124g 9mm Nukes – OAL issue (after crimp)

If you are using a combo seater/crimper, back the seating stem out more or remove it. If your crimp die was set for WAY too much crimp maybe it was contacting the full diameter portion of the bullets and seating them deeper. I don’t know if that’s possible – maybe. Is something stuck inside the die?

Crimp only enough to straighten the flare made for seating bullets, no more. Too much crimp is counterproductive. Case wall thicknesses vary, but with .355″ jacketed bullets the outside diameter at the mouth after crimping should be somewhere between .376″ and .379″. For many loads I use mixed range brass of probably 100 different headstamps and ages. Case lengths vary greatly. The shorter the case, the shorter distance it travels into the tapered part of the crimp die. Adjusting crimp is a matter of finding a happy medium that works ok with all.

1.150″ is extremely long for the 124 grain Nuke bullets. We’ve measured max OAL with them in 11 different pistols. To do this, using one of my shorter 9mm cases I seat a bullet long, then crimp. If you don’t crimp, the flared mouth will give false readings. Then seat deeper gradually, a few thousandths at a time, until the round plunks and splns in the chamber. Comparing so many pistols was enlightening. There isn’t very good consistency in throat lengths even among the same models of guns. It is almost as if factory pistols are throated by a kid with a hand drill.

Our shortest for the 124 Nuke was one of the CZ-75 SA models at 1.067″. For comparison, that same barrel with other bullets:
115 RMR FMJ 1.136″
124 RMR FMJ 1.136″
147 RMR FMJ 1.136″
124 Gold Dot 1.142″
147 XTP 1.096″
124 RMR Nuke 1.067″

Of the 11 pistols we checked, only 2 would be able to accept a length of 1.150″ for the 124 Nukes, and one of those just barely (1.156″ plunk).

My shortest pistol with the Nukes is 1.091″, so I’m loading them at 1.070″. Keep in mind that case length affects this. The shorter the case, the more of the bullet sticks out at a given OAL. 9mm headspaces on the mouth.

As for Silhouette, I recently got a pound of it as well as a pound of True Blue, which I’m going to test soon with 124 Nukes and 124 Gold Dots (both in new RMR cases).

Our initial testing was with WSF and Autocomp:

RMR 124 Nuke
New RMR brass
CCI or Win standard pistol primers
1.070″ OAL
Temp low-mid 70s
5 rounds each, LabRadar
All charges individually weighed

CZ-75 4.7″ barrel
4.8 WSF 1137 FPS ES 21
4.9 WSF 1156 FPS ES 23
5.1 WSF 1201 FPS ES 22 (different CZ-75 pistol) Too hot.

Shield Plus 3.1″ barrel (long throat)
4.8 WSF 1049 FPS ES 15
4.9 WSF 1052 FPS ES 31

A friend loaded 5.1 WSF to try (same OAL), which was too hot. 5.1 grains ran 1114 FPS in his Shield 1.0 (4.8 averaged 1085 in the same pistol). 4.9 of WSF is the upper limit for me. I’m going to stick with 4.7 grains. WSF is reverse temperature sensitive, so pressure will increase in cooler weather.

CZ-75 4.7″ barrel
4.9 Autocomp 1089 FPS ES 28
5.1 Autocomp 1118 FPS ES 30

Shield Plus 3.1″ barrel (long throat)
4.9 Autocomp 989 FPS ES 32
5.1 Autocomp 1022 FPS ES 26

There may be room to move up somewhat with Autocomp, but I’ll probably stick with 5.1 grains.

My carry load is our 115 gr Nuke with 6.3 gr of Silhouette. I’ve shot the 124 Nukes with 6.1 gr with no ill effect. Both at 1.06 COL.

These are +P loads, so approach with caution!