Competition shooting is still a popular sport, despite the efforts of those who see no reason why civilians should own firearms. And in many of the shooting sports, loading your own ammunition is required in order to meet the accuracy and reliability requirements that come with the sport.
Long-range rifle shooters and action pistol shooters have all found that “rolling your own” will increase your chances for a better performance. Over the last 19-plus years I have had the pleasure of being involved in various Action Shooting games, and it still excites me to be able to develop ammunition that is both incredibly accurate and 100 percent reliable. I also take great pleasure in discussing these issues with fellow shooters and hearing what they have come up with for their competition guns.
For legal reasons, most of us only carry factory-made ammunition in a self-defense type weapon. Unfortunately, today’s legal climate is such that unscrupulous lawyers will attempt to use the fact that you loaded your own ammunition against you in court, even if the shooting was justifiable. It is therefore recommended that you carry only ammunition made by large, reputable manufacturers. But most of us can’t afford to practice with the same ammunition. We all know it’s important to practice with our self-defense weapons, but since we can’t afford to shoot large quantities of factory loads, we need to test ourselves and our weapons with loads that duplicate our “carry” loads as closely as possible.
When setting up to load for a gun that will be used for competition and/or self-defense, reliability is the number one issue. Accuracy is also important, but if a load doesn’t work, it’s useless. Since the semi-automatic pistol is now such an overwhelmingly popular weapon for self-defense purposes, I have chosen to only cover the most popular semi-auto calibers.
9mm Luger
The 9mm is by far one of the most popular calibers among law enforcement officers and civilians for duty use and self-defense. There are so many loads on the market that it would be impossible to find them all, even if you tried.
I group 9mm into two groups: “light-bullet loads” and “heavy-bullet loads.” The first thing I do when I get a new 9mm is to determine if it likes light bullets (90 – 124 grain) or heavy bullets (130 – 147 grain). I always try the common 115-grain JHP and FMJ loads as well as the 147-grain JHP load. I have several compact 9mm pistols, and they all prefer different loads – so it’s important to find what works best in your weapon.
The lighter bullets are traveling between 1150 and 1250 fps in my guns, while the 147-grain loads are normally coming out at approximately 925 – 975 fps. These ballistics are easy to duplicate with components that are readily available from all major manufacturers. You will also find ammunition and components available from specialty manufacturers such as Cor-Bon.
The 9mm should be an easy cartridge to load, but it isn’t. What many forget is that the case is tapered and this taper makes it hard to get proper friction against the sides of a straight-sided bullet. Therefore, one needs to pay particular attention when loading lighter bullets. I suggest using a tight sizing die to ensure that the bullet doesn’t move in the case. Again, you must have enough tension on the case to hold the bullet before the final crimp is applied. One thing you may notice is that if you are using thin-walled cases and you switch to a 147-grain bullet, the sizing die might be too tight! This is simply the price you pay for wanting to load the lighter and shorter bullets.
The easiest bullets to load in the 9mm are the 115 and 124 grain. I have loaded thousands of these loads for all kinds of weapons with very little trouble. I have a Dillon RL1050 set up in .38 Super for my competition guns, but I have a separate toolhead with dies for 9mm that I use for loading MP5 and carry gun practice ammo. I’ve found I can duplicate my carry loads with several bullets that are readily available. My all-time favorite powder for 9mm loads is Hodgdon Titegroup. I use this in my NRA action competition guns as well and it’s a superb performer! I don’t recommend using slower-burning powders to get as high a velocity as possible in the 9mm. I’ve found that the ultra-high velocity rounds are not as accurate and by far not as reliable as the “regular” loads. And while many believe the “ultra-loads” are better, I still hold on to my belief that it must work when I need it and it must be as accurate as possible.
