Are my loads safe for Luger use.
 

I shoot a lot of 9mm in my Kimber. Normally I start off with Aquilla or Gecco 124gr ball and pickup the brass. I reload the brass with 125gr Lead RN from MidAtlantic over 4gr+- HP38. I dont have a chrono but I would guess that I am at 950fps+-.
I dont have a Luger in hand yet, but its only a matter of about 30 days. I dont plan on high volume through the luger. I also dont want the first cartridge to result in breakage.
Are the factory FMJ Ball better than the lead reloads for the luger? Will both function properly? What are the limitations other than no +P?

Your load with 125gr LRN and 231 looks to be a safe and reasonable load for a 9mm Luger. That does NOT mean that your Luger will like it. Some lugers work well with lead bullets(my 30 luger pistols do) and some do not. Many Lugers are ammo sensitive and so it is a trial and error situation. I would start out with factory ammo FIRST to develop a base line on your new Luger. Try WWB 115gr RNFMJ, PMC 115gr RNFMJ, Federal 115gr RNFMJ. If your new Luger functions 100% with any of these loads, then you can give your handloads a try and go from there. Many Lugers prefer a long OAL and a RN bullet. Every Luger is it's own entity, so one has to test variables like springs, mags, and ammo. Good luck.

Thanks RHUFF. I will pick up a couple boxes 115gr RN and try that first. I was under the impression that the Luger favored the slightly heavier bullet.

IIRC, the early military loads were 124 gr./ truncated cone. Winchester white box is available in both projectile weights, and both will function just fine in the 9mm Lugers I have. The 115 gr. is the currently recommended starting place.

One way to check for excess energy in your pistol is the masking tape test. A piece is applied to the top, rear flat of the frame just below the rear toggle. If your ammo has too much oomph, the protruding "duck bill" of the rear toggle will cut/squish the tape, leaving a visible mark. There may already some bluing loss from previous times this has happened. You can tune your loads down until the mark almost disappears, or you can tune them up until a mark is just barely made. this assists in calculating the max load the gun will handle without damaging itself with every shot. Tune loads down from there to dial in accuracy. Win. 231 and Unique are a couple of powders that many like, as they present an appropriate burn rate for cycling a Luger.

Hi,

When you get your Luger, please private message me with your phone number and I'll give you the benefit of my 40 years of Luger handloading and shooting.

Properly handloaded, the Luger is the most accurate pistol I've ever fired!!! Use the wrong ammo and you have a useless jamomatic!!!

Sieger

... ??? ...You don't want to post it??? :eek:

You would deprive the rest of us of your 40 years of Luger handloading and shooting??? :crying:

I feel so...forsaken... :(

Hi,

No, I will need to be interactive with him, as all Lugers are in a different state as to springs, magazines, etc. when you first get them.

Anyone is free to private message me for a healthy discussion of Luger shooting, as I would really enjoy the interaction!

Maybe I could do a Sticky with my favorite loads sometime, but they are already scattered throughout this section.

Feel free to PM with a phone number anytime!!!


Sieger

P.S. Sheepherder, we need to discuss Nambu shooting as well.

Oh no! You don't slide out that easily, mister! :mad:

You posted several times last year that members should do a Search of your posts for loads etc...I responded that nobody was going to go through your 1100+ posts [then] looking for a load...You responded that you would collect all your favorite loads etc and put them in one thread, and the mods could Sticky it, but you were going/had already gone South for the Winter and the data was on your PC up North so it would have to wait until you returned to your Summer home in the Spring...

Well, we're still waiting!!!! :grr:

Ed Tinker has his finger poised over his 'Sticky' button, ready to commit your 40+ years of Luger shooting & loading to posterity, for all time! :thumbup:

So come on, boy, and get them memories down where we can all benefit from them!!! :soapbox:

We ain't getting any younger! And there's less of us now than there was then!!! :banghead:

A sticky would be good, certainly! It could be a thread like Eric's...everyone could post and discuss their favorite loads/sources and edit them any time to improve the data.

There is a wealth of info that's just lost in the sauce here on the site, and lots of it is impervious to a search. It would be great if were all find-able, in one place.:thumbup:

You can say that again!!!


