Reloading for the SR9

I've handloaded 38/357, 44mag and 45ACP for 40 years but I'm a rank newbie with the 9mm cartridge and any platform other than a 1911.

I concocted my first-ever 2 recipes and went to the range with my brand new SR9. I loaded both mags with the Remington factory 115RN and put all 20 into 2.5" @ 50 feet ... without a hiccup. Off to a good start. BTW, it chronoed at 1048 fps.

With a new gun and my very first handloads I was prepared to deal with jams...likely failure to feed due to incorrect OAL, or maybe stovepipes from a sluggish slide.

My first handload was 6.0 grains of AA5 under a Missouri 115RN, HiTek coated ... 10 rds w/o a hiccup and 1028 fps. This is going to be easy. 8)

Loaded 10 of my second recipe of 4.8 grains of Bullseye and the 3rd round failed to eject. The slide locked open with the empty half out of the chamber and a live one trying to lift it up. I don't think I've ever seen that malfunction. My first thought was "uh-oh...too hot...big time sticking in the chamber". But when I dropped the mag, I could EASILY pluck the empty with my fingernail. The primers looked fine and each time the FTE occurred...6 in 20.., I could EASILY pluck the empty. The load chronoed 1130 fps....warmer than the other 2, but not really hot I'm thinking.

The mystery got more complicated when I tried 10 more of the AA5 recipe and had one of the same FTE's.
As I said, I've never seen this particular malfunction with any .45ACP in a 1911, and I can't grasp how/why it's occurring ... the extractor is riding over, but then the empty will almost drop out. Whassup?

I also had some problems with FTE with my reloads on the other hand factory ammo never had a problem.I think I did find out why the slide failed to extract the fired round seem range brass needs to be Mic: after full length resized I did find some brass is quite short of factory spec:
I tried win 231 but it seem the sr9 I have favors Bulleye powder.
I also found that 135 gr. extreme copper plated with 3.5 grains is a tack driver.
The ruger seem to like .356 over .355 diameter

4.8 grains of Bulleye is quite hot and actually 0.1 gr ABOVE the maximum load for a 115 gr jacketed bullet as listed in the Alliant handbook. Try cutting it back a couple of tenths and see if that helps. Also, Bullseye is one of the fastest burning powders on the market and some semi-autos are touchy about cycling with it's very fast pressure rise curve.

A somewhat slower powder may work better. The AA5 you've already used fills that bill as does WW231 and even TiteGroup. I've had excellent reliability in numerous 9 mm pistols (a Les Baer 1911, an SR9, and SR9c and a Kahr PM9 among others) using 4.4 grains of Titegroup or 4.5 gr of WW231 with a 124 gr jacketed hollow point bullet. These loads chronograph at about 1070 to 1140 fps depending on the pistol used.

Thanks for the replies. I do have 4 different weights of Xtreme plated bullets in addition to the Missouri coated bullet and a shelf full of powders. I'm starting with my favorites but I'm planning to try some Unique and HS6 as well.
I'm hoping for some insight on this particular malfunction.

Hmmm...beginning to seem as though the gun may be at fault. The history so far:

1) 20 rounds Rem factory 115RN.....zero FTE

2) 20 rounds of Bullseye/115RN.....6 FTE

3) 20 rounds of AA5/115RN.....1 FTE

4) 10 rounds of Bullseye/124RN.....1 FTE

5) 10 rounds of HS6/124RN.....1 FTE

6) 10 rounds of Unique/124RN.....2 FTE

7) 10 rounds of AA5/124 RN.....1 FTE

8) Back to the Rem factory 115RN, 10 rounds.....1 FTE

I think there may be a pattern here.

FWIW...Alliant now shows 4.7 grains of Bullseye to be max with a 115 Gold Dot with no pressure data. As recently as 10 years ago, and for decades prior to that, they listed 5.0 as max for a 115FMC, and 4.9 grains for 125FMC and 125 lead with pressures 9% below SAAMI max. Hornady concurred.

IME, I now know that 4.8 grains under a 115 lead is pretty warm despite being justifiable by published data.

I have found OAL makes quite a difference for my reloads. my manuals list a minimum COAL and I generally will start fifteen thousandths over that, with a plunk test. watch for pressure signs and never exceed max charge.
I also am not afraid to try different powders, my comfort zone increased over the years due to availability of powder. I prefer my plinker load powder to be in the same burn rate as perhaps AA5, or Auto Comp, Ramshot Silhouette. they all seem to work well, just to name a few.

How many rounds total do you have through this pistol? Also, are you crimping your rounds? As a control you may want to shoot a couple boxes of name brand FMJ factory ammo. If it runs 100% then it is your loads. If not, something is wrong with the gun. Plus it will give you some nice new empties to load!

UPDATE...

Well, I'll never know exactly what the problem was. Sent it back and it was returned 9 days later with a new barrel & slide assembly and a note saying it was functioned-fired 60 times with 2 loads, no malfunctions. I then put 2 factory loads and 4 handloads thru it for another 60 rounds, zero MF's.

Kudos to Ruger!

Mine is not for sale. :mrgreen:

Hey guys!
I've been a lurker here for a while but never posted.
I'm not a reloader but do own a SR9c. My brother in law put together some reloads for me recently and I had this exact problem. These were the first hand loads I've ever put thru the gun and was shocked at all the ftf and stovepipes.
I've always have shot factory loads so naturally I was baffled.
My son was with me shooting a rental S&W shield with factory ammo and ran a few thru the SR9 and they were fine.

I did notice the spent shells on the hand loads sort of petered out of the gun and fell onto the bench whereas the factory loads were ejected with authority.

Oddly enough I put a few hand loads thru the S&W without an issue..

What does all this mean?
I don't know, I'm a Homebrewer, but not a handloader and wanted to share my experience in relation to this post to let you know you aren't alone with the problem.

Runny214 said:

I did notice the spent shells on the hand loads sort of petered out of the gun and fell onto the bench whereas the factory loads were ejected with authority.

Oddly enough I put a few hand loads thru the S&W without an issue..

What does all this mean?
I don't know, I'm a Homebrewer, but not a handloader and wanted to share my experience in relation to this post to let you know you aren't alone with the problem.

Click to expand...

My guess (and only a guess) would be that the hand loads had a lower pressure (not enough powder) than is required to cycle your SR. I don't think I would be concerned about the issues, as long as it is working properly with factory loads. I would be more concerned (and very careful) about using handloads that don't cycle properly or from an unknown source.