Reloading Berry 9mm 124 gr flat nose hollow base w/ Power Pistol

[Otter]

Can't find any load data for this combo. I figure 6 grains would be okay but curious what the upper limit might be. Any load data would be appreciated.

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[vertical ascent]

I am not sure if you have seen this, this is straight from Alliant Powder's website. It is a load for the 124gr Speer GDHP, utilizing Power Pistol Powder with a CCI500

Alliant Powder - Reloader's Guide

From the manufacturers website, YMMV

 

[orygunmike]

This is data I received last week directly from Alliant for Power Pistol:


124/125 gr lead
Red Dot start 3.6 grs max 4.1 grs
Bullseye start 3.8 grs max 4.3 grs
Green Dot start 3.9 grs max 4.4 grs
Unique start 4 grs max 4.5 grs
Power Pistol start 4.8 grs max 5.3 grs

124/125 gr jacketed
Red Dot start 3.7 grs max 4.2 grs
Bullseye start 3.9 grs max 4.3 grs
Green Dot start 4.1 grs max 4.5 grs
Unique start 4.5 grs max 5 grs
Power Pistol start 5 grs max 5.5 grs

Can't find any load data for this combo. I figure 6 grains would be okay but curious what the upper limit might be. Any load data would be appreciated.

 

[AMProducts]

My number one suggestion when loading plated bullets is to stick to the minimum loads, if you push them too fast stripping becomes a problem and accuracy goes to hell

 

[evltwn]

Consider sticking to cast boolit loading data when loading Berry's. AMP is absolutely (as usual) correct.

 

[Otter]

Holy crap, the numbers are all over the board. The Alliant website posts a max load of 6.4 grains of Power Pistol for the Speer 124 grain bullet, which I'm pretty sure is a jacketed bullet. Orygunmike's info from Alliant says 5.5 grains max for a jacketed bullet. That's a big spread.

If I start at 5.5 grain with these Berry bullets, that should be safe. But will the pistol cycle properly? I know there can be a fine line between minimum loads and what will actually work. Frankly I'm not concerned about accuracy right now. I just want to pump rounds through the pistol to determine if it is reliable.

 

[AMProducts]

Power Pistol IIRC is a slow burning powder that also has a lot of cross over with shotgun, the burn rate chart shows it to be between universal and HS6, so with the slower powders you have much less to worry about in terms of reducing the charge. Fast powders are very sensitive to this, slower powders are not.

Going off Mike's suggestion, I would say probably start between 4.5 and 5.0, load 5 rounds and try them out, if they don't cycle you're only cursing me for 5 rounds, not 500.

 

[RVTECH]

My CZ cycles well with 4-4.2 grains of Bullseye with 124 gr. plated bullet - not Berry's but HSMs which are superior to Berry's. Regardless as previously recommended stick to minimums (or just a touch more) for plated bullets. If you want maximum velocity then use the appropriate jacketed bullet.

 

[deadshot2]

My number one suggestion when loading plated bullets is to stick to the minimum loads, if you push them too fast stripping becomes a problem and accuracy goes to hell

Not if you use quality plated bullets. Speer GDHP's can be driven to max jacketed bullet speeds with no problems.

The old cheapy "copper washed" bullets were another story. Berry's seem to be one of the better plated bullets.

Why not contact the Bullet Mfr and ask them for load data. I've done this many times and usually they prefer to mail the info rather than e-mail.

 

[AMProducts]

Speer GDHP's are usually plated much thicker than the .003" that most plated bullets get, they also usually start out with higher quality materials, where-as a lot of others start out with scrap lead. I don't know that berry's does this, as they usually have decent quality control, however companies like extreme tend to have highly variable quality, which is why I say keep the velocity low and you won't have a problem.

 

[Otter]

I would have contacted Berry's but I assumed someone else had already solved this equation. I don't think the Speer GDHP is a copper plated bullet...isn't it a jacketed bullet? I don't know that for sure but I wouldn't think their self defense ammo would be a plated bullet.

If it really is a plated bullet I would default to that load, but it seems like a hefty max powder charge for a plated bullet. I ended up with with the same COAL as that bullet, as it has about the same dimensions, and went with a powder charge of 5.7 grains. I was loading 6.4 grains of Power Pistol with the 115 grain round nose flat base bullets and that was a nice load. If you never hear from me again things didn't turn out good with these hollow base 124 grain bullets.

 

[deadshot2]

I would have contacted Berry's but I assumed someone else had already solved this equation. I don't think the Speer GDHP is a copper plated bullet...isn't it a jacketed bullet? I don't know that for sure but I wouldn't think their self defense ammo would be a plated bullet.

If it really is a plated bullet I would default to that load, but it seems like a hefty max powder charge for a plated bullet. I ended up with with the same COAL as that bullet, as it has about the same dimensions, and went with a powder charge of 5.7 grains. I was loading 6.4 grains of Power Pistol with the 115 grain round nose flat base bullets and that was a nice load. If you never hear from me again things didn't turn out good with these hollow base 124 grain bullets.

The GDHP is plated as that's the most effective way to keep a jacket from separating from the core. Plating can be added for just about any thickness you want. The only reason the copper is there, plated or jacketed, is to keep the lead from melting or being stripped off the bullet and fouling the bore. As for Self Defense ammo? If a Plated bullet can do the job, why not? Beats "gluing or soldering" a bullet core into a copper jacket in order to keep it from fragmenting.

 

[nglayton]

Contacting Berry's only gets you this from their website:

FAQ: Load Data for Berry's Preferred Plated Bullets
Currently published load data is limited to some calibers by Accurate, Western Powders and Hodgdon. We are working with these companies to get data published for all of our bullets.

We recommend using hard cast load data or start with mid-range jacketed data. Make sure data is below 1250fps unless you are using a Thick-Plated bullet that we list a higher max velocity for like the 9mm 124gr HBRN-TP that can be shot to 1500fps in open class guns like a .38 Super. Keep in mind that since our plated bullet has the same pressure curve as a hard cast bullet, the published cast data will be very close to what you will get with our plated bullets. If you use Jacketed data with our plated bullets you can get from 5% - 8% increase in velocity using that data.

Other than the data from Western and Accurate for the 9mm, .40S&W and Hodgdon .40S&W there is no printed data available.