9mm and Coated Bullets

[cds43016]

I’ve been debating about getting a 9mm for some time and have narrowed my choice to a Walter Q5 or a Sig Sauer 320 X-5.

I been reloading for more years than I care to count, mainly 45 ACP, 327 Fed Mag and 357 Mag. I never loaded for a 9mm. I have been using coated cast bullets with some success with the other calibers and have been very happy with them. I’d like to do the same with the 9mm.

There is warning in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook about using cast bullets with the 9mm especially with Glocks because of the rounded rifling. Is this just limited to just Glocks? Does the coating mitigate the problems with this type of rifling? Has anyone loaded coated lead bullets with either of these guns with any success? I know some people at the range that use plated bullets in Glocks and they haven’t indicated a problem. That’s Plan B.

As always thanks in advance for your input.

 

[fredj338]

All I shoot in my 9mm these days are coated lead, GLock, 1911, doesn't matter. Either PC or HT coated will be fine. I like 0.357" dia when possible, especially for Glock OEM bbls.

 

[serger]

Glocks have poly agonal rifling and cannot shoot cast bullets without leading unless lthe bullets are really hard. So what I did to get around that problem was just to buy an aftermarket Barrel from either Storm Lake or Lone Wolf . The Lone Wolf barrels run $100 shipped. With the Lone Wolf barrels I run powdcoated cast bullets. Runs good.

 

[federali]

Coated bullets are commonly used in 9mm. If in doubt, you may buy plated bullets. I've seen in print where plated bullets can't be driven to jacketed bullet velocities but I've never had a problem with them.

The instant you lose grouping abilities, suspect that your barrel is leaded. Continued use, especially if you attempt to fire jacketed ammo through a badly leaded barrel can result in catastrophic failure.

 

[TjB101]

I’ve loaded both for my 9’s ... I just find it easier to seat the plated bullets. And the price difference is negligible.

 

[Nevada Ed]

The Walter or Sig will work with a coated bullet.

Just a matter of finding the correct bullet weight, OAL and FPS
that your pistol does best with.

My 3.5" liked a 125gr with a oal of 1.12" with Green at 945fps

At a short 1.06" oal a load of Bullseye at 1046fps was poa and Acc.
This bullet had a .356" dia.
The .357 and 358" dia. did not do as well in my barrel.

Good shooting.

 

[SquarePizza]

I've run approx 500 rounds of 147gr coated (missouri bullet co) through my glock 26 and 17L with zero leading and very good accuracy.

My next project is to try some 95grain coated.

 

[BigMoneyGrip]

My 34 loves the 147 hi tek coated bullets with 3.1 of Titegroup under it. I can shoot 500 and wipe the bore clean with a nylon brush.

 

[Forrest r]

Don't have a sig, walter or a glock. Do have a taurus pt111 and a springfield armory. No issues with lead/pc'd bullets & I size the 9mm bullets to .358" anymore for every 9mm.

The sa range officer & the cast/coated bullets it gets a steady diet of

Not hand/cherry picked target by any means. Simply the test target used for that load/tested @50ft 10-shot group with the bullets pictured above

Another test target, this one @ 50yds 10-shot group

Both loads side by side. What you don't see is wasp waist/bullet bulge in those 9mm loads even though the bullets are sized to .358"

I do use a "custom/home made" expander to bell the cases. Other have used a lee 38s&w (not special) expander. NEO bullet mold company also sells custom expanders.

Lyman m-dies also work. The cast/coated bullets tend to be longer than their jacketed/plated counterparts along with being larger in diameter.

The 9mm is an excellent round & there's no reason not to use a cast/coated bullet in them. Just started testing this hybrid bullet. It's a modern spin-off of the old himmelwright bullet. This one is designed to be coated and can be used in any 35cal. It has a crimp groove for roll crimping and the top drive band is for taper crimping. The nose allows it to feed in semi-auto's and the shoulder cuts clean holes like a wc bullet. I bought the mold for the 9mm/38spl & plinking.

 

[JBnTx]

I’ve been debating about getting a 9mm for some time and have narrowed my choice to a Walter Q5 or a Sig Sauer 320 X-5.

.

Also consider the Glock 34 Gen5 and the new SIG P210A as one of your choices.

I sold my SIG P320x5 because it didn't shoot any better than other 9mm that I've owned.

Both the Glock 34 Gen5 and the new SIG P-210A are scary accurate pistols.

I've shot thousands of Hi-Tek coated bullets in my 9mm pistols with accuracy equal to or even better than jacketed bullets.

Hi-Tek coated bullets are fine in Glock OEM barrels.
They will NOT lead your barrel.

 

[Hasbeen1945]

I recently bought a Wiley Clapp 1911 in 9 m/m. I’m trying the Missouri 124 grain coated bullets. I’ve tried Acc#5 , 231, CFE-P and Power Pistol. So far PP seems to be the winner.
No problems with leading.

 

[elpac3]

Recently started shooting the Sig 320x5.

Found mine like the Bayou 124 grain TC, 4.0 bullseye seated 1.080. I have heard (from Bayou) they have DC'd he 124 TC in favor of the 120 TC. Just loaded up a batch with 4.0 BE seated 1.065.

Will report back how they shoot.

The 320 also did very will with the Berry 124 RN plated with 4.0 BE. Gun will hold B27 - x ring all day at 50 yards.

 

[Nevada Ed]

per post #9;

It is nice to have that custom expander for oversized bullets....
so they will slide into a standard, tapered 9mm case, after being altered.

