Having trouble loading Berry 125gr HP OAL

[vietnam1947]

I finished reloading 9mm Berry Mfg 125 gr HP with V-N320 and set the OAL at 1.130, Trouble is they would not chamber?
I had to Keep seating the rounds all the way down to 1.055 OAL to get the round to seat in the chamber. there is still just a little room left to seat this bullet th that OAL, But Is it just the Design of Berrys Bullets that make seating to this depth so SHORT. Thanks, Fred

 

[RustyFN]

I don't know if it's the bullet design or your gun. I load Berry's 125 plated FP for my Glock at 1.120 and they chamber fine. My CZ has a short throat like most or all CZ's and had to seat down to 1.035. As long as you start at the starting load and work up you should be fine. In my CZ load at 1.035 I worked up to the max load for Titegroup and had no problems. Just make sure you start low.
Rusty

 

[vietnam1947]

RustyFN? What was you start load and Max load for usiing Titgroup?
My S & W 5606 will champer a 1.140 RN nose round, I gues that it is the long straight edge of the Berry bullets.
I did make a dummy round and put in chamber and kept pushing till I got the case to chamber and then miked the bullet to a 1.055 OAL. So I believe that is the correct procedure.
I have been wanting to go to TG , been using VV-N320, I could not find a load for TG, any help appricited, Thanks Fred

 

[RustyFN]

I load plated bullets to FMJ specs. For Titegroup it is 4.0 start and 4.4 max. My load I settled on is 4.2. Check out this web site, http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp it should help you with load data. I don't know which manual you have but I have Speer 13 and it has a lot of good information.
Rusty

 

[Walkalong]

I have loaded the Berry's 124 Gr HP at 1.030 O.A.L. with good success.

If you like Vihtavuori powder, try some N330 and N340 in the 9MM. I really like N330 here. It's one of the few areas N330 has done well for me though.

 

[vietnam1947]

RustyFN - Walkalong, Thanks for the info , I will add this to my data log sheet for loading. I have the Layman 48th edition and Lee 3th edition. and The site you suggested I have it on my favorets list. Thanks, Fred

 

[rcmodel]

I have been shooting Berry 124 grain Plated HP bullets in my S&W's for awhile now with complete satisfaction.

Then a month ago, I loaded up a couple of boxes for my new old SIG P6.

Chamber checking the loaded rounds found about 10 -12 out of each box would not fully chamber without force. It appeared they were getting into the rifling leade before the round was fully chambered.

So, I seated them deeper.
Same problem.

So, I made a new seating die stem to match the bullet shape, thinking they were deforming during seating.
Same problem.

Then, I checked the ones that were too big for the SIG in two S&W's and they worked fine. The S&W's have a much more pronounced Leade in front of the chambers compared to the SIG.

Then, I did what I should have done in the first place.
I started measuring the Berry bullets.

26% of them are .355"
26% of them are .3555"
34% of them are .356", like they are supposed to be.
But the other 13% measured a full .357"!

I finally fired up the Lyman LubriSizer machine and sized the rest of them all down to 9mm / .356"!
Problem solved.

rcmodel

 

[vietnam1947]

Thanks, I shoot a S & W 5906 9mm, have loade Rainers in 124 HP had no problem, but the berry bullet is ( .0355 x .555 ) in size. I am going to the range to test with a shooting chrony in a few . the round is loaded with 4.1gr VV-N320 with 125gr Berry HP seated at 1.055 O.A.L. ... As I said earlyer I would prefer to have the O.A.L. at 1.125 to 1.130. but using a dummy round it seated at a OAL of 1.057, so I seated to 1.055 for clearence. I hope these work. Thanks Fred.

 

[vietnam1947]

OK, I went to Range fire off 10 round of the 125gr Berrys HP with 4.1 gr VV-n320. OAL of 1.055 and the average FPS was 1088.9 .
So this load will work, and it held a two inch groun free hand at 21 feet.

 

[zxcvbob]

I bought a box of Berry's 124 HP's a couple of years ago and they would not feed reliably in my BHP. They kept hanging up at the bottom of the feed ramp. I thought it was because the hollow point was too big.

I load them into .38 Specials and shoot them in my Marlin, but I have about a half a box left. Maybe I should try them in the BHP again but load them a lot shorter. IIRC I had them at about 1.15" OAL.

 

[evan price]

Rainier 124-HPs, 4.4 of Titegroup. Berry's is going to be pretty similar.
If I want +P for my carbine, I load a bit more (Actually, the same I use for my .45 acp or .40 S&W)