Not WB reloading but ?

[Driftwood Dan]

Just picked up a Colt 9mm Commander as I did not have a 9mm and you can never have enough Colt 1911's.   I have never reloaded 9mm but want to do it.  I have WW231 that I use for 45acp.  What is a reliable load to use just for target practice?  Hodgdon lists for 115 FMJ 4.3 to 4.8 grains online and in their 2026 book 4.7 to 5.1 grains.  Thanks in advance.  Danny

[Deacon KC]

Sounds like the 4.7-4.8 grains would be a good starting point. If you can't get satisfactory results with 231 [which would be really strange] I use Accurate 5 for 9mm and 38 Super.

[El Chapo]

231 is an excellent choice for 9mm (even better in 9mm than .45 Auto).  4.7-4.8 grains with a Hornady 115 rn at 1.100" puts it at the upper pressure range for 9mm, so I wouldn't push it more than that.  The 5.1 grain load exceeds +P numbers.  At 4.7 you will be making 136 pf, which is just about perfect.

Colt does not use ramped barrels for 9mm 1911s so I would stick to round nose bullet designs.  My non-ramped 9mm doesn't like flat bullets at all.

I have had really good luck with the Mec Gar magazines recently.  Before that I was using Tripp Research magazines for a long time.