Reloading 9mm

I have a single stage press and was wondering if reloading 9mm would be worth it? I would only reload practice ammo so FMJ.
Thanks guys!

Absolutely worth it. I reload thousands of 9mm rounds each year. Since I am reusing cases many times, my cost is about 12 cents per round…so $12 per 100. You can get cheaper if you cast your own lead bullets. I find so many spent 9mm cases at the range that I doubt I will ever need to buy new again.

I wouldn’t spend the extra money on FMJ bullets…unless of course you enjoy spending more money. I use either copper plated or coated lead bullets in all my 9mm plinking rounds. I get my plated from Xtreme Bullets and my coated from Bayou Bullets. Mostly using the Bayou lately. The coating is very durable, so no issues with exposed lead. They do shoot like lead, so the accuracy is excellent and the price is much better than FMJ.

Fortunately, pistol powder is starting to become more available. For the past several years, pistol powder was like a unicorn…hear about it, but never to be seen.

What is the difference between copper plated or coated vs fmj? I have never reloaded handgun rounds before so it is new to me.

Youbetcha wrote:

What is the difference between copper plated or coated vs fmj? I have never reloaded handgun rounds before so it is new to me.

Copper plated is a thinner coating of copper. FMJ is an actual seperate layer of copper bonded to the lead core. The jacket on a lead bullet does two things; protects the bore from leading and also controls bullet expansion in the target animal. A coated bullet is only for protecting the bore of the gun from leading.
This is all that is needed in a round loaded for shooting paper targets.

Since you already own the press and other equipment, it’s absolutely worth it. You’ve made the investment, so now you can reload more and recoup your costs through lower per round prices. A set of dies and off you go.

There are 7000 grains in a pound, so that makes it pretty easy to calculate out how many rounds you would get out of a pound of powder. Look up some loads and do the rough math on powder + primer + bullet.

Agree with the others re bullets. No real need to use FMJ for target shooting, you’re just costing yourself more money for no reason.

IMO, the short pistol cases are a little fussy to handle while reloading with a single stage, but it’s not a major issue.

Extreme care has to be used with the powder measure and small auto pistol cases! In recent years, some of the cheaper powder measures available do not like to throw the consistent small charges that auto pistol cartridges require. Some of the really bad measures even skip charges!

Carefully test your powder measure for variations by throwing and weighing a good number of test charges. Watch carefully for variation beyond your normal range for your measure and if there are any test throws that have no powder in them, do not proceed with that powder measure.

As you ALWAYS should do, visually inspect all charged cases to make absolutely sure each/every case has powder and that it is a uniform amount across all cases.

Grouse