Here are some Power Pistol Loads. Five bullet weights and a factory load just for fun.

Shown above: 200gr. XTP, 180 Golden Saber, 165gr. Golden Saber, 155gr. Rem. JHP, 135gr. Sierra JHP.

I will do accuracy tests later. FWIW, the safety berm was 25 yards from
my bench and the entire 130 rounds made a neat 4"-6" crater.


Two guns:
A Glock 20 with a 6" Jarvis, with a 24# recoil spring.
A Kimber Stainless Custom Target II with a 22# spring.



Elevation: 4200 feet. Temp: 103.9 degrees with a 5-10 mph variable breeze. 10 round strings.
Once fired PMC Brass (200gr., 180gr. and 165gr. loads) and once fired Federal Brass (155gr. and 135gr. loads).
CCI-350 Magnum Primers. C.O.L: 1.260"
Case ejection distances averaged 15' for the G20 and about 27' for the Kimber with these loads.
This is in line with other loads I have worked up in these guns.

General Comments and Warnings: READ!
All loads weighed individually on an electronic scale to within 1/10th of a grain.
Case head measurements, primer apperance and case bulging are a subjective way at best to measure pressure.
What looks normal may be overpressure. However, in most cases, the brass is the weak point for the handloader.
These loads were safe in my two guns, but may not be in yours, even if they are the same model guns.
Primers had the usual flat 10mm look, but none were for the worse. I have seen worse too.
The brass cases looked normal. See pics below.
Case measurements were still normal SAAMI .425 at the base of the case in front of the groove.
The Jarvis barrel on the Glock is well suited to stout loads. So is Kimber's ramped barrel.
Others, like, KKM, Storm Lake, etc. could also be reccomended for handloaders,
but still, work up carefully if attempting these loads.
These handloads loads are about 1 grain or so over maximum published loads by Alliant.
Despite the extreme spreads, nearly all these loads produce about 800Ft/lbs energy.
If swapping components, start at least 2 grains less and carefully work up.
If using the stock Glock bbl., start 2 grains less and work up.
The G20 is more comfortable to shoot than the Kimber with these loads.
At the end of the session, the guns were field stripped, cleaned and inspected.
Note:135 grain HP/11.6gr.PP is Absolute Max and for aftermarket barrels only!


LOAD DATA for Power Pistol:

Glock 20/6" 200gr. XTP 8.6gr. PP MV:1278fps ES-89fps ME:723ft/lbs.
Kimber 200gr. XTP 8.6gr. PP MV: 1245fps ES-32fps ME:686ft/lbs.
Comments: Note the fairly close velocity but disparity of ES's in each gun.
Not as stompy as some published 200 gr. handloads. I might go back and play with this
load some more.
Good consistent load in Kimber.

Glock20/6" 180gr. Golden Saber 9.6gr. PP MV:1331fps ES-34 ME:705ft/lbs.
Kimber 180gr. Golden Saber 9.6gr. PP MV:1376fps ES-97 ME:754ft/lbs.
Comments: Noticably more felt recoil than above 200 XTP load.
WOW! Kimber load is faster, I noticed this at the range!

Glock20/6" 165gr. Golden Saber 10.0gr. PP MV:1508fps ES-35 ME:830ft/lbs.
Kimber 165gr. Golden Saber 10.0 gr. PP MV:1433fps ES-39 ME:750ft/lbs.
Comments: Consistent load in both guns.

Glock20/6" 155 Remington JHP 10.6gr. PP MV:1568fps ES-80 ME:843ft/lbs.
Kimber 155 Remngton JHP 10.6gr. PP MV1494fps ES-36 ME:765ft/lbs.
Comments: A very accurate bullet when using other handloads. Performs nearly identical to the
155 gr. XTP in damp sand tests. This is Remmy's bulk bullet at half the cost of XTP's.

Glock20/6" 135gr. Sierra JHP 11.2gr. PP MV:1688fps ES-62 ME:851ft/lbs.
Kimber 135gr. Sierra JHP 11.2gr. PP MV:1611fps ES-52 ME:775ft/lbs.
Comments: Fast safe, load.

Glock20/6" 135gr. Sierra JHP 11.6gr. PP MV:1737fps ES-21 ME:901ft/lbs.
Kimber 135gr. Sierra JHP 11.6gr. PP MV:1633fps ES-59 ME:796ft/lbs.
Comments: No real gain in Kimber from 11.2 load. Probablly not as efficient in the Kimber's 5" bbl.
The primers looked ok.
Good consistent load in Glock, primers no worse than other loads. The Jarvis bbl. really helps.
NOTE the 901ft/lbs. energy in the G20!

