my ultimate load...

[booey50]

I have been reloading for the past couple years usually 9mm and .40 s&w. I would load up from min to just over medium loads for the 9mm because that is what I like to shoot.

well I never really paid attention to loads for precision groups before now. I loaded up 100 rounds to start finding the perfect load for my two main carries.
A M&P 9c and a beretta Nano, here are my best loads so far
I also love shooting 147 grain bullets in my compacts, to me they are not as "snappy"

50 rounds of 147 gr lead flat point
3.0 grain of Clays Universal
c.o.l. 1.065"
wolf primers

50 rounds of 147 grain lead flat point
3.2 grain of Clays Universal
c.o.l. 1.065"
wolf primers

Fired them all tonight and the groups on both batches were awesome.
And such low recoil the Nano felt like shooting a Ruger P95 (most of us know how heavy those things are)

i am liking universal a lot, also love titegroup and unique, but universal isn't nearly as dirty as the other two.

here are a couple of pics...

Any loads you can think of that would knock my groups down, these groups were 2 inches at 10 yards, (good for me) tell me what you got.

 

[Aszerigan]

Clays powders are awesome. Try the standard Clays sometime too. Best powder out there for soft shooting 9mm and 45ACP.

 

[rockhopper46038]

I moved away from Clays to Power Pistol for 9mm because of the tightness of the band between min and max loads, but that second recipe looks like it might be worth a try as a bowling pin load for shooting minor. I may check the specs and load up a batch and see how it shoots in my SIGs.

 

[indyjohn]

Clays powders are awesome. Try the standard Clays sometime too. Best powder out there for soft shooting 9mm and 45ACP.

Ugh! I have a jug of Titegroup and a few pounds of of Hornaday 9mm 115 gr. XTP waiting to be built..

 

[booey50]

Ugh! I have a jug of Titegroup and a few pounds of of Hornaday 9mm 115 gr. XTP waiting to be built..

I think titegroup is great for 115 gr bullets. You want a faster powder to push the faster bullets. Universal is a slower powder so works great for 147 grain bullets.
You can use titegroup in 147 grain if I am not mistaken, 2.3 gr to 2.8 gr.

 

[booey50]

I moved away from Clays to Power Pistol for 9mm because of the tightness of the band between min and max loads, but that second recipe looks like it might be worth a try as a bowling pin load for shooting minor. I may check the specs and load up a batch and see how it shoots in my SIGs.

In my lyman book the minimum was 3.0 and the max is 3.3 using 147 gr lead bullets. Universal does not have a big range but that does give you a smaller range to test for the perfect combo. 3.2 gr was such a cadillac load that it felt like shooting a full size gun out of my sub compact,
what's so funny is my first three bullets were those bullets and the last three were tula 115 gr. Wow what a difference, it actually scared me a little.

 

[coorslight]

I have used Clays in the past but have not used it recently, I was always impressed with it, I have used Power Pistol with good results. I mostly use Titegroup, I have found it to work well in all the Pistol calibers I load for, .45ACP, .40 S&W, 9MM, .38/.357, and light loads for the .44 Mag. and I don't have to keep a bunch of powders around, But I am about to load up a bunch maybe I will try th Clays again.

 

[45fan]

I use Universal, I like to keep things simple, and Universal works well in everything I load, even lighter 44 Mag loads. I have tried standard Clays, but its not as universal as Universal for the calibers that I load.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

I only load 9mm and really like TiteGroup.

 

[booey50]

sorry to bring back this thread but did not want to start another. I loaded up some 124 gr round nose to see how well they did going against the load above 147 gr bullets. Now to start out with I suck with 124 gr, does not matter what the round is I can not shoot them like 147 gr and 115 gr.

I loaded up 124 gr RN with 4.2 gr of universal. I should have known better than to load to almost max because I never do but I did anyways. Well my groupings were horrible even with my dead on M&P 9c I could not hit anything under 3 inch groups.

Well transfered over to my Beretta Nano and the recoil actually hurt my wrist. It sucked. With the 147 gr load from above It felt like shooting a .22 but not with the 124 grain bullets. SO now I am stuck with 500 rds of 124 lead bullets and have to find a soft load for them so I can use them up.

At least everything went well today, nice weather and I got to shoot at stuff. Have fun everyone and stay safe.

 

[hockey3236]

do u still load 9mm in tite group n do u use lrn in 115gr if so what is ur recipe. just shoot some and where very smokey. bought some unique thinking bout trying it

 

[DougBarnes101]

Clays powders are awesome. Try the standard Clays sometime too. Best powder out there for soft shooting 9mm and 45ACP.

Does anyone have a range they use for Clays with a 147 gr LRN (Indiana Bullet Co.) that would share. I cannot find anything with this powder in 9mm. Clays is all I use with my 45 loads so just having one powder would be sweet. Thanks to all in advance for your help.

Doug