Seneca

I like the Berry's for practice and general (less than magnum) usage in a .357.

I make up a 158 gr. bullet load thats chronos 1150 fps out of a revolver and 1300 fps. out of a carbine. I know I have exceeded Berrys max fps of 1250 fps by 50 fps with the carbine...yet it shoots well and I have not had problems with it shedding jacket material etc.

Tacky

I load for 380acp, 9mm, 40sw,44 mag, 45acp, and 50ae in addition to .223,6.8spc,308.30.06,7.62x39(.308 bullets) and 7mm mag. I use winchester 231 in the non magnum pistol calibers since its very versatile and can be used in most all non mag pistols rounds. It also meters well in the Hornady electronic powder thrower unlike bullseye. I also use unique or blue dot if 231 isn't obtainable. I use alot of hornady bullets for target rounds, and speer for defensive rounds. I use H-110 or W296 for mag pistol calibers. I use Varget, W748,W760, H4895, Benchmark or H335 for my rifle loadings. I use mostly H335 in the .223 with the 40gr vmax and 53 amax loaded to 3200 to 3800fps. I use CCI primers for all or winchester when the cci isn't obtainable. I own many sets of dies mostly Rcbs atleast 10 sets, and probably 8 sets of hornady. In addition I have 4 sets of Lee dies. I use the Speer, Sierra, and Hornady reloading manuals along with a hornady progressive press, and a single stage hornady press. If you load for .223 I would also look into getting the dillon case crimp remover for crimped primer military cases, its was faster than swagging and uniforming each case. I also own one of these.

Sr40ken

I'm there with ya. I load .38+P in the carbine(Rossi '92) with 125 Xtremes and they are tack drivers. In fact for home SD I have .38+P hollow points in the carbine. I'm sure they would leave a mark!

Seneca

I'm sure they would too.
Probably leave a tad more than just a mark...

JaPes

I've used...

9mm Projectiles : Berry's 115gr Plated RN, Missouri Bullet Co. 115gr LRN, Remington 90gr CTF.

Propellant : W231, Unique, Titegroup

Cases : Various once fired, by me, headstamps

Primers : Winchester, CCI, Federal

I work up 5 test rounds of any given combination. Charge the case to the published minimum propellant charge, then seat to the published C.O.L. I shoot the test rounds, and make adjustments to the charge in the next 5 test rounds by 0.1gr until I find the minimum charge that will meet my needs.

I load using a Lee breech lock hand press, Lee dies, Lee Ergo Prime, Hornady Auto Charge, a 2nd digital scale as a double check, digital calipers, and a reloading block. If I feel like really being nit-picky, I'll forego the Hornady Auto Charge, and meter charges by hand using a digital scale & a powder tickler. I'm a low volume reloader, and this system fits my needs.

noylj

9x19 (9mm Luger or 9mm Parabellum): In order that my guns shoot best--
124gn JHP
115gn JHP
124gn L-SWC
115gn L-SWC
124gn L-CFP
124gn FMJ-FP
147gn FMJ-FP
RN or FMJ-RN is way down the list. 147gn is a great weight for action pistol, but it isn't as accurate in my 9x19s as 124gn or 115gn. I would really not recommend either lead bullets or 147gn bullets for a newbie. Load jacketed. Buy Montana Gold or Precision Delta jacketed and avoid the "high priced spread." They aren't better, they just cost more.
If I wanted just one bullet for 9x19, it would be a 124gn JHP.
Personal Opinion: Load as long a COL as fits the magazine and feeds and chambers in your gun. COL changes for each different bullet.

mikld

Two schools of thought I've read about Lee equipment/Fed. primers. One is the Federal primers are "softer" and/or more sensitive and may pop in Lee's priming systems. And two; Lee has "bad blood" with Federal over some business deal that went south, or sumpin' to that effect...

K57

For high velocity self defense type loads I like Remington's standard 124 gr. JHP. It is a great penetrator and with good velocity behind it it expands well. The Remington 124 gr. Golden Saber is another good performer and a bit more high tech than the 124 gr. JHP but it is not as accurate in my experience. Both can be bought in 1000 round bulk packs.

