Reloading 9mm

Just use range brass. My match load for 9mm is a 135 grain bayou over 3.4 grains of titegroup with federal primers. Depending on the volume you shoot a progressive will definitely come into play, I think I made it through 2k on a rock chucker before getting a Dillon 650 and I'm well over 10k on that.

Bullseye shooters might have a better recipe for precision loads, but this does all I need it to through a Sig P320 legion and a Glock 34 before that for production division.

Range brass is fine
Dies - Hornady, RCBS, Lee
Powder - I use Titegroup - 3.4-4.2 grains depending on bullet type/weight
Primers - CCI Small Pistol all I use these days
Bullets - Xtreme plated mostly, also have lead (yes, even in my glock), Hornady HAP, Zero, Berry's, coated lead....

Bulk was available and was cheap. Now it is neither. This happens from time to time, I have enough of the above to never worry about shooting... Unless there is a failure in November...

RWE said:

Range brass is fine
Dies - Hornady, RCBS, Lee
Powder - I use Titegroup - 3.4-4.2 grains depending on bullet type/weight
Primers - CCI Small Pistol all I use these days
Bullets - Xtreme plated mostly, also have lead (yes, even in my glock), Hornady HAP, Zero, Berry's, coated lead....

Bulk was available and was cheap. Not it is neither. This happens from time to time, I have enough of the above to never worry about shooting... Unless there is a failure in November...

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I second Dillon Dies, Titegroup powder & CCI primers. Also the same for Xtreme bullits
Do a search for "plunk" testing using your barrel/chamber as a case gauge.

BoomFlop said:

Hey all,

I know this doesn't fit the Long Range Hunting that this site is, however, I trust you guys more than any other forum.

I would like to start reloading for my Glock 19 (9mm). I recently started reloading for centerfire rifle, however, pistol seems to be fairly different.

What all do you recommend for the following:

Brass (thinking Starline?)
Dies (thinking Lee 4 die?)
Primer (thinking CCI 500?)
Powder (?)
Bullet (practice only, no home defense)

Sounds like you never trim 9mm brass? That seems odd if it headspaces off the case mouth.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks all,
Steve

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it Sounds to me like you are overthinking the entire process. In order first brass doesn't matter As long as it is in good condition. Second you will want carbide dies so you are not messing with case lube. Third all name brand primers are fine. Fourth for powder I am using Winclean 244. It is clean and consistent. As for bullets you should probably stay with 115 grain round nose JHP.
There is a lot of difference between loading for high precision rifle shooting and loading pistol cartridges. For rifles I weigh every powder charge, with pistol you use a powder dump. For my rifles COL is critical. For pistol you are not seating the bullet in the lans. COL is more a function of feeding.
A simple way to look at it is just consider 1 MOA at 50 yds versus 500. I load about 1500 rounds a month 9mm and 45 ACP, and have gone through 12,000 rounds in the last six months, so I am confident in what I say. Good luck.

I challenge you to find: Dillon 9mm dies. Or Starline brass. Or even small pistol primers. You are a bit late to the game on this one.
We had great bull ammo at $8.99 x 50. Those days are gone.

With Glock barrels you cannot shoot lead bullets in them If you want to shoot lead but an aftermarket barrel

Corey

BoomFlop said:

Brass (thinking Starline?)
Dies (thinking Lee 4 die?)
Primer (thinking CCI 500?)
Powder (?)
Bullet (practice only, no home defense)

Sounds like you never trim 9mm brass? That seems odd if it headspaces off the case mouth.

Click to expand...

Brass - Range pick up or cheap washed brass
Dies - Hornady 3 die set plus taper crimp die(Lee) with Hornady lock ring
Primer - CCI's seat the best to me. Used to be all Winchester, but had some minor issues
Powder - Titegroup, AA#5, Longshot
Bullet - I use 95% xtreme plated

Trimming is never required as they don't grow was longer.

Brass lasts foreverish.....and 4 MOA is good shooting, so no need good brass!

You need a progressive press! I use the Hornady LNL AP.

i load for about $135 per 1000. This is as good quality practice/match ammo for my guns.

In general you are correct Corey. However, coated lead in many barrels are fine which can save some money. Glock barrels are like most barrels in that there are no absolutes. Coated lead will work great in some and not so great in others. The good news is that the tell tail sign is accuracy degrades as the barrel coats with coating or lead. I've fired 10's of thousands of coated lead through factory barrels without issue. But I know the proper way to load them and what to look for. Proper belling so you don't scratch off the coating and using "cooler" powders that don't cook off the coating are the first step. Bullet sizing is important as well. This is a good guide if you want to go down that path:

The dies you listed are perfect the factory crimp die sizes the rounds when u crimp them so no failure to feed. tite group win 231 aa#5 all work well rite now ammo is going for 500.00 a thousand if you can find it. go to the brass man.com for brass you can buy it once fired for 69.00 shipped a 1000. I go to American reloading for the bullets I was buying pulled gold dots for 100.00 a thousand think those days are over for a while though. The berrys hybrid hollow points get rave reviews but nobody has any right now. have fun

I just ordered a pound of CFEPistol. Anyone here using it?

Are you running Titegroup through a conventional powder measure?

yes, I have a quick change rcbs once u set it I can load a 1000 rounds at a time. pistol powder meters the same as ball powder so it is a breeze to work with. It holds a pound of powder bought it for 308 loads but it's good for anything I load the powder dispenser that is.

The good news is if you already load accurate rifle ammo, handgun ammo is a breeze, especially if you just want practice ammo. No lube for carbide dies, no brass prep and as other have said no trimming. Plated bullets are good alternative but right now availability is likely deciding factor. Many good powders, you might do best to look at some less than popular powders as they are more available than the bigger names. If you use a primer tube filler like Vibraprime try to avoid WW SR primers, they are a feeding headache. Starline brass for me is the best, but 9mm usually not sensitive. Used to be range brass had some bulged cased from older Glocks but not so much anymore. I load 9mm in a SDB, but use Lee 4 die sets for many other handgun calibers, great value. Definitely suggest seat and crimp in different stages, just faster to set up without shaving bullets.

A few friends run CFE Pistol, works well.

Titegroup meters like water.

I use Hornady Custom Dies for all my handgun ammo. Brass will last for ages so long as you keep the belling process to a minimum otherwise you'll start splitting necks. Any primer will do for practice ammo so you can save there by purchasing Wolf and other inexpensive brands. I use Czech Clean Shot powder; Its equivalent to AA#2 and 3 1/2 grains works great. Cleaner the Bullseye and about half the price. Lee makes a great taper crimp factory die, only use roll crimp dies on revolver ammo.