[GioaJack]

Allright, just to humor Jack, and to allow C4W to accuse me of hypocracy, I measured something. I drove one of my soft 9mm pills down the barrel of my LC9. The soft lead and liquid alox coating made it pretty easy. The grooves were easy to measure since they were opposite each other. It fell between 0.355" and 0.356" on a mic. I guess that makes it 0.3555" and the bullets are 0.357" so I should be good in that respect.

ETA: I also loaded up some with 3.8 Bullseye before changing the measure over to Unique. I loaded up 100 with the known good load of 4.8.

There's your problem rookie... you're supposed to be measuring the lands. :whistling:


Jack

 

[fredj338]

Since 4.8 worked great, I tried 4.5 figuring it might save some wear and tear on the LC9. It ****ing keyholed. So now I'm going to try 5.2 just because I can and it also shoots great in my G17. MY old Lyman book shows 6.0 as max with a 125, The new books are around 4.8 or so. Go figyah.

I'm thinking the LC9 might have a bigger bore.

Maybe w/ a jacketed bullet, but I can assure you, 6gr of Unique under a 125gr lead bullet is going to be really hot. I run 5gr under a 12rgrLRN @ 1.130", good accurate loads, makes 1100fps in my G17/LW. Go to a 124grLTC @ 1.060"OAL & the vel/pressures jump to 1210fps. I've run 6gr under various 124grJHP, all go well over 1200fps, I consider 6gr a max. load w/ a jacketed bullet, I would approach anything higher than 5.5gr under a 124-125gr lead bullet w/ caution.:shocked:

 

[WiskyT]

Maybe w/ a jacketed bullet, but I can assure you, 6gr of Unique under a 125gr lead bullet is going to be really hot. I run 5gr under a 12rgrLRN @ 1.130", good accurate loads, makes 1100fps in my G17/LW. Go to a 124grLTC @ 1.060"OAL & the vel/pressures jump to 1210fps. I've run 6gr under various 124grJHP, all go well over 1200fps, I consider 6gr a max. load w/ a jacketed bullet, I would approach anything higher than 5.5gr under a 124-125gr lead bullet w/ caution.:shocked:

Agreed! I wouldn't do it. I just take comfort in my 5.2 load knowing that 6.0 is still within the limits set by a reputable lab at one point. 5.2 does 1150 or so out of my stock G17 which is all I could ask of a 125 using Unique. If I wanted more, and I don't, I'd use Blue Dot or something else.

Really, I want to go the opposite way. I want a load that will reliably cycle and shoot well, and that's it. I just find it odd that my attempts to load down are giving me keyholing when my previous experience is just the opposite.

 

[WiskyT]

There's your problem rookie... you're supposed to be measuring the lands. :whistling:


Jack

Good point. I screwed up the terminology and that could confuse someone. I did, in fact, measure the lands at 0.3555".

 

[fredj338]

Agreed! I wouldn't do it. I just take comfort in my 5.2 load knowing that 6.0 is still within the limits set by a reputable lab at one point. 5.2 does 1150 or so out of my stock G17 which is all I could ask of a 125 using Unique. If I wanted more, and I don't, I'd use Blue Dot or something else.

Really, I want to go the opposite way. I want a load that will reliably cycle and shoot well, and that's it. I just find it odd that my attempts to load down are giving me keyholing when my previous experience is just the opposite.

Could be alloy, maybe the bullet is skidding in the shallow rifling.:dunno:

 

[WiskyT]

Could be alloy, maybe the bullet is skidding in the shallow rifling.:dunno:

Normaly I would agree. But in this case it's the Ruger with it's fairly deep rifling that is giving me trouble and the Glock with it's shallow rifling that is pretty forgiving,