125 Power Factor in 75 Compact 9mm barrel

[WxGuy]

To the group,

What have you successfully loaded to make 125PF and not be to harsh to shoot?  I use 165g in my Shadows and figure 165 and 147 are too heavy to stabilize.  I would like to know and hear your opinions.  I want to use this gun in IDPA; CCP division.  It's all raced out with a sweet SA trigger, etc.

Thanks in advance.

[IDescribe]

First, don't try to load to a PF of 125.  You want at least 130, if not 133 or more.  With 147gr bullets, I go up to a PF of 137.


Do you want something dummy proof?  With jacketed bullets where cost matters, the best choice IMHO for 9mm Luger is actually a bullet labelled for 38 Super.  It's the Precision Delta .356 diameter 38 Super 124gr RN. They're 8.9 cents per bullet if you order 2000 or more.   Load it with a faster powder like Bullseye, N320, Prima-V, Win231/HP38, Titegroup, or AA2, and you'll have a nice soft load for cheap.  It's really hard to mess that up.

If you want to try to make something work with 147gr bullets, the ACME 145 and 147 coated lead bullets are the way to go.

[Wobbly]

First, don't try to load to a PF of 125.  You want at least 130, if not 133 or more.

+1

PF 125 is the minimum load limit, not the load objective. The objective of the load is to find the best accuracy which sufficiently meets the minimum PF. "Sufficiently meets" indicates that, as ID stipulated, every cartridge in your range bag meets the minimum power requirements. As with any tolerance, this requires the mean to be somewhat higher so that every single cartridge makes minimum.

 

[WxGuy]

Oh yes, always load up.  Current 165g load is consistently making 129 in the shadows.  Thanks!