Best hand load...Pressure???
 

Well, i will be new to firing a luger. Though not new to the 9mm cartrige. I have 2 berettas, a 92F and a 92FS (Hard Chrome). But i load 115gr HP bullets with ?? gr (unsure of the charge/weight gr) of unique powder. I dont think its super hot, but i will have to check. The 5.2gr is 1300fps. I only use unique, it is just what i always have on hand. What do you sugest for a load with this powder and either HP or FMJ 115gr bullets.
Im not sure what the target....wimp load i should shoot in her to keep her living her life a long time.
Ive been told to just buy WWB, but i load alot of my stuff because i can still aford it, though thats even questionable now.
Thanks
Jarrod M

I guess if nothing else, i can buy the $7 boxes at scheels and keep those separate for my luger and then use the brass for reloads and sell some of my stockpile of brass???

Jarrod,
The best thing to do is, as you suggest, use only good quality factory ammo. Winchester FMJ in the "Wally World" white box.

Never use Corbon, or any +P ammo. Sellier and Bellot 115 gr. is also good, however there have been reports lately that their quality control has lapsed somewhat, and problems have been noted with it.

Ron

If you reload (and it has been years since I did myself), just use the standard, medium load from the books. Lyman, Hornady, all the books have light loads listed, medium (factory) and hot loads (max loads). There is no reason to load maxium, although I know lots of guys that think it is cool to do so. I personally have never understood how a hot load is "more" powerful than a medium load. A hot load can misfire / jam / damage your gun, while a medium (i.e factory load) load is much less likely to do so.

Keep in mind that many folks will say the parabellum will only work reliably with max loads. That I doubt, as the German gov't load is what you should be striving for, or they wouldn't have decided on that load...

Ed

load
 

Use a standard load, neither hot nor lite. If you have time you can try reducing the load to find the lightest load that wil lbe reliable to save wear and tear. No point in a heavy or hot load, we don't choose to shoot a Luger for its horse power any way.

The idea that the Luger requires a "hot" load for reliability is an urban myth. Most reliability issues stem from buggered magazines, recoil springs that have been tinkered with, or improper dimensions in the cartridge, particularly the OAL. There might be a few due to badly mismatched parts.

The real trick if handloading, is to get the correct OAL which is a bit longer than today's standard stuff.

Thanks guys. Ive been loading some for the luger. Using winchester fmj 115gr, and aprox 4.8-5.0 grns of unique powder. Its medium or maybe a little hotter. I just used it because thats what i typicaly load and i didnt want to change the loader for 100 or so rounds. I think it will handle it just fine, unless you guys say otherwise.
Thanks
Jarrod M

For Unique that sounds about right. I use 3.7g Bullseye with a 124g FMJ in mine. Its a good medium load and it feeds all my nines very well.

The Luger does lack case support in the ramp and lower breech face area, but this is a common to most self loaders. If there is enough pressure to blow out, that's where it will blow out.

But keep in mind that the design pressure (intended max working pressure) for the action is not that of the service load but the proof load!! This unsual situation came about because the working load for the original carbine ran the same pressure as the proof load for the pistol. The leads to the fact that if you gradually heat up the load the toggles will fail from too much impulse before the action fails from too much pressure. (The carbine's much heavier barrel and extra recoil spring controlled the greater impulse of the carbine load.)

Target Load
 

Hi:

This has been one of my accuracy loads for over 30 years!! Nice light load, that will function the action.

Sieger