[cougarkid]

Long post - sorry in advance.

So, we have stated reloading.

My son got started shooting with his girlfriend in the fall. She has 2 Taurus pistols. Millineum Pro
9mm and 24/7 Gen1 9mm. Her father reloads his ammo. Son purchased a cheap 22 rifle to plink with.
Wife and I went shooting with them a few times.

The wife and I went out to a gun show on 1/6/13 and purchased fire arms.
Taurus 24/7 G2C 9mm for me and Phoenix Arms HP22A Range Kit for her.
$600 cash for both pistols. Backround checks completed.
Bought 100 rounds for the 9mm. Had 22lr rounds.

Yes, the frenzy had already strated. Talks of gun bans. More controls. Ammo in short supply.

1/7/13 I ordered 1000 rounds of 115gr FMJ 9mm on-line, delivered to my doorstep for 35.2 cents a round.
They showed up a week later. Since then, I haven't been able to find any for sale, anywhere.

So it begins...........

I have had an older Lymann Spartan Reloader Kit setting under a table at my work since 2009. My
brother-in-law left it behind and we had planned to sell it, but never did. Complete set-up with press,
scales, powder loader, primer tubes, rifle dies, lube and book.

Son went out and bought new books, case cleaning kit, digital scale and 9mm dies. Ordered primers and
found 200, 124gr round nose lead bullets. Cleaned the press up and got it mounted on our work bench.
We have been policing our brass since day one, so we have a good supply of it. Right now, we have over
2000 cleaned and stretched brass casing, 1000 of which are flared and primered.

We had everything we needed but powder. Of course, none available locally. On-line is hit and miss at
best and typically on back-order.

I found some on-line, after a long stretch of surfing. Accurate No. 2.

I ordered it on-line from Lohman Arms out of Texas on Sunday 1/20/13. Shows in stock.
5lb Accurate No.2 for $89.29. Hazmat Fee of #27.50. Shipping fee of $20.89
Total bill of $137.67. They would call to confirm order.

Brian, from Lohman Arms, called on Monday 1/21/13, thanked me for my order, and said it would be 17 days before it would ship - I said okay. At least I will get it. Everything is hard to get right now.

Brian called me back on Friday 2/1/13 and said he was reviewing my order. First, he thanked me for my
order. Then he said he realized the powder I ordered was sitting at a distributor near me. Actually,
only about 25 miles away. Offered to let me pick it up and refund my Hazmat and shipping fees. Of
course, I said yes.

Got it set up for Monday 2/4/13. Son and I drove down and picked it up Monday afternoon. Quicker and
cheaper. BTW, I ordered 1000 rounds of 22lr from Lohman Arms, too. Waiting for it.

We got home with the powder and loaded up 5 rounds.

magtech 124gr rn lead bullets
blaser 9mm casings (1st reload)
federal primers
3.2gr load

Son and girlfriend took them to the range (indoor and close, she is a member) that evening and put them
thru a Taurus Millenium Pro. 4 out of 5 didn't fully eject. Loads were alternately magged with factory
loads.

After discussion and research, concluded low load was the issue.

So, we loaded 15 more rounds:
5 @ 3.4gr
5 @ 3.5gr
5 @ 3.6gr
Loads are marked and in box, ready for the range.

-----------------------

So, I made it to the range Tuesday afternoon 2/5/13. I went to the indoor range and paid for a lane.
Got a green man target and got set. Ears and eyes on. Only me on the range.

Using my new Taurus 24/7 G2C. Only has about 300 factory loaded rounds thru it.

Loaded the the five 3.4 gr in the mag first.
Mag in, slide back and round chambered.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, nothing.
Glance at the slide and there is number 4 casing stuck in the discharge hole.
Slide back and casing out. Number 5 didn't chamber.
Number 5 out, mag out, number 5 in mag, mag back in.
Chambered the round and bang. It ejected.
Ejections went right and down.
Not much smoke. Nice grouping on the target.

Loaded the five 3.5 gr in the mag.
Mag in, slide back and round chambered.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
Ejections went right and up over my shoulder. BTW, I'm left handed.
Decent amount of smoke. Not as good of grouping on the target.

Loaded the five 3.6 gr in the mag.
Mag in, slide back and round chambered.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
Ejections right and up over my shoulder.
Little smoke. Decent grouping on target.

Pulled out the Phoenix Arm HP22A and slid in a 10 round clip.
10 quick pops and a nice tight grouping on the target.

Policed my brass and packed up.

Looks like the 3.5 / 3.6 gr load is going to be the winner with the 124gr round nose lead bullets.

Last night we packaged up 100 rounds with 3.5gr loads and 75 rounds with 3.6gr loads. We used all the
bullets we have. Looking for more, like everyone else.

