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Old December 4, 2002, 04:33 PM   #8
john kilgore
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 27, 2002
Location: east georgia
Posts: 125
DITTO MOST OF THE ABOVE.

Try the 115's, 124's, and 147's.
But only use premium ammo. Forego the promotional and military style ammo. You'll only be seeing what the ammo's capable of.
My 9's are S&W PPC-9's. About the same as your 952, only mine use the double stack magazines and are stainless steel.
Most of the guys I compete with (NRA-PPC) use either the Winchester sub-sonic 147's or Federal 124 or 147 Hydro-Shok in factory loads. (Its expensive but they work for big agencies who buy it for them) The Speer GoldDots are good too. Also, many use the Precision Delta 115hp and 147 Precision Delta and Anderson Cartridge ammo. My guns prefer the 115 HP's. I've had outstanding luck with 124's as well, but for some reason, my guns give verticle stringing with the 147's. Not bad mind you, just a straight line up and down the target -group at 50yds. I think it is the bullet-barrel duration with the lockup-unlocking designed for the 115gr ballistics. I'm told by S&W that they changed the diminsions on the barrel and frame unlocking lugs when they developed the 6"bbl PPC-9, and the 6" I've got on order should shoot better with the 147's as the rate of twist has also been changed (They didn't say what to though).
My best reload has been 5.2gr of Win SuperField over a 115 Sierra HP seated to 1.050". However, I've had trouble getting these bullets when I need them, so, I also have tried and had good luck with the Speer 115 Gold Dots @ 1.113"oal and Hornady 115 XTP @ 1.10". I've also had good luck with 4.9gr of Win231 as well as 4.3 Bullseye. The Rainier bullets are good but vary a lot from batch to batch.
Use only Federal or Winchester brass though, and I recommend reaming the flash hole and uniforming the primer pockets as well as trimming to a uniform length. For my really serious ammo for competition I use the Federal brass and trim to a uniform length as they run a little longer than the Winchester and come closer to the maximum spec to minimize head spacing for maximum accuracy.

Your 952 is in my experience the most accurate 9mm factory gun available at any price. It also won't "bite' like the Sig210 while giving even better accuracy.
I don't know if your gun comes with a factory target, but my 5" PPC-9 came with a factory 5-shot 25yd target fired from a machine rest by Tom Gordon(S&W Perf. Ctr.) using Federal Classic 9B 115HP. (He signed it and dated it too) It was a "one-hole" group. I've stated before what it measured but was told I was full of "green garden fertilizer" so I won't repeat it. It is under 0.80" outside spread however, and can be covered with a nickle. (I've also been told that no reciprocating slide auto is capable of this kind of accuracy). I told Tom Gordon that, as well as several of my fellow competitors who own these guns; We all had a good laugh.)
See the October American Rifleman for the article on the performance center guns. The accuracy of the "Shorty .40" mentioned is typical of all the Performance Center guns I've seen and/or shot. None of the 1911's I've had built would quite come close to the S&W's. All my aquaintances and I as well spend our time testing ammo between matches and practicing to find out what shoots best and improve our skills.
The guns are a given.
I hope your 952 is this accurate. The two 952's that I saw used at the Nationals in September were touted by their owners to be just as accurate as the PPC-9's. The owners said they got them because they didn't want to wait 6+mos. for delivery and mod 39 magazines were more available and cheaper.
Let us know how it shoots. Just be prepared to be accused of lying though, by those who haven't had the good fortune to own/shoot one. Better yet, lets just keep the secret to ourselves.
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