Reloading 9mm. Which projectile and powder?

[Toolnup]

Hi all,

Been reloading for rifles for a while but I have just started pistol shooting and got myself a CZ Shadow 1.

What is the general consensus on the most accurate projectile shape, round nose, hollow point, something else?

Also it seems ADI have recently released new powders for pistol. I was under the impression AP70 and AP100 was always the pick of the bunch but have been replaced with APS350 and APS450.

Which one is now the new 'go to' powder?

Cheers.

[No1Mk3]

G'day Toolnup,
An almost un-answerable question, or perhaps a too much answerable question in that everyone has a pet load that is different fromjlust about everyone else! Your load will depend upon type of comps (do you need to consider power factors?), pistol set up (have you changed springs?) Whether you like a clean hole like me and use semi wadcutters or you don't care and use round nose, what "dirties up" your particular barrel (my CZ52 doesn't like AP50 but the CZ75 does) and some shooters will swear black and blue that only Remington primers will be accurate, but I love Winchester. In other words, you will need to try a range of weights, probably starting at 115g and go through to 128g with a range of powders and primers to find what your pistol likes. As for the new powders, they are all single base and load development will need to start again for most of us. I may even stop using ADI all together, Cheers

[Toolnup]

G'day Toolnup,
An almost un-answerable question, or perhaps a too much answerable question in that everyone has a pet load that is different fromjlust about everyone else! Your load will depend upon type of comps (do you need to consider power factors?), pistol set up (have you changed springs?) Whether you like a clean hole like me and use semi wadcutters or you don't care and use round nose, what "dirties up" your particular barrel (my CZ52 doesn't like AP50 but the CZ75 does) and some shooters will swear black and blue that only Remington primers will be accurate, but I love Winchester. In other words, you will need to try a range of weights, probably starting at 115g and go through to 128g with a range of powders and primers to find what your pistol likes. As for the new powders, they are all single base and load development will need to start again for most of us. I may even stop using ADI all together, Cheers

Yeah I thought that would be the case.

Was hoping to narrow the choices down a bit to avoid buying half a kilo of powder and a couple of hundred projectiles that don't work real good (but I suppose it would still be fun using it all up).

[Sarco]

ADI replacements for AP70 and AP100 are not available yet, (I think I recall receiving something from ADI mentioning delays, but these replacements would be APS650 and APS950), and as such 70 and 100 may be a bit hard to find. 350 and 450 are the AS30 & AP50/AS50 replacements respectively.

As a preference for general use I would go for AP70 with 125ish grain pills at 3.4gn and work from there depending on how your CZ likes it (cycles properly and reliably) then work on loads for accuracy. I also like 5.5gn of AP100 with 125gn pills (from my Glock17A or H&K USP Expert).

But as No1Mk3 said everybody has a pet load. Eventually you will find yours if you play around enough and then in turn swear by it.

[Toolnup]

ADI replacements for AP70 and AP100 are not available yet, (I think I recall receiving something from ADI mentioning delays, but these replacements would be APS650 and APS950), and as such 70 and 100 may be a bit hard to find. 350 and 450 are the AS30 & AP50/AS50 replacements respectively.

As a preference for general use I would go for AP70 with 125ish grain pills at 3.4gn and work from there depending on how your CZ likes it (cycles properly and reliably) then work on loads for accuracy. I also like 5.5gn of AP100 with 125gn pills (from my Glock17A or H&K USP Expert).

But as No1Mk3 said everybody has a pet load. Eventually you will find yours if you play around enough and then in turn swear by it.

I would prefer something that is going to be readily available so I will either have to try 350 or 450 or wait for the 650 and 950 to be released. In my couple days of research I'm leaning towards the 450.

[Sarco]

Fair enough Toolnup,

The ADI online load data indicates quite a variety of loads for 9mm using 350 and 450.

Probably good points to start out and an see what suits you best.

Sarco

[vmaxaust]

Hi all,

Been reloading for rifles for a while but I have just started pistol shooting and got myself a CZ Shadow 1.

What is the general consensus on the most accurate projectile shape, round nose, hollow point, something else?

Also it seems ADI have recently released new powders for pistol. I was under the impression AP70 and AP100 was always the pick of the bunch but have been replaced with APS350 and APS450.

Which one is now the new 'go to' powder?

Cheers.

It's much simpler than you think. Your CZ likes the same ammo as many of the handguns I have. Personally I would stick to one powder and not experiment with many different types. Up to now your CZ would love loads like a round nose 135gr Hi-Tek coated bullet available from many local makers. I cast my own in this design and Hi-Tek coat them. Up to now I've always used AS50N (shotgun powder) or AP50. If you are relatively new go straight to APS450. This new powder for your CZ with a 135gr bullet and anywhere from 2.4gr to 2.7gr You can load it up with 3.0gr or more but frankly if you are shooting targets and not IPSC there is no point. If you set most commercial bullets up with 1.110" to 1.115" overall length you will have about 800fps velocity through your CZ with 2.4-2.5gr of APS450
I would simply use this as a starting point and I think you will end up with excellent results with the 135gr bullet and no more than 2.7gr of powder and the overall length I mentioned.
You can go up or down with the powder all you like it won't make a huge difference. The accuracy will be excellent throughout the range of powder weights I mentioned so long as the bullets you buy are sized to .356" and not less. A few tenths larger diameter than this is OK but less than .356" is not ideal.
Ideally you should taper crimp with a dedicated taper crimp die after seating the bullet and go light on the crimp....378" to .380" is fine measured at the top of the case after crimping.
Also make sure if you are using once or many times fired cases, particularly if you don't know which pistol they were fired in, to have the cases Rollsized to get rid of case bulge. I Rollsize all my cases regardless of what they were fired in. This is critical if they were fired in Glocks or similar Service type handguns used with heavy loads like +P's Many relaoders don't realise that full length sizing does not always get rid of this case bulge and often jamming becomes a problems not to mention the fact that bulged cases will fail much more quickly after numerous reloads.
I have cases that I've loaded over 40 times and they still look like new. Yes, once in while a case will split after much abuse but the Rollsizing extends case life exponentially.

[Toolnup]

Thanks for all the info vmaxaust, very much appreciated.

I have picked up a small quantity of 123gr round nose and hollow points and am waiting for some APS450 to come in at my local so will give them a try first.
Sounds like the 135gr might be worth a shot too.

[vmaxaust]

[quote="Toolnup"]Thanks for all the info vmaxaust, very much appreciated.

I have picked up a small quantity of 123gr round nose and hollow points and am waiting for some APS450 to come in at my local so will give them a try first.


Use about 2.6-2.7gr powder as starting point for the lighter bullets. I doubt you will need more than 2.7 to 2.8