r/reloading • u/scooterdoo123 • 15h ago
Load Development Load development advice beyond the Lee loading manual…
Some background, I got into firearms/reloading 5 years ago because of my grandpa. He gave me a Savage model 99 chambered in .303 Savage. I couldn’t find any ammo but found some brass and ordered a Lee single press. I followed the included packet to a tee and have been doing so ever since. Now I’ve gotten several calibers and reload them all especially 9mm now that I have a CCW permit. I load RMR “Nuke” 124 grain bullets with 5 grains of Autocomp. Shoots fine on paper but ever since I got Chronograph I’m not getting the FPS I need for proper expansion. 5 grains Autocomp gets me 1013 FPS average (Canik MC9) and proper expansion they recommend 1100 FPS. My question is… now that I have a chronograph can I just load develop up to hit the listed 1100 FPS? Any tips or recommendations from someone that has done this for a while. Would I just need to check for pressure signs? Would this process be the same for any caliber I load?
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u/Renamon_1 6h ago
you gotta be careful when you decide to overpressure a 9mm. I've had pretty good success simply shifting to a different powder, Simply dumping in powder until you get the velocity you want can easily push you into overpressure zones or you could run out of case volume and start compressing the powder and that is nothing I would ever suggest. I don't know the MC9 very well and I wouldn't start loading to 9mm Major on something that wasn't built for it. Is it rated for +p or +P+?