What Works with 9mm Hardball Loads?

Okay, I didn't look close enough and got Hornady 115-gr FMJs by mistake and figger now I might as well try some load development. An earlier load before I thought about shooting BE with a 9mm was with Sierra FMJs but accuracy (*before I started tweaking...*) was only 5-8 inches at 50 yards. Come to think of it, that was only an inch worse than the XTPs were doing.

ANYWAY, a different powder is being used (yup, the prior load's fuel is just not available anywhere, for months and months at a time) and when re-setting the seater I found that 1.18" OAL chambers fine and also fits in the magazine.  That's seated only .62 inch into the case mouth...

So the questions for y'all who have actually developed 9mm hardball loads that hold the 10-ring at 50 yards:

How much, if any, does it help to try to seat out close to the lands?

How much, if any, does seating a little deeper to hold the bullet parallel and more securely help accuracy?

IF you have experimented with varying seating depth, what increments are useful? .005? .01? Something else?

Can BE level accuracy be obtained from the Hornady 115-gr FMJ?

Are there any pretty reliable accuracy boosters for the reloading process, and what are they?

What are the reliable accuracy killers other than crooked-seated bullets?

Are there any usually-sweet spots in velocity for 1:10 twist barrels?

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Looks like I might need to re-test those Sierra FMJ loads again with the mostly-accurized gun. If they hold accurate, I have enough on hand to practice with for a while.  Otherwise I'll just blast plastic bottles and brown targets and steel with them, as originally planned.

KKM told me to seat the bullet .010" off the rifling.

When I owned my Kidd Beretta with Bar-Sto barrel, I had success with the Hornady 115 gr. FMJ. I used Power Pistol and had to drive the bullet very fast. I used Remington 5 1/2 primers, new Starline brass and a COAL of 1.124".

davekp wrote:KKM told me to seat the bullet .010" off the rifling.

Haven't found the rifling yet on this OEM barrel. I have some doubts that magazine length will put the ogive that close.

LET'S GO CHECK!!!!!

Okay, letting the leade seat the H-115 FMJ yields a cartridge OAL of 1.24 inches, too long for the magazine. The bullet is .555, so that seating into the neck value of .056 just couldn't work for magazine feeding cycles anyway.

My first test loads at what I believe is an aggressively long 1.18 OAL are jumping .06. Heck, the spec max OAL is 1.169, so I'm .011 inch over for this test run, with a jump of only .001 more than what is said to be the ideal.

I have David Sams' original load recipe for his first generation Berettas on my site.  It sounds similar to BE Mike's earlier post:

A Beretta 92 Load Recipe From David Sams (posted on the Bullseye List)

Thank you for the load data from David Sams, Ed.

Power Pistol was one of the first I was able to find during the powder shortage, but it still seems far from over and 700-X seems to become available much more often. I just might have to re-think my new standard plan of one powder for most everything and Power Pistol for the hot-rod loads. Too bad that stuff flashes almost as bright as 296...

GrumpyOldMan wrote:

davekp wrote:KKM told me to seat the bullet .010" off the rifling.

Haven't found the rifling yet on this OEM barrel. I have some doubts that magazine length will put the ogive that close.

LET'S GO CHECK!!!!!

Okay, letting the leade seat the H-115 FMJ yields a cartridge OAL of 1.24 inches, too long for the magazine. The bullet is .555, so that seating into the neck value of .056 just couldn't work for magazine feeding cycles anyway.

My first test loads at what I believe is an aggressively long 1.18 OAL are jumping .06. Heck, the spec max OAL is 1.169, so I'm .011 inch over for this test run, with a jump of only .001 more than what is said to be the ideal.

I don't know about the Baretta barrel, I was speaking to the KKM barrel.

Davekp:

Don't worry, I knew you were relaying KKM's recommendations for their barrels. One can always hope that such manufacturer knowledge would transfer over to others' products too...

Haven't found the rifling yet on this OEM barrel. I have some doubts that magazine length will put the ogive that close.

Apparently, you missed the first step to getting good 50 yard loads from a Beretta barrel.  First get another barrel, preferable KKM, BarSto, etc, and then get it tested.......

It's a SIG P226. I'm preparing for the expected day when Leg Points can be earned with the thing. Or is that day here already? I'm not keeping good track of all the hue and cry over proposed and actual rule changes lately.

Plus I have a soft spot in my heart for hardball, from the days of when my father explained why he had a WWII DCM pistol for some matches instead of using the Gold Cup.