9mm bullet weight

Last weekend I was watching some You Tube videos about some different 9mm semi auto pistols. Several videos they explained the ammo they were using and support their sponsors etc.

They were shooting 124 grain 9mm. I've always thought 115 grain was the standard 9mm. I haven't tried any 124 grain. Are they better or is it just the latest fad?

I've loaded some 9mm but I have a single stage turret press and it's kind of slow for 9mm. Especially with a 20 round magazine. I'll get around to a solution when it cools off some. This week in DFW is brutally hot.

I shoot both 115 and 124 gr JRN bullets and 115 gr lead RN. I want to try some 147 gr cast lead.
I tried the 124 gr jacketed round nose because I got a super deal on 2000 of them.
They all shoot good in my pistols.

As with any caliber,, some people prefer one bullet weight over others.
For many years,, the 115 grn 9mm bullet was the most common one. Kinda like the 230 grn 45 acp, or the 240 grn 44 mag, or the 250 grn 45 Colt etc.
Quite often,, the rifling twists help determine what works best overall for most guns.

That said,, a lot of people wanted a heavier bullet in the smaller package,, and as such, the 124's & the 147's came about. Many times it's competitors who prefer one over the other.
In USPSA,, there is a formula called "power factor" where they take bullet weight, multiplied by velocity, divided by 1000 to determine power factor for a given competitor. Most 9mm guns in USPSA are scored as minor except in the Open Category. As such, felt recoil which allows a competitor to either get back on target faster or slower is affected by bullet weight. In scoring 9mm they have to have a minimum power factor of 125,, so often a heavier bullet combined with whatever powder they choose,, can easily make 125 while having very minimal felt recoil. This allows faster recovery time for many shooters.
So,, a heavier bullet over the "normal" can become popular for just such a reason.

contender is right on -
Best test - load 3x 147's, 3x 124's and 3x 115's in a mag - See what you think.
Do it a couple times and it will show you.

I believe the 9mm originally used a 124-125 gr truncated cone bullet. I don't remember seeing many, actually very few, 115 gr, 9mm bullets before mebbe 10-12 years ago. I have almost exclusively used 124-125 gr cast and jacketed bullets as long as I can remember (I got my first 9mm pistol in '91)...

I shoot a 125 gr. cast bullet in my 9MM. When they were a hot deal I grabbed the last two boxes of Black Talon a deal had on the shelf. Didn't look at the weight and they're the 147 gr. loads which apparently had a bad reputation for not properly opening up when shot from handguns but were fair when used in SMGs. The boxes are still unopened. :shock:
Paul B.

Both of my 9's are very happy with a 127 gr Maxine mouth cast HP. Powder coated of course.

Dick

I have been shooting 9 mm since the mid 1980's. For defensive purposes the 115 gr JHP were/are the cats meow. The 147 gr approximated the .38 special, they were subsonic, and were used with suppressors. The erratic mushrooming of the bullet was due to it being subsonic. They also tended to penetrate well. Then came the 124 gr as something in between. I have only used the 115 &'124 gr with no problems in my guns

Like most cartridges used by the military, whatever they use tends to be very popular with citizen shooters. I believe the military uses 115 gr FMJ;

Cartridge designation: US M882 ball
Cartridge OAL:1.165inches or 29.591mm
Powder used: HPC-26
Powder weight used: 6.0 grains
Case Mouth Pressure: 31,175psi (avg), 36,250psi (max)
Bullet weight: 112 grains
Bullet length: .610 inches or 15.494mm
Bullet velocity: 1263fps measured @ 15 feet

One of the most popular cop loads is the 127 gr.+P Ranger Talon. Many agencies use it for carry and train with the WW 124 NATO fmj load. Both are fairly hot loads and need heavier recoil springs if used in abundance. My P226/8's and M&P's work well with just about anything they are feed and I have shot thousands of the Lyman 147 gr lead bullet loads, as well. Bob! 8)

I guess I'm the outlier here, although I've used about every 9mm round made in the last 5 years. I don't much care what I feed my 9e for punching paper, and neither does it, but I settled on the Hornady 135 gr. Critical Duty for carry. It's accurate, will punch thru a car door easily (even at 40yds+), and expands well. What more could a old redneck ask? :lol:

As for not making a "big enough" hole, I can compensate by making a whole bunch of slightly smaller holes very quickly. :mrgreen:

I Like Buffalo Bore 124 gr, Syntech 150 gr and Critical duty 135 gr. But have looked at Liberty 65gr or Novax 50 gr? Know of any reasonable tests?

grobin said:

I Like Buffalo Bore 124 gr, Syntech 150 gr and Critical duty 135 gr. But have looked at Liberty 65gr or Novax 50 gr? Know of any reasonable tests?

Click to expand...

If you're asking me, those are 2 rounds that I've never bothered with, because I don't like fragmenting bullets, and they are real expensive. I'm sure there are some gel tests on youtube, but if you want to see for yourself what they do in meat and bone you'll have to buy some bbq meat - Pork butt/shoulder or similar.

Or give your favorite gangbanger a box and ask him to try them out and report back :wink:

After spending a considerable amount of time shooting 9mm into water filled milk jugs(not ballistic gelatin but a decent comparison media that's CHEAP), I decided that 124 GoldDot bullets gave me what I wanted. A bit of a compromise between a little more "shank" for enhanced penetration and the velocity required for consistent expansion.
FWIW, my next project is a 10.5" barrel 9mm AR "pistol" as a work vehicle gun. It's destined to shoot 147 grain bullets through a lightweight Form 1 suppressor as a short/medium range defense tool that's fairly light, quiet, and still controllable. I've found the 147 grainers work better with a longer barrel.

I buy whatever is cheap for practice. My carry loads will vary with either 115 or 124 XTP'S. They have worked well on deer( not 9mm of course ) for me. Looking in my Speer manual recently I was surprised to learn the gold dot is a plated bullet.

When the LSP went to autos about 1990, the issue ammo was the 147 WW HP, which as stated earlier, is subsonic. It works extremely well in a MP-5 and functions 100% in our issue Sigs. It does penetrate well, especially on car glass as several of my co workers experienced, shooting felons from either side of the windshield. One of my team mates emptied his P226 from inside his 89 Chevy cruiser on a felon intent on killing him, shooting through the windshield and driver window. Last tally I had was LSP 5, badguys 0. Both the 127 Ranger talon and the Speer gold dot LE loads work as advertised, as does the critical duty loads. Bob!!

I watched some of the u-toob ballistic gelatin expansion tests for several types/brands of 9mm 147 HP fired from under 4" barrels.
UNIMPRESSIVE is the nicest descriptive I can think of. Especially when shot through fabric, the HP generally failed to do much more than flatten off w/o much expansion. Many HP designs failed to expand to actual bullet shank diameter.
Some did much better and those would be the ones to explore.
The effectiveness of 9mm as a defense round vs a 45 hinges on expansion.

I load 147 gr. cast.

For me the 124 gr JHP provides more penetration than 115, my Beretta 92-G Centurion, loves the Speer 124 Gr Gold Dot Standard Pressure.

"loves the Speer 124 Gr Gold Dot Standard Pressure."

This is an excellent load. It's what I carry in my KP95DC and I've seen it's performance when putting down several deer injured in vehicle strikes. This ammo works very well.