Now to get to the range and really see how they act.

All smiles,

Mike

 

[Fishinkeylargo]

The best part of loading your own is finding a good working combination. Sounds like you have a good start. Hope you find some more supplies. Around here primers are impossible to find, it is pissing off the people jumping into reloading for the first time.

 

[MOONDAWG]

Congratulations on your new found passion...it grows:icon_ lala:

 

[mingaa]

Yep - patience is a virtue and I love your approach and plan "B" thinking. Welcome to the craft!!

 

[MoKen]

I can't imagine anything more addictive. I find as much pleasure in reloading as shooting. Too many loads to try and not enough time!!!!!

 

[guesser]

It is addictive and very satisfying. Glad you caught the bug.

 

[washwren]

Good luck on finding supplies! I enjoy the casting/reloading as much as I do the shooting.

 

[cougarkid]

Ordered 1000 rn lead bullets from a manufacturer in Montana Thursday night.
They went in the mail Friday morning.
Should be here Monday.

 

[MoKen]

Ordered 1000 rn lead bullets from a manufacturer in Montana Thursday night.
They went in the mail Friday morning.
Should be here Monday.

Yep I have .308 brass coming from Columbia Mo. today. My mailman makes funny comments to the wife since he's a gun nut too. He said he needs the"heavy lifting" exersize when the Extreme Bullet orders come in.LOL.

 

[olfarhors]

Yep I have .308 brass coming from Columbia Mo. today. My mailman makes funny comments to the wife since he's a gun nut too. He said he needs the"heavy lifting" exersize when the Extreme Bullet orders come in.LOL.

He-He-He, yep my usual UPS man is a hunter!
I saw him come up and met him at the door when the 1000 -9MM and 1000- 45 projectiles were delivered!
he just grinned and said heres your ammo!

 

[cougarkid]

So we went out today and shot some reloads. Had 75 rounds of 125gr bullets with 3.5 powder loads and 100 rounds of 125gr bullets with 3.6 powder loads. Outside at a friends place. Make-shift personal shooting range. In a valley, shooting into a cut-off hill side. RR tie back stop. Table (plywood) at 100 feet. Pistol targets in a wire-lined cardboard holder, 20' in front of RR ties, and lined paced off at 25'.

Shooting my 24/7 G2C 9mm.

The 3.5 loads were and issue. Multiple FTE's. Several didn't make it far enough out to let the next round chamber. We only shot 50 rounds and stopped with them. Had 2 rounds that the cases were dimpled or scratched that we didn't fire.

The 3.6 loads were much better. Had a few FTE's out of the 75 rounds. Consistent groupings. Smoke at a minimum.

We will pull the 3.5 loads apart and reload/reuse the bullets and cases. Also have new bullets (same weight) coming.

We are going to adjust the crip a bit, too. Back it off a hair and see if that helps also. The current crimp is smooth, with a little inward curl. Some of the casings still showed a little curl after the rounds were fired.

After we got home we discussed my shooting. I consistently shoot to the right of center. Been working on using the tip of my finger on the trigger. Still have an issue somewhere, but that is a discussing for a different thread.

All in all a great day with my youngest son, who is 23.

 

[andreew]

Glad you had a good day!

You're shooting lead bullets, are you? I took a look at Accurate & Lee's load tables, and your loads seem a little high. I know Lee's data tends to be conservative but bumping up the charge 0.2 grains should be more than enough to have good cycling.

I think your crimp's a little firm. Try just crimping enough to take out the flare?

 

[Fishinkeylargo]

...The 3.6 loads were much better. Had a few FTE's out of the 75 rounds. Consistent groupings. Smoke at a minimum...

I would load a few rounds at 3.7 and 3.8 checking for signs of over pressure on the 3.7 before going to 3.8, I think you may still be a little on the light side for Accurate No.2 with a 124 gr lead bullet.

Sounds like a good start, be safe.

 

[Fishinkeylargo]

Glad you had a good day!

You're shooting lead bullets, are you? I took a look at Accurate & Lee's load tables, and your loads seem a little high. I know Lee's data tends to be conservative but bumping up the charge 0.2 grains should be more than enough to have good cycling.

I think your crimp's a little firm. Try just crimping enough to take out the flare?

Accurate Web Site for 124 Grain Plated bullet is 3.8 gr to 4.6 gr:
No 2 124 RAN RN 3.8 930 4.6 1,055 34,751 1.160

Lee Book does not show 124 grain, so go up to 125 grain lead and it shows 4.1 gr to 4.5 gr:
ACCUR #2 125 lead 4.1 935 4.5 1,063 30,100 CUP 1.100

Please double check the info, however I think he is on the light side.