For powder, since you are just starting out, I recommend using one that you can't double-charge without powder overflowing from the case. You can kill two birds with one stone here because the slower powders I am talking about also provide the highest velocity. Examples are HS-6, V-V 3N37, AA#7, Power Pistol and Ramshot Silhouette. I personally do not like Power Pistol because it creates a lot of muzzle flash in high pressure cartridges just as Blue Dot does. That's why I wouldn't recommend Blue Dot even though it will provide excellent accuracy at very high velocities. My choice of powder would be Ramshot Silhouette. It will provide good accuracy with velocity and has a flash inhibitor. Ramshot powders also tend to cost a little less.

For cases I like Winchester as well as anything. At my range a lot of people shoot Winchester White Box and leave their brass on the ground which my shooting partner and I are more than glad to pick up. Some people don't like S&B brass because it has a tight primer pocket. This has never been a problem for me and the LEE hand priming tool I use. I think it's some of the most uniform brass out there.

I don't recommend any powder that can be double-charged. I don't use the 9mm for target shooting. To me its best use is as a self defense round or as a round to simulate factory loaded defense ammo. When I want to shoot target loads I do that with a .45 ACP.

Yurko

To reload 9mm I use 124/125 gr conical bullets.
The brand is whatever's cheap. - Lotsa times it's Berry's.

My powder? I like Tite Group.
It's snappy without breaking your wrist.
4.0 - 4.1 gr & both of my 9mms function flawlessly.

(that's like max lead / minimum jacketed data)

dickttx

IIRC Lee recommended against using Federal primers in their older hand primers. I don't believe they do now on their current hand primers nor on the Safety Prime. Go to Lee's website and pull up the instructions.

andybothel

I have an almost identical setup.

For 9mm I use either W231 or Bullseye, Berrys 115gr RN, and CCI primers.

I use pretty much W231 and Berrys bullets for everything other than magnums. Very happy with it.

W231 measures very consistently with the Lee Auto Disk Powder measure, at least for me.

Bodthoutica

I use Acc#7 or Bullseye for 9mm loads with 115&124gr hp/rn
For brass I pick up whatever is on sale @ wallyworld and reuse
The brass as I dont have acess to once fired range pick ups.
Cci primers Rcbs dies and a lee fcd. Acc#7 burns a bit dirty in my
40sw and 9mm but,its no big deal. My SR9 likes oal closer to max
with 4.1gr of bullseys

Seneca

Double charging?

It's a fact of life than most pistol powders can be double charged...just have to be careful and pay attention...so that doesn't happen.

I cast a lot of my projectiles and thats really the least expensive way to go...that is if you can find and salvage lead, wheel weights, spent bullets etc.

Next least expensive is the store bought cast then the Berrys Raineer etc...and finally the most expensive, the jacketed bullets, which I'll still buy but not in the amounts that I use to.

Where I use to buy a bulk pack of 500 now I buy a hundred...my opinion they've gotten too expensive...

noylj

Seneca: I humbly disagree.
I consider the plated bullets to be the worst option.
I buy jacketed bullets from Montana Gold or Precision Delta
A 124gn JHP runs $325/3750 from MG (or 8.7 cents a bullet) and $84/1000 when you buy at least 6000 bullets (and you can mix and match to bring your order up to that point--for 8.4 cents/bullet).
From my experience, the best I have gotten from "inexpensive" plated bullets was an occasional 4" group at 25 yards. I EXPECT with my jacketed and cast bullets to get better than 2" groups, and do in all my guns.
Now, if you are buying plated bullets for 6-7 cents a bullet and you are happy with results, good. However, unless you have a really great source, I'll bet you are paying just about the same amount.
With the 9mm cast lead bullets I like currently running in the 6-7 cent/bullet area, I consider these jacketed bullets to be a MUCH better buy.
Now, if your gun is giving you 2" or better groups at 25 yds, then you have found a great bullet.

Seneca

If I were buying 6000! bullets at a whack...I'd expect a break on the pricing too, the average guy walking into their local GS or Cabalas looking to buy some bullets to reload usually doesn't buy them 6000 at a time and generally will find that.

Cast bullets run about 50-55, for 500, berrys 30-35 for 250 and the jacketed hornadys and such at 20-25 bucks per hundred...

If I were going to buy several thousand bullets at a crack the the I'd probably be calling the mfg. and asking what their minimum order figures were.

Which would more than likely consist of ordering several thousand...at a minimum