9mm in a 10 in. Encore/ enough for 100 yard sillouette?

[lastchanc54]

Hi Guys, I got invited to shoot small scale silloutte at a local club. The only glitch is they do not allow bottle neck rounds! Since I already reload for the 44 magnum, I bought a barrel, set it up and sighted it in last weekend. The recoil is more than I expected, even from a heavy 12 inch barrel. The cost of firing lots of 44 rounds is a consideration too. I just found a 10 inch 9mm T/C barrel for sale.
The match I want to shoot is limited to 100 yards. I am wondering if the 9mm round will be enough punch for shooting the 1/2 scale matches with. I know I will have to use a heavy bullet and a full load. Has anyone tried using the 9mm round for this type of event?
I already reload for the 9mm and have lots of brass for it. The light recoil and inexpensive rounds would be a plus but I hate to spend the money for a barrel and scope with out some more information.
Please share your experiances with this little round. Thanks, Lastchanc54

[WolfTrap]

Hi Guys, I got invited to shoot small scale silloutte at a local club. The only glitch is they do not allow bottle neck rounds! Since I already reload for the 44 magnum, I bought a barrel, set it up and sighted it in last weekend. The recoil is more than I expected, even from a heavy 12 inch barrel. The cost of firing lots of 44 rounds is a consideration too. I just found a 10 inch 9mm T/C barrel for sale.
The match I want to shoot is limited to 100 yards. I am wondering if the 9mm round will be enough punch for shooting the 1/2 scale matches with. I know I will have to use a heavy bullet and a full load. Has anyone tried using the 9mm round for this type of event?
I already reload for the 9mm and have lots of brass for it. The light recoil and inexpensive rounds would be a plus but I hate to spend the money for a barrel and scope with out some more information.
Please share your experiances with this little round. Thanks, Lastchanc54

LC54,
  9mm for what I assume would be "Hunter Pistol" straight wall only matches? If so...why not! Targets pretty much bowl over just about anything thrown down range even down to 270 Ren!
LC54, if possible (Freebore length?) load the longest bullet so as to touch the lands so each shot is equal to the following round. (Since it being used for up to 100 yard steel targets, bullets that keyhole beyond 150 yard really don't mean much, agree?) That means if TC in their wisdom used 357 barrels you might get away with using rifle bullets, but if they use 355 barrels....your selection is limited to 9mm bullets only! Slugging your barrel will spill the beans as to which way you're going on the loading table.
As for experience with 9 Mill.....just with it's rimmed brethren "38 Super" using a John Gray barrel back in the 70's.
WT

[Ken ONeill]

In the early 80's both Eric Usher and Charlie Davis won the NRA National Hunter Pistol Championship and heaven only knows how many club and state championships using 10" Contenders shooting the .22 Magnum. Yes, the 9mm will absolutely have the power to take down the targets.

[lastchanc54]

Thank you for the information. I contacted the gentlemen with an I will Take it. I appreciate your help.
Happy shooting, Ken

[Mikey]

Ken:  with the 9mm you can get some of the 147 gn jacketed slugs out to about 1150'/sec from a 4" bbl using VihtaVuori loads and that will be sufficient for the 100 yd steel targets.  From my older Lymna manual you can push the 158 gn cast slug to about 1K'/sec, which is also sufficient for the 100 yd targets.  These velocities are listed for a 4" bbl so your 10" bbl should get more velocity and attendant 'smack' at the 100 yd line.

The last time I shot the 'short course' with a 9mm, as we called the 100 yd Silhouette course (way back when), you had to hit the target high to get it to topple if you were using 115-124 gn slugs - but, that could just have been me.... If you went to the 158 gn (38 roundnosed slug sized to 9mm diameters) you could hit a bit lower and get them to topple. 

You just have to (1) measure your bbl for diameter and (2) find the bullet, cast or jacketed, that shoots most accurately.  Whether the bullet is a standard weight 115 or 124 gn slug, or a heavier cast slug, the 9mm from a 10" bbl should topple the rams and be easy to shoot.  Good luck. 

[lastchanc54]

Mikey, thank you for sharing your information on the 9mm. I love the economy of the little round. I have a variety of bullets to try in the 125 and 147 grain weights. I can get a lot more rounds of 9mm out of a can of powder than I can with the 44 magnum. I am looking forward to the lighter recoil too. I used to shoot a 7mm interntion round in a custom XP100 back in the early 80's. What a slam dunk, even with iron sights!
Now I just want to play with the local club and not worry too much about points. Thanks to all the nice people on Greybeard, I am able to get my equipment for a decent price and the information I need to make it work. My personal thanks to you and all the others who take the time to share thier information.