 

[cougarkid]

lead bullets - no jacket, no plating
we are using magtec lead bullets
not laser cast as the chart shows
Next bullets are from Montana


Accurate Edition 3.5 data:
Handgun 9mm Luger
Lead bullets
No. 2, 124gr, rn, lc, 3.0 895, 3.8 1012, 34794 1070

Min load 3.0. Max load 3.8
We are at 3.5 and 3.6 right now

Planning to stay with 3.6, adjust the crimp and retest.

Thanks for the feedback!

Mike

 

[andreew]

Yeah, that's the load I saw. 3.0-3.8 gr. I'm surprised that you need to go to mid-range loads to get good function.

 

[olfarhors]

AHHHH!
well not to be the fly in the ointment here!
But you don't list an OAL for the finished round?--or at least i didn't see it?
so actually i would stay at the 3.6 and likely shorten the OAL about 5 thousanths and see if you see any pressure signs .
I bet not and will likely make the rounds function well with the same powder loading.
Remember that chamber pressure is dependent on capacity of the case and by shortening the OAL you effectively reduce case capacity thereby raising pressure and making a shorter but usually more functional bullet, of course this can be overdone.
Just my take on it!
as always proceed with my opinion at your own risk.

 

[cougarkid]

Olfarhor, interesting thought
Ill look into it.

 

[cougarkid]

So, my new 125gr lrn bullets showed up yesterday. Stopped and got a bulet puller hammer on the way home.

We had 15 rounds to unload. 10 we didn't fire (3.5 loads), 2 miss-fires (extras from the range) and 3 test crimp/OAL from the beginning. Beat the 15 rounds out. Our 10 reloads took a bit of convincing to come out. 2 miss-fires (factory loads) came out pretty easily, and our 3 tests were so-so.

And so we began anew.

Adjused the crimp back and seated a bullet in an empty case. Looks more like now factory. Good Length. Beat it out and still a bit tight, using the efffort it took to unload the factory loads as reference. Adjusted the crimp back again and seated a bullet in another empty case. Looks good, crimp feels like the factory loads. Good Length. Beat it out and it acts like the factory loads. Okay, happy crimp. Put the tip of the bullet on the work bench and pushed down hard on the base of the case. Bullet will not push into the casing.

Loaded up 15 rounds of 124gr lrn bullets with 3.6gr loads of Accurate No. 2 Powder.

Onto the new 125gr lrn bullets.

Our books and the Accurate Load Table Version 3.5 doesn't show load data for the lead 125gr bullets. Did some on-line searching and found load data on several sites. 4.1gr is the starting load. Tested the crimp and length for the new bullets.

We had issues with the digital scale - couldn't get a consistant reading on the powder weight. Went old school and got the beam scale out. Calibrated it to zero and went on from there.

We loaded 5 rounds at 4.1 gr, 5 rounds at 4.2gr and 5 rounds at 4.3gr.

Now it's back to the range and see how they go.

 

[Fishinkeylargo]

So, my new 125gr lrn bullets showed up yesterday. Stopped and got a bulet puller hammer on the way home.

We had 15 rounds to unload. 10 we didn't fire (3.5 loads), 2 miss-fires (extras from the range) and 3 test crimp/OAL from the beginning. Beat the 15 rounds out. Our 10 reloads took a bit of convincing to come out. 2 miss-fires (factory loads) came out pretty easily, and our 3 tests were so-so.

And so we began anew.

Adjused the crimp back and seated a bullet in an empty case. Looks more like now factory. Good Length. Beat it out and still a bit tight, using the efffort it took to unload the factory loads as reference. Adjusted the crimp back again and seated a bullet in another empty case. Looks good, crimp feels like the factory loads. Good Length. Beat it out and it acts like the factory loads. Okay, happy crimp. Put the tip of the bullet on the work bench and pushed down hard on the base of the case. Bullet will not push into the casing.

Loaded up 15 rounds of 124gr lrn bullets with 3.6gr loads of Accurate No. 2 Powder.

Onto the new 125gr lrn bullets.

Our books and the Accurate Load Table Version 3.5 doesn't show load data for the lead 125gr bullets. Did some on-line searching and found load data on several sites. 4.1gr is the starting load. Tested the crimp and length for the new bullets.

We had issues with the digital scale - couldn't get a consistant reading on the powder weight. Went old school and got the beam scale out. Calibrated it to zero and went on from there.

We loaded 5 rounds at 4.1 gr, 5 rounds at 4.2gr and 5 rounds at 4.3gr.

Now it's back to the range and see how they go.

I think things will work out a lot better for you. Like I said in post #13 and #14, I think 3.6 was way on the light side. 1 grain of lead bullet weight is nothing and the load data you found for 125gr matches more of what I have seen. Good luck with your testing and let us know how it works out.