I messed up

Well my first big mess up as a rookie reloader. (I think ) Just glad I realized it. May not be huge but let's see. You guys tell me.

I was reloading some 9mm and I planned on using horandy 115 fmj so I looked up the load data for my Power Pistol and here were the min/max charges for my manuals and on Alliant's website.

I went with Lyman @ 5.9gr

Lee- no data for power pistol (115 gr)
Lyman - min 5.9gr/max 6.5
Hornady - min 4.8gr/max 6.7gr
Alliant's website only has one charge listed for 115gr projectiles and it's a Speer 115gr GDHP which I wasn't using. 6.7gr was what they had.

Here's the problem. I grabbed my RMR 124gr FMJ projectiles from the bin by accident and used the 115gr load data. Here's what that looks like for Power Pistol with a 124gr projectile.

Lee - again no load data for Power Pistol (124gr) but did have 125gr min 6.0/max 6.6gr. Not sure if 1gr makes a huge deal.
Lyman min 5.1gr/max 5.7gr
Hornady - min 4.3gr/max 5.7gr
Alliant's website again only one charge weight using 124grSpeer GDHP 6.4gr

If I can use the Lee data for a 125gr I'm good. Not sure if that 1gr heavier projectile is a huge deal.
I'm 2 tenths over according to Lyman and Hornady.
I'm good according to Alliant's website if the bullet type doesn't matter but the weight is the same.

Again, I'm at 5.9gr Power Pistol with a 124gr projectile. Do you recommend I pull the bullets and adjust the load or is it safe to proceed to the range?

Weight the bullets. I’d bet they are plus or minus 1gr anyways.

Those load data vary so widely that i suspect they use different OAL for each. If you want to better evaluate your problem pick the one that matches your OAL at 124gn.

Catfish said:

Those load data vary so widely that i suspect they use different OAL for each. If you want to better evaluate your problem pick the one that matches your OAL at 124gn.

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^^^^ This.

The OAL, more specifically, the case volume UNDER the bullet, can really affect the max charge and pressure.

I looked at the Hornady data for 115 FMJ RN, and they list the OAL as 1.100". They list the 124 FMJ RN as 1.150". If you seat the 124 at the OAL listed for 115 FMJ, you have significantly lowered the volume and the pressures will be higher. Most people have the opinion that Hornady is a bit conservative on their published charges, and optimistic on their published velocities, but I would not count on it.

Speer has online data:
https://reloading-data.speer-ammo.c...m_caliber_355-366_dia/9mm_Luger__124_rev1.pdf

They list an OAL for their 124 TMJ bullet as 1.135", and a max charge of Power Pistol as 6.4gn.

Nosler has online data:
https://load-data.nosler.com/load-data/9mm-luger-parabellum/

Max charge of 6.1gn Power Pistol, OAL for their JHP bullet as 1.120".

It may all depend on what OAL you used. If it were me, I would not pull the bullets yet. I would load up some more rounds at lower charges, working up in 0.2gn increments, and see what result you get. A chronograph would give you good information in this case. From that, you could better determine whether you need to pull them, or if they are good to go.

Catfish said:

Those load data vary so widely that i suspect they use different OAL for each. If you want to better evaluate your problem pick the one that matches your OAL at 124gn.

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I sized them all to 1.150 OAL They're RMR FMJ-RN 124gr

Lee says the Jacketed FMJ 125gr is 1.150
Hornady says the Jacketed FMJ 124gr is 1.150
Lyman says the Jacketed HP 125gr is 1.075 (Jacketed HP)
Alliant's website says the Speer 124gr is 1.120

Remember I've got an RMR 124gr FMJ-RN but used 115gr load data for power pistol. According to Alliant with the 124gr speer bullet I'm fine. According to Lee with a 125gr bullet I'm fine. According to Lyman and Hornady I'm 2 tenths over max load. Shouldn't I be more concerned with the charge weight rather than the OAL for now? I could always seat them deeper if I had to.

Seating them deeper will raise pressure, which is not what you want. Seating longer than the published data is ok (as long as the rounds pass the plunk test) but seating deeper than the published data is not ok unless you lower the charge.

Toprudder said:

Seating them deeper will raise pressure, which is not what you want. Seating longer than the published data is ok (as long as the rounds pass the plunk test) but seating deeper than the published data is not ok unless you lower the charge.

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Ok. So I'll leave the OAL alone. My main concern is the charge. I NEVER even go near the max charge but according to Lyman and Hornady I'm over 2 tenths. It's all about safety for me here.

So according to Speer and Nosler I'm ok. Can I use the load data from another bullet manufacturer? Nosler, Speer, etc.

BTW, yes plunk test good.

PepNYC said:

Ok. So I'll leave the OAL alone. My main concern is the charge. I NEVER even go near the max charge but according to Lyman and Hornady I'm over 2 tenths. It's all about safety for me here.

So according to Speer and Nosler I'm ok. Can I use the load data from another bullet manufacturer? Nosler, Speer, etc.

BTW, yes plunk test good.

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Bullets from different manufacturers can be different enough to cause changes in pressure. One instance I know of, between Nosler and Hornady 230gn 45acp bullets, is that the Hornady has significantly harder jackets and require much lower charges. This was directly from the ballistician at Shooters World. Unfortunately, not many load data sources list RMR bullets (I think Western/Accurate may be the only one). That is why it is important to start low and work up. I am also in the safety oriented camp, I am very cautious when I get close to max published charges, and I always err on the side of caution when figuring out a good starting load.

Again, I think load up a few test rounds at lower charges and work up, then you have some information that you can use to decide if you need to pull the existing rounds or not.

Forget the 115gn load data its a distraction. You loaded 124gn FMJRN bullets with 5.9gn PP at 1.15".

Lee and Hornady match your geometry.
Does 5.9gn fall within either Lee or Hornady published charge range?

ETA i see the right answer above. Set them aside and see if they are safe by working up from starting loads.

Just one thing I would like to point out. Lee does not have any independent data, they just reprint the data from the powder manufacturers. So if they do have data for Power Pistol, it will be data from Alliant. The Alliant website will have more current data as the Lee second edition is pretty old now.

In 9mm with Power Pistol you basically can't get enough in the case to have a catastrophic problem. You can get it pretty hot, there's probably +P data somewhere. With other powders this is definitely not the case.

If you are within the charge range for a bullet of the basically the same weight that isn't dramatically different construction you're fine. You are also loading longer than min which drops pressure so long as it isn't wedging the bullet into the lands of the barrel.

I use 124/125 data interchangeably for 120-125gr bullets as long as they're similar construction, cast for cast, or jacketed for jacketed, plated I usually stay on the low end of jacketed, without much concern for profile unless it requires a very short OAL.

Catfish said:

Forget the 115gn load data its a distraction. You loaded 124gn FMJRN bullets with 5.9gn PP at 1.15".

Lee and Hornady match your geometry.
Does 5.9gn fall within either Lee or Hornady published charge range?

ETA i see the right answer above. Set them aside and see if they are safe by working up from starting loads.

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Hornady no. Max is 5.7gr using PP. Lee has their max at 6.6 with power pistol but for 125gr bullet. They don't have any data for a 124gr using power pistol.

124 125 same same... With those numbers i would choot 'em.