[lynneil]

I have no problem knocking over full size pigs at 100 meters with 124 grain handloads out of my Hi-point 995. 115 grains or heavier out of a T/C at half scale targets would be no problem IF you can find an accurate load.

[lastchanc54]

Lynneil, that is good info. I will begin working up a load as soon as I find a scope that I like. Not sure what to put on the new barrel yet. I will bench it with a 124 grain bullet to start. I have some Tight Group powder that I have not tried yet. I am excited to hear the ping on some rams! 

[IMshooter]

I see no reason a 9mm will not work for Hunter Pistol, assuming one can find an accurate load.

At our club matches, the most popular round is .22 Hornet, followed by .22 magnum and .32-20.  Good scores can be fired with the .22LR as well, but you will sometimes fail to take down the pigs and rams.  When using small calibers, a lot will depend on the targets, target stands, and how the targets are set.

[HAMMERHEAD]

You must be shooting IHMSA Field Pistol?

I have a 9" Encore .357 w/scope and a 7" G2 .357 w/open sights for field pistol. Too much fun. This spring I'll be trying a .38 Super as well. I started with a 10" .22wmr rimfire, that always worked for me, but some ranges will have 'tougher' rams. A 140/147 grain bullet at about 900 fps is plenty of insurance for the tough ones.

Titegroup is a fantastic powder, but pressure spikes quickly in the tiny 9mm case. HS-6 will give you a slightly slower burn for greater safety and better velocity.

There are weight restrictions in IHMSA, not sure about NRA, so you may want to weigh your pistol before ordering a scope. Red dot sights work surprisingly well at 100 yards, and they don't give you the 'wobbles' that a magnified scope will.

I've been toying with the idea of a 7" 9mm barrel for my G2, now you have me thinking...

[HAMMERHEAD]

Just one more thought, If it's a T/C or F.R.O. 9mm barrel, it has a .357" bore, not a 9mm/.355" bore.

Which means you can use a very wide selection of bullets. Hornady's excellent 140 grain cowboy bullet might be perfect. The swaged Hornady bullets are the best choice for lead bullet accuracy under 1,000 fps.

MGM makes 9mm barrels with .355" bores if you want a true 9mm. I've found that even my .358" bored MGM .357 magnum barrels will shoot any 9mm, .38 Super or Magnum bullet just fine. Between the squeeze of the rifling and the pressure at the rear, just about anything will bump up to bore diameter and shoot well in a single shot barrel.

Specialty Pistols has a sub forum for silhouette as well.
http://specialtypistols.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x

[Merle]

Hi Guys, I got invited to shoot small scale silloutte at a local club. The only glitch is they do not allow bottle neck rounds! Since I already reload for the 44 magnum, I bought a barrel, set it up and sighted it in last weekend. The recoil is more than I expected, even from a heavy 12 inch barrel. The cost of firing lots of 44 rounds is a consideration too. I just found a 10 inch 9mm T/C barrel for sale.
The match I want to shoot is limited to 100 yards. I am wondering if the 9mm round will be enough punch for shooting the 1/2 scale matches with. I know I will have to use a heavy bullet and a full load. Has anyone tried using the 9mm round for this type of event?
I already reload for the 9mm and have lots of brass for it. The light recoil and inexpensive rounds would be a plus but I hate to spend the money for a barrel and scope with out some more information.
Please share your experiances with this little round. Thanks, Lastchanc54



I used to use an octagon 10" 9mm in the big bore matches, and it would take down 8 or 9 out of ten rams at 200 meters, so it absolutely will work for half size.

After experimenting for most of a summer, I settled on Remington 147 gr JHP over a hearty charge of AA # 9. I seated the bullets pretty shallow, so wound up with about the same powder capacity as a 38 Super.

I also had good success with Blue Dot, but found it lacking in power for 200 meters. I would expect that it would do a fine job for half size, as would 125 or 130 gr bullets. I started off using factory 124 gr ammo to get a supply of brass, and they would occasionaly take down a ram. That is about all the power I would expect you would need.

I did discover that various brands of brass required changes in loading procedures, as case mouth thickness / hardness seemed to vary by a large amount. I settled on RP brass, as I had the least trouble with it.  loaded the brass 10 times before retiring it, so I'm sure I was not overworking it. I would usually not loose a case (due to case mouth splits until the 9th or tenth reload.

Anyhow, have at it & enjoy. I'm sure you will manage to embarress somebody who "knows" that gun isn't big enough!

Merle

 

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