Sieger

No, please - nothing like eric's! :( It should be a moderated sticky, with no off-topic pictures of pretty flowers, or butterfiles, or sunsets...Just reloading/ammunition data! :thumbup:

I actually have learned quite a bit here about powders [Red Dot, Blue Dot, Green Dot] that I would not have otherwise even considered! Who would have thought that shotgun powder was effective in Lugers??? :confused:

Hi,

Rather than put everything in a blinder, I think those wanting their own Sticky should have it. This way, readers could follow the author of their choice without becoming confused, as, no doubt, there will be quite a variance of opinion on this topic.


Sieger

Hi,

Yes, medium/slow burning powders are a key to proper and accurate function.

AA#5 is a fantastic powder for lead bullets!

Sieger

I know this would take a little time, but if you search the "Sieger" posts (most of which are in the reloading section), these will all pop up.

Sieger

That would be great! Put the relevant material all in one thread and have the mods 'sticky' it! :thumbup:

Edit: I just checked - you only have 499 posts in 157 threads in the Reloading Forum. Shouldn't take you more than an hour! ;)

Bob, if you don't want to take the time, I'll start a "Siegers Thoughts On Reloading" thread and go through those 499 posts in 157 threads and post them all together in one spot.

Then we can point new members to the one thread for a unified collated Luger reloading/OEM ammunition thread. It may take me a few weeks but I'll be spending several months stuck downstairs anyway with noting to do. Except watch Law & Order (456 episodes over their 20 year run).

Well, yes, that's what I had in mind, mean and clean info. I guess to be on the safe side, moderation would be good. Instead of scattered, multiple posts, each contributor would have a single post as his responsibility, containing load recipes/data and comments about them, to edit and maintain. Try a new Powder? Add your description to the original post! Change your mind about a recommendation? Edit the post! How would a big clog of subsequent questions and answers be avoided, so the info doesn't get buried again in its own thread? Some sort of dividing line between info posts and the Q&A, so they stay separate?

Sheepherder,

I'm working on a wild, very time consuming professional project right now.

We will need to discuss the details, but I think the basic idea is a good one.

Please pm me your phone number.

Thanks!


Sieger

Sieger and others,
Thank you for all the information. I will be in contact. I think it will be a great day to be able to line up my MIL pistols and go at it. Frommer Stop, 1903 Colt, Luger, 43' Colt 1911

I have four P-08s. All do quite well with 124gn L-SWCs. All are easy to load for and they feed everything I have tried--once I find the COL range they like for each bullet.
I find medium speed powders are best. Power Pistol, Silhouette, and True Blue work well. AA5 is also pretty good.
One P-08s wants hot loads. The rest are fine with medium to normal loads.
One big area of concern are magazines. There are a lot of cheap mags that should just be run over and thrown away.

Hi,

I agree on the medium range powders!

What brand LSWCs are you using? What have been your most successful OALs with this bullet?

Thanks!

Sieger

L-SWCs:
Favorite was the MasterBlaster .38 Super 115gn. Great bullet. Have not found a suitable replacement. COL 1.117".
Lee 358-105-SWC was quite fun. COL was 1.020". It seemed to do very well with LLA and 231/HP38.
Penn 115gn was OK. Did well with Unique. COL 1.025"
Had a Lyman SWC mold that threw 130gn bullets. Have no record of COL used and, last I looked, no one knew the mold number.
Missouri 125gn, when not shooting JHPS, is my favorite. Did best with Power Pistol, Silhouette and True Blue at 1.115"
COL, though, is VERY dependent on the chamber. Some of my guns have short throats, and would be loaded shorter--but I haven't used them much.

Hi,

How is the quality of the Missouri bullets? Frankly, Penn has let me down before.

Are you shooting the traditional lead lubricated bullets or the newer "High Tech" coated ones? I haven't tried shooting bullet with this specific coating, as of yet, but they look interesting.

Every single Luger I've ever examined has been long-throated. This was a typical German practice and it also applies to the Mauser rifles of the same period.

To me, many of your OAL figures look a bit short to reliably cycle a Luger loaded with a full magazine of 8 cartridges (see my Sticky, in this section, on how to determine proper OAL), but, I'm not one to argue with success!!!

Thanks, and if I could ever find any of your powders on the shelf, I'd really like to give them a try!!!

Sieger