yes, my barrel completely encases the cartridge head except for the extractor groove. We are fully supported.
 
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Tu_S said:
I usually never load anything too hot for myself and the shooting I do, but, I did get some 3N38 as an add on to a primer order since it was the only thing in stock that I could add to soften the HazMat bonus for having to order online.

Since I normally would have never bought it, from my research on what to do with it, it seems to be popular for 9mm Major.

I'm loading 8.8gr behind a 124gr FMJ, which works great out of the PCC's, but as I said, I don't shoot competition and have never bothered to try it out of a pistol, this is more of an experiment to see what happens since I have the stuff.

From what I have read you can go a lot hotter than this for 9 Major, but I really have no desire to do so.
Click to expand...
Tu_S, please don't try this in anything that doesn't have a fully supported chamber. It could be devastating as we are talking near Magnum level pressures in a cartridge that was never designed for it. These guns handle it because of the supported chambers and the compensator that delays unlocking the barrel. It blew my mind when I found out that they only run a 7 - 9 lb. spring. The compensators delay opening that much.
 
Dvus said:
Tu_S, please don't try this in anything that doesn't have a fully supported chamber. It could be devastating as we are talking near Magnum level pressures in a cartridge that was never designed for it. These guns handle it because of the supported chambers and the compensator that delays unlocking the barrel. It blew my mind when I found out that they only run a 7 - 9 lb. spring. The compensators delay opening that much.
Click to expand...

You are correct on this. I ran the idea by guys I know from the range, and not just the Internet, and worked up the load, which is under what they load and shoot.

FWIW, the 3N38 sat for months, and probably closer to a year, before I built my Hi-Point 995TS to HTA MBS95 conversion, and have picked up a Ruger PC carbine along the way, the only things I run what I mentioned through.
 
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I have a pound of CFE Pistol to experiment with, seems like a great powder but I'm just started. I found the NATO Reloading page very helpful when it comes to 9mm powders.

<<It could be devastating as we are talking near Magnum level pressures in a cartridge that was never designed for it.>>

SAAMI specs both 9mm and 357 Magnum at 35,000 psi, correct?
 
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Dvus - My competition shooting has been limited to PPC and Bowling pin / Second Chance shoots. My question is why use the 9mm? Isn't making major power the big reason hot 38 super loads became so popular in this sport?

Larry
 
9mm open major is the way to go. I run a Dan Wesson 1911 and that can handle pressures easily. Others run typical 2011s, no problem.

38 special: There is no way to find any brass and picking though the grass on all 4s after every match no thank you.

I use HS-6 and everyone else I talk to recently who uses 9 major does too. It seem to be the best compromise of developing speed w/o overspiking pressure. I use coated blue bullets and clean the gun and barrel afterwards, not a problem.
 
Dvus said:
How are your pressure signs? That load only makes 155 power factor, 10 short of major. Do you think there is any room to push it Or do you think it's maxed out?
Click to expand...

I load for accuracy, and POI, and stopped when I got there. My numbers are from a 4-1/4" Hk VP9, unmodified. My OAL is down around 1.08", as 800-X compresses well. Pressure signs? It slings the brass about 10-15' ... everything else seems on par.
 
According to Hodgdons 8.3gr of #7 will get you a +P velocity of 1,216 fps at 38,200 psi using a 115gr Nosler JHP (not too much unlike a Hornady HAP?)...

Hornady says 8.6gr #7 for 1,200 fps with the 115gr XTP (= HAP). And 5.5gr AutoComp for 1,150 fps...

Ed's chart (with the appropriate disclaimers) above shows about 1.5gr ADDITIONAL #7 and plus 2gr using AutoComp!

GULP!:eek:

If I need a .355" 115gr bullet to go 1,400+ fps it will be in a 357 SIG case & barrel!

Cheers!

P.S. I don't shoot in competition, but is it not easier to make Major in 40 S&W?
 
STORMINORMAN said:
...
Hornady says 8.6gr #7 for 1,200 fps with the 115gr XTP (= HAP). And 5.5gr AutoComp for 1,150 fps...

Ed's chart (with the appropriate disclaimers) above shows about 1.5gr ADDITIONAL #7 and plus 2gr using AutoComp!

GULP!:eek:

If I need a .355" 115gr bullet to go 1,400+ fps it will be in a 357 SIG case & barrel!

Cheers!

P.S. I don't shoot in competition, but is it not easier to make Major in 40 S&W?
Click to expand...

This is exactly why I wasn't asking for charge weights. If someone was to take that info and try it in just any 9mm gun the results would be disastrous.
And yes, it is easier to get Major with .40, but that's not the point. The point is to make the compensator work effectively, and that takes high pressure/high volume gas flow through the comp. That can't be achieved with .40 without doing what we are doing with 9 Major, so it becomes pointless. Yes, 38 Super and Super Comp will do it, but good luck finding and affording brass. 9mm major just makes the most sense in a gun that can handle it.
 
Points taken. So, the USPSA Open class is, basically, where "anything goes" modification-wise...?

Do all (most?) who compete use compensators?

Cheers!
 
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Yes (mostly) and yes. (Mostly)
The compensator makes the gun shoot flat with little to no muzzle rise if you tune your load right. When the compensator and load are in synch, you can run a highly lightened slide with a 7# recoil spring shooting a 115 or 124 gr. bullet at 1400 - 1450 fps. There is a lot of science to it, not just screw a compensator on your barrel, fill the case with powder and hope the gun doesn't blow up.
 
Dvus said:
Yes (mostly) and yes. (Mostly)
The compensator makes the gun shoot flat with little to no muzzle rise if you tune your load right. When the compensator and load are in synch, you can run a highly lightened slide with a 7# recoil spring shooting a 115 or 124 gr. bullet at 1400 - 1450 fps. There is a lot of science to it, not just screw a compensator on your barrel, fill the case with powder and hope the gun doesn't blow up.
Click to expand...

I hate to say it but with most powders used

you almost have to fill the little 9mm case up, with the slow powder, to get "Major". :D
Mostly when you seat a 115 gr almost 3 dimes deep, into the case.
Feel lucky ?? :eek:
 
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Nevada Ed said:
I hate to say it but with most powders used

you almost have to fill the little 9mm case up, with the slow powder, to get "Major". :D
Mostly when you seat a 115 gr almost 3 dimes deep, into the case.
Feel lucky ?? :eek:
Click to expand...
Right now, my CFE load is 1.7 gr. over the max listed, and I'm showing no abnormal pressure signs. No flattened or cratered primers, no bulging cases, in fact, the empty cases still drop back into the chamber after wipingthem off, so no overexpanding. So, yes, I do feel "lucky." Of course this is with a barrel designed for this kind of load, so luck really has nothing to do with it. I actually have more concerns shooting Sig factory loaded 10mm ammunition. Now there are some pressure signs! Go run some of that in a Delta Elite. The cases bulge so much they are unfit to reload. And talk about flattened primers!
 
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