Rainier Questions

[Utahar15]

I’ve been reading this forum for weeks as well as a few others and have pretty much decided this is the one I want to stick with for the vast of information and kindness of the users.

When I was 19 or 20 a few of my buddies would get together at a friends house and Friday night and load up 3 or 4 hundred rounds of 9mm and then go out on Saturday and have a blast. We loaded on an RCBS system with the piggyback add on. He did have another single stage for the few 7mm and .243 that were loaded form time to time.

I bought all my components and pulled the handle and all that. Didn’t work up the loads because there were tested and worked in my S&W 9mm. Well this was great until he moved and bought us out on the supplies we have acquired. Man it was like 8 buck for a 1000 primers, $12 for 500 lead bullets and $10 for a pound of powder.

Well anyhow after he moved it was back to factory rounds and that’s where it stayed for many years. Well about 3 years ago I go t the bug to start reloading myself, dang the price of stuff went up. Ok so I started looking for used gear and a couple of friends that also wanted to get into this. I had the room in my house to set up a bench (2’ by 4’) so I built the bench and started collecting the gear.

I did end up with everything I needed. Press, Scale, Powder thrower, dies. I ended up with several reloading manuals and bought new the Hodgens 2001 and Lyman 49th.

In all my bargaining I ended up 500 (+/-) of Rainier 9mm 115 RN (plated), got them and a set of lee dies with 200 new brass and a bunch of used brass for $25, figured I could not go wrong with that price. Right how the only powder I have is HP-38 and Unique.

Now according to Rainier FAQ they said a lead with transfer straight across and a Jacketed should be reduce by 10% so according to this.

115 GR. LRN Hodgdon HP-38 .356" 1.100" 4.3 1079 28,400 CUP 4.8 1135 32,000 CUP
115 GR. SPR GDHP Hodgdon HP-38 .355" 1.125" 4.7 1075 25,300 CUP 5.1 1167 28,100 CUP

I’m assuming a 4.3 starting load of HP 38 should be fine. Am I missing something?

Robb

[Jim243]

Plated bullets are neither fish nor fowl, they are somewhere's between full lead and jacketed bullets. I would suggest that you start at 4.7 grains of H-38 or Win 231 the same powder. General rule of thumb is to start plated bullets at the min load of jacketed bullets. In this case that would be 4.7 grains.

Here is a good resource for load data.

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp


Jim

[serf 'rett]

Noticed you also had Unique powder. I just tested a small series of reloads in my Springfield XDm 9mm. Was using Remington brass, CCI 500 primers and 115 grain Berry’s RNDS bullets which I think should be similar to your Rainier bullets. Loaded to a COAL of 1.120 and shot at 50 feet with the following:

Unique 4.6 grains - 4 of 5 in 2.0” group located at 11:30 2.1” from POA, tight group
Unique 4.8 grains - 4 of 5 in 1.5” group located at 11:00 2.0” from POA, best group
Unique 5.0 grains - 5 of 5 in 2.5” group located at 8:30 1.5” from POA, tight group
Unique 5.2 grains - 5 of 5 in 3.0” group located at 9:00 1.5” from POA, group scattered
Unique 5.4 grains - 5 of 5 in 3.0” group located at 11:00 1.2” from POA, group scattered

I was pleased with the Unique results, just didn’t care so much for the way it metered in my powder measure. Your results will vary. Just picked up some Win 231 a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t tried it yet.

[BDS-THR]

W231/HP38 is my favorite powder for 9mm.

I shoot a lot of Rainier plated bullets and they are sized as same diameter as jacketed bullets (other plated bullets are sized a bit larger).

FWIW, I run 115 gr RN with 4.7-4.8 gr of W231/HP38 at longer 1.125" OAL. Very accurate load and cycles all the pistols I have shot out of including Glock subcompacts with stiffer recoil spring sets.

[jb683]

utahar15 I too have been trying out the plated bullets (Berrys) and have been getting great results. I was told to use the same load data as if I were loading lead RN bullets. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? I shoot 45acp with 230gr and 5.0gr of WIN231. The Hogdon manual sets the max at 5.3 for the 45. I have not loaded any 9mm yet but plan to in the near future. I guess what I am asking is, where do I get the correct load information, or am I safe doing as I am?

Thanks

[overkill0084]

"We, at Rainier Ballistics, recommend using lead bullet load data when loading our bullets. There is no need for adjustment when using lead bullet load data. Our bullets are jacketed using an electroplating process and are softer than traditionally jacketed bullets; hence the recommendation to use lead bullet load data. If you only have access to traditionally jacketed load data, we recommend reducing maximum charge by 10%. A roll or taper crimp may be used with our bullets; do not over crimp."

http://www.rainierballistics.com/mainframe.htm

I use the 115gr Rainiers myself. I like them. My favorite load is 4.0 gr of Bullseye. I would imagine that your HP-38 should produce nice results as well. I haven't tried Unique, but I imagine it should work fine too.

[IGO1320]

I have been using Berry's bullets, 124 for 9mm and 155 for .40's. Good results, not as accurate at 25 yards as some other higher $ bullets but perfectly acceptable for practice and local competitions that don't shoot more than 12-15 yards. I use 231 for powder and winchester primers, 4.6 9mm and 6.1 .40. I try and keep them kinda near factory so I can use my carry gun.

I used Ranier before with similar results then went to the Berry's for reasons of economy.