G20/6" 180gr. Federal Premium Hydra-Shok MV:1061fps ES-20 ME:448ft/lbs.
Kimber 180gr. Federal Premium Hydro-Shok MV:1008fps ES-16 ME:405ft/lbs.
Comments: Wheeee......
Worked fine with the heavy recoil springs in each gun. Case ejection distance was 8' in the G20
and 6' in the Kimber.

Here are some brass pics. The Glock fired cases are on the left, the Kimber to the right.
These are from the 11.6 gr. PP load with the 135gr SJHP's.


Below, Mrs. TG launches a 155 Rem. JHP at about 1600fps.
Note the ejected case (above and to the left of her head, just above the skyline) is still smoking.
The G20 is at it's maximum point of recoil and rear slide travel.
The bullet has allready impacted the 200 yard steel plate. This a "Jungle Walk" we have set up on BLM
land above and well away from the Rio Grande valley located near the base of the mountains in the picture.


This is the 155 grain Rem. JHP w. 10.6 grains PP load at nearly 1500 fps.
It was shot thru the Kimber and penetrated 3 water jugs and looked like this (this was a later pic added after I changed the grips):

"Glock20/6" 135gr. Sierra JHP 11.6gr. PP MV:1737fps ES-21 ME:901ft/lbs."

I bet that leaves a mark/hole

9.6gr PP with a 180gr Golden Saber? Wow, I thought 8.5gr PP under a Rem 180gr JHP was a pretty warm load.

TG,

I've looked at this data several times. I was tempted to purchase some PP for some loads but decided I'll wait until I am out of what I have 800x/aa#9/2400. Well laid out report.

I do have a question, after cleaning the pistols, were they noticably dirtier/cleaner than using other powders? Also, when you mentiont that the 200 XTP load was consistent in the Kimber, could you elaborate on the difference observed between the Glock/Kimber. I am interested in the Glock performance.

Thanks for the report,

Ray

Thanks! Excellent review!!

This post has been edited by nickE10mm: July 14th 2006 4:52 PM

Consistent meaning very low ES, the lowest of any of the Kimber's loads. The Glock had a whopping 98 fps ES with the 200 XTP load. Someone suggested mag primers are the problem. But they are used commonly in 10mm reloading.
Other Glock loads I listed here had lower ES's. Maybe I will swap primers just to check it out.

This powder burns pretty clean. The guns were just normal dirty after 65 rounds apiece or so.
It did not seem to be any dirtier than other 10mm powders I have tried. If anything a bit cleaner. It meters vastly better than Blue Dot or 800X with 2-3 grains less powder too and that may help with the gun cleanliness.

My buddy Dave loves Power Pistol and uses it a lot. I don't think the mag primers are nessisary and are probably just driving up pressures without giving you a matching improvement in performance. I've never heard of PP needing a mag primer, particularly in such a small case as the 10mm. The nice hot loads should make for good ignition as well. With a standard primer you should be able to user a heavier powder charge and get more velocity for the same pressure and safety margin. Normally the only reason to use magnum primers is to correct for poor or inconsistant ignition.

From what I've seen Power Pistol is very clean burning leaving a fine reside when it does dirty something. It also has quite a bit of flash compared to modern flake powders like Universal Clays or Tite-Group but is similar to ball powders like AA #7 and AA #9.

Well, that's about the sum total of my experiance on the subject.

Thnaks for the heads up on the non mag primers. I am definately going to do some side by side tests with a couple of loads. And I am liking Power Pistol the more I use it.

**Great report.**
Eagerly await non-magnum primer trial.

I'm loving this information. And I thought Blue Dot metered pretty well in my Uniflow. I'm sold and will be picking up some power pistol on my next trip to Bi-Mart.

Less powder, meters better, burns clean....win, win, win.

thanks for the report TG.

jeepmor

WOW is right,becasue the Alliant manual only goes up 8.7 GRS @1.250 for 1240 FPS, with Frederal large pistol Primes. Your 8.5 gr load should give you in the range of 1211 FPs & 586 FPE,which sure beat most factory specs for this bulet weight. Remingtons UMC load is rated at 1160 fps

I'm digging up bones here, but did the 200 gn XTP load ever get revisited with non-magnum primers?

No. Since that is a primer often used with PP I did not try a non-standard.
Would still make an interesting test for someone as one of the posters suggested pressures may be higher without any velocity gain.
PP is a great powder BTW and probably my personal favorite next to AA#9.