359-88-RF-S2

  This bullet is 0.385″ long, and casts to about 0.4″, which makes it very similar to the 90 grain Speer GDHP (0.440″ long).  I couldn’t get any pistol powder earlier this year, until I got some Winchester 572 shotshell powder.  It’s got some reload data for 380 and 9mm, so I bought some.  I based my reload charges on the Speer bullet and worked my way up from 10% below minimum.  I powder coated using Eastwood powder paint (the transparent colors look great!) full cure of 20 minutes at 204C/400F applied using the “Elvis Ammo” method of tumble coating.

  A few weeks ago I managed to acquire some Hodgdon CFE Pistol and worked up reload data for that based on the same 90gn Speer GDHP bullet.  I was using ~12.5 BHN alloy in a variety of pistols and a 9mm carbine.

  Charged under 4 grains of Win 472, most 380 Auto guns would not cycle properly.  The same amounts applied to the CFE Pistol for 380 auto, and 9mm load charges for Winchester 572 and Hodgdon CFE Pistol were also very similar.  I have the mold with the hollow point pins, and I couldn’t really tell the difference between the bullet with the flat nose (88 grains) or the hollow point (81 grains). 

in 380 ACP: 0.900″ COL, 4.2gn Hodgdon CFE Pistol or Winchester 472, CCI 500 small pistol primer

  This COL puts the base of the ogive just at the lip of the cartridge, leaving a nice perpendicular headspacing edge.  This makes a pretty short cartridge that works well in micro 380’s like the Ruger LCP, Taurus Spectrum, or Remington RM380.  If your (smaller) gun will function with less powder (3.6 – 3.8 gn), this makes for a very controllable defense round.

in 9mm: 0.980″ COL, 6.0gn Winchester 572 or Hodgdon CFE Pistol, CCI 500 small pistol primer

  This COL puts the base of the ogive just at the lip of the cartridge, like the 380 auto above.  Either powder worked well, but I think the Winchester 572 is better of the two for 9mm Luger reloads.

Hope this helps someone, have fun!