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Old July 31, 2013, 06:29 PM   #1
skizzums
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Penn bullets

Hey guys, I had a box on my front porch when I got home. To my absolute surprise it was a box of 9mm round 125 gr Penn bullets. Had to have been a couple months ago when I ordered these, cuz I totally forgot about them. I ordered them before I ever reloaded in preparation. My first impressions are pretty good, they have a higher wall and a smaller round nose than my Ursula's and also have a tiny little flat top, they are very consistent. My only complaint is about 15 so far, I haven't went through them yet, are missing the lubrasize ring, but I've never had bullets shipped before, so maybe that's normal in the summertime. Here's a pic, the penn is on the left comparing to my usual.
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Old July 31, 2013, 06:31 PM   #2
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My question is, I have only been using .355 sized, penn's are .356. Will these take a very different load? Still the same bullet weight, but wasn't sure if these will have increased pressure cuz of larger size, or need more powder to push it through? Thanks
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Old July 31, 2013, 07:53 PM   #3
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The only lead bullet I use is Penn’s. I use the 120 TCCB and the same bullet as you have. The .356 is his standard size for 9mm and will work with the same load as .355. Start low and work up.
With that bullet my pet load is 5.3 GR of Win 231 (Speer #10 min: 5.1, Max: 5.6). It will give you a little over 1000 FPS and has good accuracy and clean. That is a jacket bullet load not the swaged lead. These bullets will take loads equal to jacketed loads with little leading just dont go much over 1000.
I have found his 120 more accurate in my Beretta Cougar and very accurate in my Beretta carbine.
Don’t worry that little difference in diameter will give you better accuracy and add very little pressure.
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Old July 31, 2013, 08:05 PM   #4
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thanks ozzie. ill let you know how they shoot for me.
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Old August 1, 2013, 08:23 AM   #5
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They could be 0.357 or even 0.358" and they would take the same load.
You start with the lowest starting load you can from at least two different manuals and work the load up.
None of my guns ever notice a couple thousandths of an inch in bullet diameter and, prior to S&W bringing out the M39, there were very very few .355" or .356" bullets to be found in the US and the few people loading for 9x19 used .38 bullets to great effect and, many times, still get better accuracy with the larger bullets.
Lead bullets need to at least 0.001" larger than groove diameter. 9x19 barrels have, historically, ranged from 0.354" to 0.362" (the larger groove diameters are normally found in military pistols and pistols sold commercially that have a military background (i.e., my commercial Browning High Power I bought in 1980 has a 0.359" groove diameter -- which Browning told me met their specification for barrel dimensions -- and doesn't like undersized lead bullets), so lead bullets can be a problem if the barrel is oversized. Did you slug your barrel before ordering the bullets?
Hope you have a nice 0.3545-0.355" groove.
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Old August 1, 2013, 09:27 AM   #6
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Penn makes good bullets and at low prices, both for the bullets and the shipping.
But it requires ordering well before they are needed, as you say.
.357 lead worked best in my loads.
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Old August 1, 2013, 10:45 AM   #7
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no, i havent slugged my barrels yet, i have five 9mm guns, so i just need something that will work in all of them. im not a competition shooter or anything like that. shooting an m&p shield, s&w sd9ve, sccy cpx-1, sig p-250, and a hipoint 9mm carbine. i keep all my pistols in 9mm so i wont ever have worry about different calibers, i still pay for my rifle ammo which is all russian so still cheap. but from what i hear .356 should work great universally in all of my 9's, ill find out in a couple days anyway.
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Old August 2, 2013, 06:49 AM   #8
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I buy THAT bullet for myself and MY guns.
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Old August 2, 2013, 02:38 PM   #9
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I have bought 1000`s of 45 and 38 cal. from PENN and never found one with the lube not being where it is supposed to be. They are some of the best cast bullets out there. I would e-mail Bob and let him know, I am sure he will make it right.
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Old August 2, 2013, 09:01 PM   #10
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oh the lube is no biggie, im in atlanta and it's over a hundred degrees right now, it prob just sat on a hot truck somewhere. if i get into them and there is more than 50 w/o the lube maybe ill holler at him, but if its just a few i can lube them myself.
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