Anyone use w231 and 90gr 9mm bullets?

SQUAREKNOT · June 5, 2009, 08:32 AM

A friend gave me 100 rounds of Speer 90gr JHP 9mm and I'm going to load them for my brother in law. I don't own a 9mm so there is no working up a load. Has anyone loaded 90gr for the 9mm with W231 powder?
TIA

freakshow10mm · June 5, 2009, 09:55 AM

Seriously?

Don't load for other people unless you know what you are doing. You have no clue how any load that you put together will fire in their gun because you do not have a gun in that cartridge nor are inclined to use their gun to develop a load and test it for safety.

There always is working up a load. There are no exceptions to this. None. You do not know what you are doing, that is blatant disregard for your safety and the safety of someone else. Handloading is not cooking, there is no recipe, it is a development.

I highly recommend you get with the program before you do something stupid that has a high probability of hurting yourself or someone else.

dlb435 · June 5, 2009, 12:48 PM

90 grain bullet is a bit light. Hogden list 5.1 grains(max load, I use 4.9) of 231 for a 115 grain bullet. I can't see that you would have any problems with a 5.1 grain load. You'll have to chrono the load to see what you get.
They also list 4.8 grains for a 125 grain bullet. You might have to push the load a little to get good results as more powder is needed as the bullet weight goes down.
It would be a lot simpler and safer to just use a 115 grain bullet. Try e-mailing Speer, they might be able to help.

Russ5924 · June 5, 2009, 01:45 PM

Being that light a bullet may not cycle well but then it may also depend on the gun. I had problems with 115 grain not cycling and the bullet tumbling

SQUAREKNOT · June 5, 2009, 04:20 PM

They were free. I also load the 115 gr so I figured I was ok with the lighter bullets. I also loaded W231 and 4.9grs with these. I have a friend that swears by the .327 mag and I was thinking this bullet and load compares well with it.
OK summer SD load I would think and a 9mm give you a lot more than 6 shots and speed loads to boot. Thanks for the replies

SQUAREKNOT · June 5, 2009, 04:29 PM

I understand what you are saying completely. I used to own a 9mm and shot a lot of 115 gr JHP using 5.0 grs of W232 Never had a problem. Using 4.9 grs for a 90gr which is under max (by a lot by some books) I know I'm OK
To prove your point though-I loaded 100 rds of .38 sp today. The new Lyman book shows much reduced loads for many cast bullets. I worked up the load slow to perfection. I then had to use a second batch of cast bullets so I did it again and the difference in the cast bullets kicked up the pressure. I just had to back it down for all the bullets. Says lot for buying from the same source when shooting cast or anything else for that matter.

Sky Master · June 5, 2009, 08:14 PM

My Hornady manual lists 4.7 - 5.6 for a 90gr with W231, while my Sierra lists 4.2 - 6.0 for their 90gr using W231
I have found that the Sierra 90gr with 4.6 of W231 shoots the most accurate out of my Colt Combat Commander 9 mm.

June 5, 2009, 08:32 AM	#1
SQUAREKNOT Senior Member Join Date: July 16, 2008 Posts: 263	Anyone use w231 and 90gr 9mm bullets? A friend gave me 100 rounds of Speer 90gr JHP 9mm and I'm going to load them for my brother in law. I don't own a 9mm so there is no working up a load. Has anyone loaded 90gr for the 9mm with W231 powder? TIA

June 5, 2009, 01:45 PM	#4
Russ5924 Senior Member Join Date: February 18, 2005 Posts: 1,874	Being that light a bullet may not cycle well but then it may also depend on the gun. I had problems with 115 grain not cycling and the bullet tumbling __________________ Russ5924

June 5, 2009, 04:20 PM	#5
SQUAREKNOT Senior Member Join Date: July 16, 2008 Posts: 263	90 grain bullet is a bit light They were free. I also load the 115 gr so I figured I was ok with the lighter bullets. I also loaded W231 and 4.9grs with these. I have a friend that swears by the .327 mag and I was thinking this bullet and load compares well with it. OK summer SD load I would think and a 9mm give you a lot more than 6 shots and speed loads to boot. Thanks for the replies

June 5, 2009, 04:29 PM	#6
SQUAREKNOT Senior Member Join Date: July 16, 2008 Posts: 263	Freakshow I understand what you are saying completely. I used to own a 9mm and shot a lot of 115 gr JHP using 5.0 grs of W232 Never had a problem. Using 4.9 grs for a 90gr which is under max (by a lot by some books) I know I'm OK To prove your point though-I loaded 100 rds of .38 sp today. The new Lyman book shows much reduced loads for many cast bullets. I worked up the load slow to perfection. I then had to use a second batch of cast bullets so I did it again and the difference in the cast bullets kicked up the pressure. I just had to back it down for all the bullets. Says lot for buying from the same source when shooting cast or anything else for that matter.

June 5, 2009, 09:55 AM	#2
freakshow10mm Junior member Join Date: January 23, 2008 Location: MI Posts: 1,398	Seriously? Don't load for other people unless you know what you are doing. You have no clue how any load that you put together will fire in their gun because you do not have a gun in that cartridge nor are inclined to use their gun to develop a load and test it for safety. There always is working up a load. There are no exceptions to this. None. You do not know what you are doing, that is blatant disregard for your safety and the safety of someone else. Handloading is not cooking, there is no recipe, it is a development. I highly recommend you get with the program before you do something stupid that has a high probability of hurting yourself or someone else.

June 5, 2009, 12:48 PM	#3
dlb435 Senior Member Join Date: January 26, 2009 Posts: 654	90 grain bullet is a bit light. Hogden list 5.1 grains(max load, I use 4.9) of 231 for a 115 grain bullet. I can't see that you would have any problems with a 5.1 grain load. You'll have to chrono the load to see what you get. They also list 4.8 grains for a 125 grain bullet. You might have to push the load a little to get good results as more powder is needed as the bullet weight goes down. It would be a lot simpler and safer to just use a 115 grain bullet. Try e-mailing Speer, they might be able to help.

June 5, 2009, 08:14 PM	#7
Sky Master Senior Member Join Date: May 30, 2009 Posts: 136	My Hornady manual lists 4.7 - 5.6 for a 90gr with W231, while my Sierra lists 4.2 - 6.0 for their 90gr using W231 I have found that the Sierra 90gr with 4.6 of W231 shoots the most accurate out of my Colt Combat Commander 9 mm.