How I Develop A Load For A Bullet With No Published Load Data
The Range Squirrel
We should always use published load data when reloading ammunition, that is a standard safety practice. But what about when there is no published load data? We can not just pull a recipe out of thin air, pour powder in cases and seat bullets without the possibility of injury, death or destruction. However, if we are willing to take an educated risk and follow some logic we can in fact come up with safe recipes to load those unpublished projectiles.
I must say at this point, if you are an inexperienced reloader, watch the tutorial but stick with projectiles and powders for which you have published data until you have gained experience and knowledge to know if you are operating safely. This tutorial shows how I arrive at MY RECIPES, these are NOT YOUR RECIPES. If you break your firearm (or worse), you get to keep all the pieces. You have been sufficiently warned.
Now all that out of the way and moving right along, I want to develop a load for an Everglades Ammo 125 gr Competition JHP for 9mm. This is a load that will be used for target shooting, club competition …. and maybe sanctioned competition down the road. I currently do not have a chronograph, so I can only go by similar bullet published data to find starting loads and guesstimate what velocities I might be making towards making Minimum Power Factor.
I owned a Marlin 60 since 1987, but never really got ‘into’ guns until 2011 when I bought my first 9mm pistol. That was soon followed by a .380 and a 12 guage pump, and I was all in. I had done some 20 guage reloading growing up, and threw myself into 9mm and .223 reloading in 2017, .380 in 2019, 7.62×39 in 2020 and my first revolver in 45 Colt in 2022. It is so satisfying to go to the range and string together ever improving groups with ammo I loaded myself; it doesn’t hurt that I’m a little OCD about technical things, the tangible/visible rewards are really gratifying.
I have a nagging but as yet unattained ‘want’ for a .358 Yeti unloader, it just looks like a really cool caliber. My next learning curve, space permitting, is casting and coating.