What are signs of hight presure in a 9mm semi?

45Kimber

March 11, 2010 13:18

I am ready to start loading for my Taurus 24/7. I am going to work up some loads so I am wondering what to look for in regards to high presure. I am familiar with load workup for rifles, but am wondering about what to look for in a semi auto handgun.

Thanks
Russ

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  Mobuck

  March 11, 2010 14:10

  Sometimes it's tough. I use velocity to tell me when I've reached the advertised speed. In my pistols, I can use feel and ejection to help. Using previous knowledge doesn't work with a different pistol. I want to see my empties drop in a neat little pile. Using primer condition is usually worthless since semiauto pistols have all sorts of issues going on with the fired primers. My advice is to use a load that gives the velocity listed as max in your amnual minus a margin for error. Unless you're shooting a course that requires you to maintain a certain level of power, there's no requirement to load at the max all the time. Most of my handgun loads are 100 fps below max except hunting loads which I deal with on an individual basis.

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  bpost

  March 11, 2010 14:26

  Realistically you will have a major case failure before signs of pressure get your attention. A bulge in the unsupported case head area is one indicator for some guns sizing difficulties, like really hard to size or leaving a ring at the case head is another sign of pressure getting up there.

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  45Kimber

  March 11, 2010 18:08

  great advise, thanks guys.

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  perry shooter

  March 12, 2010 03:20

  When the case head blows out and blows the grips off the frame [:0][:0][:0][:0][}:)]
  
  
  
  seriously because the case/chamber area also has a feed ramp each and every pistol has a different level of support to the case / web /head area. On a rifle the primer flow is one popular albeit prone to error way to Judge pressure. On a pistol you will blow out the case on many brands of pistols before any of the pressure signs for rifles show up .. On top of this one brand of cases may have a thicker web and thousands of loads work fine then change brands of brass and KABOOM DONT load MAX loads in your SEMI AUTO.

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