Reloading 9mm bullets
This is odd… but I got into reloading bullets because I thought I could save a bit of money making my own bullets as opposed to buying them for $40 a box. Im not talking FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) bullets but JHP (Jacketed Hollow Points). From my understanding, reloading FMJ bullets doesn’t really save you much money. But seriously, all points aside here, the real reason for reloading a bullet is for consistency, accuracy, pride and knowing that your handcrafted bullet is custom made to fit the gun you are shooting. Most of the time, the bullets you buy in the store are created “universally” for different gun manufacturers, which make it easier for the average person to just buy bullets and not worry about if it fits or not. The only downfall of purchasing pre-made “universal” bullets is that you sacrifice accuracy. Now if your some gangster just wanting to bust a cap in someones ass, than this probably wont matter to you, but if your someone that enjoys to shoot for accuracy and consistency than you may want to consider reloading. Enough of my jabbering…
Let me begin by saying that all information posted here are recipes taken from the Hornady 7th edition Handbook of Cartridge Reloading. In no way am I responsible for any mistakes or actions that you may take in using this information to create your own reloads. So please consult your own handbook before making or shooting any reloads for your own safety as well as others.
My first batch of 9mm 147 grain Hornady XTP/HP bullets were loaded using the following recipe:
4.5 grains of Power Pistol (gun powder)
1.100″ C.O.L. (Cartridge overall length)
CCI 500 primers
With this recipe, the bullet should theoretically travel at 900 fps. I also loaded 50 rounds with 4.2 grains of power pistol giving me a velocity of 850 fps. But why such slow speeds? Because I wanted to start low and work my way up to 10% below the maximum grains (5.1 was maximum). I’m keepin it on the safe side.
Now its off to the range to see how well they perform before I make the second batch!
The picture on the left was borrowed from Hornady.com.. Thanks Hornady.