9mm loads for practice Glock 19

aap2

My friend and I just bought Glock 19's and want to start loading some practiec ammo. I have a lot of 124 grain FMJ bullets and some WW231 powder..is there a decent load with this combo or do I need to buy a different powder? thanks

Hawk Carse

I load HP38 (same as W231) exclusively for 9mm, all bullet weights.
My 124 gr load is at or near the maximum in two books but not on the Hodgdon www site.
So check your handbooks, start below maximum, and "work up."

aap2

Thanks, Hawk. The only WW231/HP38 load that I could find for the 124gr FMJ bullet in 9mm Luger was from a Winchester components guide from 1999 and they suggest 4.2-4.5 grains. The latest Lee manual lists 4.4-4.8 grains for the 125 grain jacketed bullet (so I assume that the data would be the same for the 124gr FMJ). So I'm going to try 4.2gr of WW213 with the 124gr FMJ bullet and see how it shoots. I have used WW231 forever, but always with cast bullets (which I can't use in the Glock). Thanks again.

Nordicwargod

I also use 231/hp38 for almost all of my pistol loads. I agree that for "practice" a load of 4.2-4.6gr would be just fine with fmj bullets. For hard cast lead I use 4.0-4.2. Accurate and soft little buggers. For coated or plated bullets use the "cast lead" load.
Most of these are shot in my Glock 34. Yes I am one of the "crazys" that shoot lead from a glock. Going on about 30k in the past two years. Are you shooting your own cast bullets or are you buying them? Hard cast bullets loaded light are just fine in a glock. Lots of shooters do. I have leaded up a 38 or 45 barrel quicker by just using too small a bullet or ones that are not lubed. My 2cents

Edited to correct my terrible spelling and grammar!

aap2

Good info, thanks Nordic. I cast my own bullets, so they can be any hardness; I use lyman #2 alloy for most. It's interesting to hear that you shoot a lot of cast bullets in your glock without trouble. Do you think that using magnum small pistol primers instead of standard with the starting load of WW231 (4.2gr with 124gr FMJ) would be a problem? Normally I wouldn't substitute components, but with the current primer "shortage" I'll have to use the large quantity of magnum primers that I have. Thanks.

Nordicwargod

Small magnum pistol primers eh? As far as saftey there would be no problem. I actually tested on a chrono regular vs magnum primers and although I saw no diffrence I have read that you will pick up between 10-25 feet per second increase. I tested it with .40 loads and my velocity deviation was about 50 feet per second with just the regular small primers and the small magnum had about the same fps and deviation. This was with lead bullets through a glock.
My personal opinion and experience is that with faster pistol powders the "burn" is fast and easy to ignite so you don't pick up much extra pressure with the magnums.
But! As I am with you on the component problem, and have used small pistol magnum primers when nothing else was available, there is the issue of "light strikes"! It seems that small pistol magnum primers are "harder" or have a thicker cup and striker fired pistols do not strike the primer as hard as say a 1911 or browning hi power hammer fired pistol does. For example: CCI small rifle [non magnum] and CCI small pistol magnum primers are identical. Cup thickness, type of charge, and amoung of charge are the same!
So my advice [for what its worth] is that if they work then go for it, but be prepared for the dreaded "click" during the finals in a match. When I bought some Wolf small pistol magnum primers I became very good at clearing a "dud" during matches. For practice shooting at the range? Why not? Till the primers and powder situation gets better you have to use what you can get!

Also, if you shoot lead through a glock, a good rule of thumb is that the max load you should use is the starting load of fmj. Lead is softer, usually lubed, and accelerates quicker than fjm. With a 125 lead truncated I would start out with 3.8 and work up. I use 4.0 with a Missouri 125gr truncated hard cast bullet and its a tack driver. Love it!