My favorite load is the 115-grain JHP at 1150 fps using Titegroup. I load my cartridges to an overall length of 1.150” and I make sure I have .002” crimp at the case mouth. I use exactly the same load in my 9mm competition guns. All I do to make this a superbly accurate combination is load the 115-grain Nosler Practical Pistol bullet. I am sure the Nosler people, who are famous for the ballistic performance in their rifle bullets, made these bullets great ballistic performers as well. But I have found this bullet to be the most accurate bullet in all my competition guns, averaging out even better than the famous Sierra 115-grain JHC, Hornady 115-grain XTP and the Winchester 115-grain JHP.
For those who prefer to load the heavy bullets, you will find many excellent ones readily available. I used to load quite a few of the 147-grain FMJTC Winchester bullets behind Super Field powder, but I now use Hodgdon Titegroup for these loads as well. My S&W 6946 gives me almost match-grade accuracy with this combination. It duplicates the Federal and Winchester factory loads, which group almost equally well in the same gun.
When loading the 147-grain bullets you will find that tight sizing dies will give you a “Coke-bottle effect” on the cases. I have, over the years, acquired a 9mm sizing die that is a little larger than the other one I have and I prefer to use it for my 147-grain loads. Fortunately, it’s easy to change the sizing die on a loading machine so I don’t waste any time when switching loads.
Nine-millimeter cases are so different between manufacturers that I strongly suggest you use the same brand cases in your practice loads as your carry loads. Make sure you’re only using cases that are in good condition. You may experience feeding failures as the cases get worn. All the compact carry pistols will typically have large chambers to enhance reliability. This increases the stress on the cases and reduces case life. I have seen too many blown cases from shooting high-pressure loads in large-chambered carry guns. Again, the reliability of a 115-grain-bullet load is by far more important to me than the velocity.
Those who study the statistics of 9mm loads in actual shootings will claim that the “best” loads are the 115- to 127-grain projectiles at very high velocity. These loads are designated as +P or +P+ loads. Some of these loads are only available to Law Enforcement, but others such as the ones from Cor-Bon are available to the public as well.
If you wish to duplicate these loads, you must remember to stay away from fast-burning powders. In order to get the velocities you’re looking for in a short-barreled pistol, you can’t use the really slow-burning powders either, even though they offer very low chamber pressure. I suggest powders such as Alliant Power Pistol. Some competition shooters will also tell you that they use Small Rifle Primers when loading really hot loads in their 9mm competition guns. I don’t recommend this since Small Rifle primers actually are taller than Small Pistol primers, and therefore may not seat properly. If your load shows flattened or blown primers in your carry gun, you should stop immediately and review your recipe. There’s a good reason why these high performance loads are expensive and difficult to find – they aren’t easy to make! All these loads operate very near the limit of the pressure the primers, cases and weapons can handle. For safety reasons, you might want to consider loading your practice load 100 fps or more below the factory load’s velocity. You’ll still get the benefit of running the same type of load through your weapon, but with much less risk and wear.
.40 S&W
This is another popular cartridge, which I group into “light-bullet” loads and “heavy-bullet” loads. The latest rage seems to be the 135-grain bullets going very fast. I’m sure these are great soft-tissue performers, but I still prefer the 180-grain bullets at 950-1000 fps.
I’ve found the heavier bullets to be so much more accurate that I’ve never really spent much time with the lighter bullets. I am, however, about to change this as the ballistic results from the .40-caliber, 135- to 155-grain bullets far outperform the heavier ones. I plan on testing Nosler bullets in my S&W Shorty Forty. My choice of powder will be the Alliant Power Pistol or Accurate Arms #7. I’ve had great luck with these in the past and I am sure they’ll perform well in the .40 S&W as well.
