Choosing starting weight for powder

[tenneesse]

Question. In my 47th edition of my Lyman reloading manual looking at load data for 9mm lead bullets the nearest to the lead I want to load (124gr RN and 126SWC) is 121gr RN bullet which is under and a 130gr truncated cone. I was thinking about W231.

For the 121gr they show min max 2.9/4.4 for the 130gr they show min/max 2.6/4.1

Ive looked in my other manuals and nothing specific to 124 or 126gr lead bullets.

What's a safe approach to choosing my starting weight? They will be shot in a Glock 34. I'm thinking a beginning weight of 3.5gr's. for both the 124gr and the 126gr.

These will be the first 9mm I have worked with so Im open to suggestions. The bullet are a .357 dia from Dardas Bullets and are a first try at lead in this gun. The barrel slugged at .356/.3558 BHN 16

Thanks

[Aces an Eights]

In my G34, I find about 4.6 Unique seams the best of accuracy and cycling with 124gn LRN. 4.2 would be a good starter and work up if you need to.

For to W231, http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp, suggests 3.9gn W321 as a starter going by the next heaviest bullet weight data

[farmerjim]

Modern reloading 2nd ed page 534 124 gl lead
win 231 start 3.3 max 4.0

[tenneesse]

Thanks guys.
Aces what bullet dia. are you shooting in your 34 and are you shooting the Glock barrel? I really don't what to get into the after market barrels. Im probably going to pick up some Unique tomorrow.

[Aces an Eights]

Still got the factory barrel. Haven't had any issues with leading so far.

The bullets are .356 polycoated Top Scores. They are really accurate with the lighter loads of Unique but for some reason they cycle better on hot days. I suspect I haven't kept my powder dry or I could do with a lighter spring. hehe.
http://www.topscore.com.au/.

Be interested to see how the .357s go. I just started experimenting with Lee 358-150-1R sized to .356. Shows a lot of promise.

[tenneesse]

i'll keep you posted on the progress. Thanks for the feedback. I'll check out Topscore.

[tenneesse]

I think the .357 may be to big. Leading right away. I started with 4.3 grains of Unique shot five and and lead traces were obvious. I cleaned it loaded up with 4.7gr and shot a string of 10 and there was too much lead to go any farther. I think .356 would have been a better choice. The barrel slugs at .3558. The bullets were advertised at 16BHN but they tested out almost 20.5 when I checked them. I think the .357 if expanding as they should was too much interference. Im going to try .356 and see how it goes.

[MtGun44]

Too big rarely, if ever, causes leading. Look at lube, bore condition,lube qty and powder. Much harder than necessary and probably have that
crummy crayola lube. Drop 25 into boiling water in an old pot and relube with NRA formula 50 50 lube and try again.

Bill

[tenneesse]

Too big rarely, if ever, causes leading. Look at lube, bore condition,lube qty and powder. Much harder than necessary and probably have that
crummy crayola lube. Drop 25 into boiling water in an old pot and relube with NRA formula 50 50 lube and try again.

Bill

Sounds like something I can try for sure. I'll do it and lets see if it helps. Thanks

[tenneesse]

Too big rarely, if ever, causes leading. Look at lube, bore condition,lube qty and powder. Much harder than necessary and probably have that
crummy crayola lube. Drop 25 into boiling water in an old pot and relube with NRA formula 50 50 lube and try again.

Bill

Dumb question how do you apply the 50/50 lube?