AS far as the most common sports that require certain power factor minimums, in USPSA, 147 gr. bullets in 9mm seem to be the favorites. Then you have the option of bullet type: Jacketed, plated or polycoated where at 884 FPS they yield a 130 PF. the 125 PF minimum and an additional 5 for a bit of insurance as they're fired over different chronos.ET-Ret wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2020 3:39 pm I have used a lot of different bullets for Piddling and off hand target shooting . Some Factory but mostly handloads.
I am not a picky shooter and if I can keep my shots in a 2 to 3 in circle I am happy. one shooter of comp.
is using cast bullets from a Texas firm and I have used some copper plated bullets from several sources one even came from
South africa.and was sold by Cabelas. I can cast but it been hard to set down and do it.
rounds are no great problem but setting up to do it seems to be the problem. It seems like the market is cleaned out right now so I may just have to
go to work. Any comments on brands or styles
Thanks Et-ret
I've done some experimentation to see if there really is a discernible difference at what to me is a very light recoil level. Shooters in the various games do tend to follow trends. I wrote about this some, as well as a bullet that need not be restricted in OACL because it is sub-caliber above the shoulder with only about 1/32" of the bullet's shoulder being exposed above the case-mouth. A good many 9mm pistols today have shorter throats than they once did, and they restrict OACL.
SNS Casting generously supplied what they call their 125 gr. RN that I typically refer to as a RN-SWC, and they are polycoated. This is their bullet used for that article: https://www.snscasting.com/9mm-125-grai ... ted-500ct/ and the article can be found here: https://blog.westernpowders.com/2020/05 ... roundnose/
I made a very good load with this bullet and 4.0 grs. of AA No 2, a CCI500 with an OACL of 1.142"/29mm that chrono'd 1039 FPS that would yield a power factor of 129 as the bullets I weighed were closer to 124 grs. Great load and I made some with Ramshot True Blue also. Velocities were chrono'd from a 4.47" Canik TP9sa that weighs about 30 oz unloaded w/magazine. I also did some comparisons in this article: https://blog.westernpowders.com/2020/03 ... mpetition/ where I used the RMR 147 gr. FMJ that has a truncated cone shape and was able to get very close to 130 PF. Personally, I can't find enough difference between 124 gr. bullets and 147s to make any practical difference while accuracy would be the greater determination for me, personally. The .356" 124 gr. RN-SWC shape has long been a favorite even before poly-coating when I was shooting hard-cast versions. I really like that SNS 125 RN and will continue to test them. So far as I'm concerned 125 power factor is 125 power factor, or 130 with a bit of safety cushion for either. The power factor calculation itself, BW * velocity /1000 is a pretty good shorthand method for calculating recoil itself as well as basic momentum. Which has the recoil advantage will likely be up to the individual shooter.