BW460 wrote:Has anyone had any success using No. 9? It is my go to powder for my .357 and .45 Colt revolvers. I was thinking about trying it with the 230 gr. fmj round nose bullets. I searched this site and found a few references to it but no info about loads that might have worked. If it's been done and doesn't give good results, I won't waste my time. It's easier for me to get No.9 than Lil Gun.
Woody-
I had good results, both with velocity and accuracy, using No.9 with the 200-grain Hornady FTX and Barnes pointed XPB bullets. I reported this in a recent thread:
Suicide Run: 200-grain FTXs at 3000 fps.
Some things to consider:
1)
READ THE WARNING IN THE FIRST POST ON THAT THREAD. With the bolt gun, I was safely (maybe) working at pressures considerably above SAAMI max. The maximum recommended load for the 200-grain FTX by the powder manufacturer is 40.2 grains; I maxed out at 48.5 grains.
2) As indicated by the posts above, it is important to check the reloading data developed by the powder maker. For maximum velocity at safe SAAMI pressures, Accurate 4100 or Ramshot Enforcer would have been better than No.9 with the 200-grain bullets. (Beyond the SAAMI max pressure, the faster No.9 allowed higher velocities; Enforcer ran out of powder space.)
3) With your 230-grain FMJ bullets, 1680 powder will produce 200 fps more velocity than N0.9 at max SAAMI pressure, according to the data tables. However, No.9 may produce the same or better accuracy.
If you have No.9 available, give it a try. Please report your results in this 450B reloading forum.
Thanks.
--Bob