358 155 TC ELCO

Thanks,  they turned out well. 

Funny when this was being run I had no interest in it for autos but now that I have a revolver that needs heavy bullets I all of the sudden needed one, funny how that works.  It popped up on a sale and I jumped on it.

Neal in AZ

Thanks!  I have been enjoying some of your videos, especially like the 50 Alaskan ones.

I have used only one powder with these so far Vit N320. I shoot USPSA and like to keep things clean, especially with the revolver. I loaded some up to try out in a few autos (in the nickel cases) also and had good success. They have the right taper on them so you can load them out to max out your case volume and not have issues with them hitting the lead of the rifling. Tried some of the auto loads in my little Kel Tec Sub 2000 and they shot great so they should would well in an AR. The lead I used is decently soft so they are coming out right at 160 grs. which is the same weight bullet I was using when I was buying them.  I am only pushing them to minor PF so they don’t need to be too hard.

Neal in AZ

N320 is a fast burning pistol powder much like HP38(same powder as Win 231).  Red dot is also a fast burner but since it is a flake powder I find it doesn’t meter as well as HP38 (considered a flattened ball powder) and when you are dealing with smaller charges like for this application that can be an issue.  Ramshot competition is another fast burning pistol powder(technically a shot shell powder like Red Dot) that meters well because it is a ball powder. Power Pistol is a slower pistol powder that will work also and won’t have as sharp pressure curve as the fast burners but because you are dealing with a small case capacity you may run out of room because you need a heavier charge as it burns slower. 

As far as data goes for 9mm most loading work has been done with the 147 gr. bullet. Typically the 147 is as heavy as you get for loading 9mm for autoloaders. Honestly 10 or so grains isn’t much weight difference so any data you find just may need to be reduced slightly and brought back up to find your limit.  The other thing you will need to get settled is your loaded length that will fit in your magazines and work in your chamber. The Pistol Caliber Carbine (PCC) is getting popular in USPSA shooting so you may use “PCC” in some of your searches for data to find specific carbine data.

I wish I had some load data for you but I think your best bet is to look for data using W231/HP38 as they are a common powder and lots of people use them.

Always happy to help if you are having trouble finding data,  just let me know.

Neal in AZ

You are welcome,  always happy to help. I think working with the HP38 is your best bet as I suspect it will be your best option to find data.

I went a looked for some data to try and get you in the ball park and got lucky.  I know that a lot of USPSA revolver shooters (like me) are using 160’s in the 9mm revolvers but I figured that most of them would have data for a long loaded bullet (I load to 1.200″) which might get you in the ballpark.  I found a thread where a guy has posted 9mm data with Win 231 with a 160 and he states his LOA is 1.135″ which is the standard length for 9mm.

So he is saying 3.2 – 3.4 of W231 for his 160 which sounds right as I am using 3.2 of N320 with the ELCO bullet in 9mm cases.  I figure you can use this as a start and if you find some other data to corroborate this you are on the right track.

Here is the thread:

http://forums.brianenos.com/index.php?/topic/243862-929-lods-with-w231-or-clays/

Neal in AZ