I’ve seen so many blown cases from high-pressure .40 loads that I find this to be the cartridge I load most carefully. As many of you might know, the rage among IPSC/USPSA competition shooters has been to use heavy bullets and the fast-burning Hodgdon Clays powder in the .40 S&W caliber. When the famous shooter Brian Enos found that Hodgdon Titegroup gave him almost the same performance – but with chamber pressures well within safe limits – it didn’t take me long to switch! Hodgdon Clays is a great powder, especially in 12 gauge target loads, but has extremely high pressures in the .40 S&W loads. I never used Clays for competition use but I’ve switched to Hodgdon Titegroup for this purpose as well. I currently duplicate my carry load for my S&W Shorty Forty with Titegroup and Winchester 180-grain JHP bullets. For my competition gun I load everything the same, except I use the superbly accurate Nosler 180-grain JHP bullet. Again, I’m sure the Nosler bullet is a superb tissue performer, but I’m saving more by using the much less expensive Winchester bullet for practice.
When picking up .40 cases at the range I’m also very careful. If it didn’t go through my gun, I leave it! I never pick up any .40 cases fired in somebody else’s weapon. This is a good habit in general, but particularly so in this caliber.
10mm Auto
The 10mm Auto cartridge is one of my all-time favorites. I think it’s a pity that it isn’t more popular than it is. The problem is that the case is actually too long. The cartridge would have worked so much better if the case was a little bit shorter. I believe someone already figured that out and called it the “Centimeter,” but it never became commercially popular.
The 10mm case is extremely strong and thus very forgiving. I’ve loaded many 135-grain bullets in the 10mm case and with great success; on the other hand, the 190- and 200-grain bullets have given me trouble feeding because the loaded round often ends up being too long.
I duplicate my 155-grain JHP carry loads with Winchester Super Field or Super Target powder. From my guns, these loads are running at around 1050 – 1100 fps and are incredibly accurate. In my Springfield Custom Shop Competition gun, I use the same powders but with the Nosler 180-grain JHP bullet.
When loading 10mm you should pay extra attention to the seating depth of the bullets. Friction on the bullet is normally not a problem, but since the case is as long as it is, seating depth can be. For some reason I’ve also had problems with the consistency of 10mm cases between manufacturers, so I use only Winchester cases for my reloads.
.45 ACP
My all-time favorite cartridge is the .45 ACP. Being a die-hard fan of the 1911-design pistols, the .45 was my first competition gun and I still like it better than anything else.
The most popular .45 reload among competition shooters must be the H&G #68 bullet and W231 powder. I remember that I used to read about the top shooters using this load. I guess I decided to break from the norm early because I used to cast and shoot thousands of the Lyman 225-grain round nose bullets. I found an alloy that gave me good accuracy in my Heinie .45 and it always worked. I loaded thousands of these bullets and I guess that’s why I prefer the 230-grain loads today.
If you prefer to carry the lighter bullets such as the 185-grain, you’ll find that the powders will allow you to tailor the load to the velocity you need. If your carry load is running at around 950 fps, I suggest using either Alliant Power Pistol or Winchester Super Field. I’ve had good results with both and they’ll duplicate carry loads very well.
I prefer 230-grain loads, and ever since Master Gunsmith Marvin Fair told me to try Winchester Super Target powder, I’ve never really bothered with anything else. I use WST in a major-power-factor load for competition and it shoots to the same point of impact as my Winchester SXT carry loads. Super Target is also extremely accurate in my bullseye-competition guns. My load shoots 2” at 50 yards all day with the Nosler 185-grain JHP. It may be a bit fast for the extreme bullseye shooter, but works so well in my guns that I’m not changing.
My IPSC/USPSA guns perform superbly with the Nosler 230-grain FPFMJ and the same powder. The convenience of using the same powder for all my .45 loads is clearly one of the reasons why I enjoy shooting and loading this caliber so much.
Before looking for loads in your loading manual to allow you to practice with your carry gun, I suggest you spend the time to find a factory load that meets your requirements first. Then, I’m sure you’ll find a load that will allow you to duplicate the factory load so you can practice at a much lower cost. And I hope you also experience the pleasure of finding a load that not only works all the time, but is also accurate!