One reason my sample of coated .358 dia. bullets would not work
in my pistol loads.
I also noticed that the .357" dia. bullets did "Bulge" the case, a little.........
so my stock expander must be on the tight side?

Nice looking groups, by the way.

Just 2.0 grs of Amer. Select ?? !! Wow.

 

[cds43016]

It looks like from the above posts, I’m not going to have much trouble loading coated cast bullets in a 9 mm. My concern was unjustified. Thank You.

Now comes the hard part. Where to start.

I would like to try 115 or 125 grain Poly Coated RN(?) bullets. I have been ordering my bullets for the other calibers from SNS Castings and have been satisfied with them. I also have a large supply of 231 around and would like to use that if possible but I’m not married to it if a better powder is noticeably superior and readily available.

In the past loading for other calibers I’ve used the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, the powder manufacture’s site or what is considered a proven standard load by experienced shooters. Needless to say, you cannot always find the data for the specific bullet and powder you have on hand.

Hodgdon shows 4.3-4.8 of 231 for 115 grain RN bullet but uses WSF for a 124 Grain RN Bullet. Lyman has nothing specific for a 115-grain bullet. But It does show loads for 125 grain bullets of different shapes and hardness for 231 ranging from 3.9 to 4.4 grains.

My first inclination is to use the Hodgdon data for 115 grain RN bullet. It’s tested. But It seems starting out with about 4 grains of 231 under the 125-grain bullet would be fine too. The 147-grain bullet seems a bit heavy. Thoughts?

When I shot Bullseye, the standard 45ACP load was a 185 or 200 grain SWC cast bullet in front of light charges of Bullseye. This was a gold standard. There must be similar loads for the 9mm since it is used so much in competition. What bullet weight and loads are used most often? Mainly I shoot paper out to 25 yards and generally don’t try to extract the last bit of accuracy out of my loads. My competitive days are mostly over. If a load is reasonably accurate, functions reliably and feels good in the hand. It’s good enough. It not worth a lot of effort to reduce the group by that last quarter of an inch, when the real variable is the shooter

Are there any special things to watch for in loading a 9mm?

I’m a careful reloader and have loaded tens of thousands of rounds mostly 45 ACP and 357 Mag. When I start out with a new caliber, I like to have as much information I can based on other’s proven experience backed by published data. This greatly reduces the sample size. This has always been a great place to learn from other’s experience.

Thanks again for your input and opinions. They are always appreciated.

 

[JBnTx]

I've had good luck with the MBC 125gr SWC Hi Tek coated bullet.
Missouri Bullet Company

Shoots accurately with a wide range of powders and loads.
Hodgdon has lots of load data on their website.

You can't go wrong with the good old Semi Wadcutter bullet.


.

 

[Forrest r]

The lite 185/200gr bullseye loads for the 45acp transfer over to the 9mm with 115gr/124gr bullets. Meaning if you used 3.8gr of bullseye or 4.0gr of ww-231 you can use those same loads in the 9mm.

It's probably just me but I used cast lead bullets in the 9mm's since the 90's. The 124gr and heavier bullets always seemed to perform better. I've also always used a .357"/.358" diameter bullet in the 9mm.

Ya that 2.0gr load of am-select is lite. But that bullet takes up huge amounts of space in the small 9mm case. That bullet started life as a bullet for the 38lc with the lyman mold 1st being sold in 1900. I made a custom hb pin for the hb 35870 mold. (Increases the thickness of the sidewalls of the bullet). I switch to a #10 spring (factory #14) when using that lite target load.

A chronograph is your friend. The 9mm is 1 of those rare calibers when most of the powder/bullet mfg's actually use a common length bbl (4").

Expanders for the larger/longer lead bullets for any caliber is a huge +. Factory expanders are typically made for the shorter/smaller in diameter jacketed bullets. Lyman sells die sets with the m-die in them (m-die sets), others sell "cowboy action" sets. The only difference in these sets is the expander die is designed for lead bullets. A picture of a factory 45acp die next to the factory lyman m-die. You can clearly see a "ring" on the lee factory expander. That ring is from expanding the 45acp cases and is where the cases stopped (large enough bell to start the bullets). With the m-die the case goes to the "step" at the top of the expander ball.

The 9mm is a great little round that provides any reloader with countless hours of quality range time. It's nothing to burn 500+ rounds in a range session on steel, paper, bowling pins.

 

[Jeff423]

My Sig likes MoBullets 115 gr. coated "Parabellum" with 4.1 gr. Titegroup.
I just bought 2,000 more.

 

[fredj338]

The biggest issue loading for the 9mm is bullet size, then alloy. many 9mm run on the large bore size & you want to be at least 0.001" over bore size. I have more than one 9mm, so run 0.357" in everything with good results. Enough flare to not scrape the coating is also a good thing for accuracy.

 

[BigMoneyGrip]

My 9mm's like a 147gr Hitek bullet with 3.1 of Titegroup. These average 930fps out of a Glock 34. I never chrono'd them in my 17L of the 1911. They are super soft shooting and remind me of the classic 2.8 of Bullseye and 148HBWC load.

 

[Harrison]

I have shot thousands of coated bullets from Bayou Bullets though my Glock 34,17, and 19 with factory barrels. I have never had a speck of leading. Others in USPSA/IPSC have done the same. A properly coated lead bullet, will not lead the barrel, unless the reloader uses way to much crimp.