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Old February 16, 2012, 07:17 PM   #1
10 acre woods
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help on 9 mm loading gdhp

So going to make some home defense rounds and reading through the alliant reloading manual and using there recipe of oal 1.120 unique 5.6 grains GDHP 124 grains.
My question is this I made 5 rounds and shot them and they fired fine. But upon looking at the primer it seemed to show a small sign of primer flow or flattening. It wasn't totally flat but a bit flatter then normal.
Now I have noticed on factory rounds primer bulging or flat primers so is this a real concern. Every thing else was normal and the round fired good. so what would you do
1. use current settings
2. reduce powder grains
3. don't seat bullet so far down. maybe oal of 1.125
4. both 3 and 4
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Old February 16, 2012, 07:27 PM   #2
serf 'rett
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General recommendation is start low and work up. It appears you have started at upper end of Speer's recommended range of 5.2 to 5.8 grains of Unique for the 124 GDHP at 1.120 COAL. The reason one should start low is the performance of the round in your pistol will be different than the test barrel used to establish the range found in the manual.

Be careful.
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Old February 16, 2012, 07:37 PM   #3
rg1
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I shoot the 124gr. Gold Dots in a Glock 19 using CCI 500 primers with Winchester cases. I seat to 1.125" oal and use 5.4 grains of Unique powder. I get 1130 fps average with no pressure signs. Haven't worked up any higher toward the 5.8 grain Alliant maximum. Leaves the Glock firing pin indenture but no pressure signs.
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Old February 16, 2012, 08:55 PM   #4
ldturnerwa
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I'm just getting started with reloading was reading your post and wanted to know how you came up with 5.4 grains. I assume the 5.8 they show is for the max value, is that correct? How do you know how low you an go and be safe? I was expecting to see a range say 5.2 to 5.8.
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Old February 17, 2012, 12:04 AM   #5
rg1
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I've got a chronograph to check the speed of my loads. I'd compared Alliant's data with other data and a couple of posts from fellow shooters using Unique and 124 Gold Dots. I've shot a few other 9MM 124 HP's and FMJ bullets using Unique and 5.0-5.1 grain charges and kind of expected a certain velocity. Using Alliant's data, the same primer, and exact bullet I loaded a few at 5.1, a few at 5.2 and a group at 5.4 grains. The 5.1 and 5.2 charges were slightly below 1100 fps and found the 5.4 grain charge did get 1130 fps and shot well in a couple of my pistols. Being satisfied with the velocity and pleased with the accuracy I just make 5.4 my load with Unique and 124 GD's. And seeing Alliant max data shows 1180fps I stopped at 5.4 to leave a cushion for safety and believe this load would be safe in various 9MM cases. I believe (and I don't seem to see this often) that Alliant's data with the Gold Dot bullets is realistic. Still be very careful and work up especially when loading with near maximum charge recommendations. If you would ask me how low to go with Unique and 124 Gold Dots or other 124 jacketed bullets for reliability I'd say 4.8 grains of Unique which in my experience gives from 950-975 fps. Some 5.0-5.1 charges velocity is in the 1050-1075 fps range. This is just my test with my pistols. Your barrel and pistol may vary from this a little. This does show that with the 9MM's small case volume that small increments of powder and shorter seating overall length does raise pressure and velocity pretty fast. I seat the 124 Gold Dots to the longest at 1.125 and the shorter ones to 1.120". The length will vary a little due to the irregular hollow point tip.

Last edited by rg1; February 17, 2012 at 12:27 AM.
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