M882 9mm bullet weight?

[ANDYZ28]

Does anyone know for certain the weight of the projectile (bullet) on the USGI M882 9mm ammo. I have searched and found three different weights as "fact". 113, 115 and 124.

I have quite a bit of 9mm GI and commercial brass that I have been working on, and it is now all primed cases. I wish to load it to duplicate the M882 spec or close to it.

Thanks, Andy

[dwDragon88]

To add to the possibilities, the Army Ammunition Data Sheets list the bullet as 112gr.

Winchester sells there 9mm NATO load with a 124gr bullet. Most "official specs" I have seen call for a 115gr. However, when we pull 9mm on Army ranges, it comes in Winchester boxes, and the rounds look the same as the 9mm NATO you might buy at Wal-Mart, complete with NATO symbol and red primer sealant.

Either 115gr or 124gr will be fine. The real issue is velocity. You will need to get to around 1260fps, which means going over 9mm luger pressure limits.


(Next time we get 9mm I will dismantle a round and weight the bullet so I finally know the answer to this question. I see it come up a lot.)

[edlmann]

Originally Posted by ANDYZ28

Does anyone know for certain the weight of the projectile (bullet) on the USGI M882 9mm ammo. I have searched and found three different weights as "fact". 113, 115 and 124.
I have quite a bit of 9mm GI and commercial brass that I have been working on, and it is now all primed cases. I wish to load it to duplicate the M882 spec or close to it.

The USAF was roundly criticized in the late '70s while testing 9mm pistols. They discovered that NATO spec ammo was inherently inaccurate and made more accurate ammo using the truncated cone design later introduced by Hornady. Not surprisingly, this was the configuration used by the Germans for some purpose or another. Theory is that the truncated cone design is more stable going transsonic. The Army, which had their collective panties in a bunch for one reason or another, rejected the tests because non-NATO ammo had been used. This led to the reevaluation which ended in the same result, the Beretta 92F winning.

[ANDYZ28]

Originally Posted by dwDragon88

To add to the possibilities, the Army Ammunition Data Sheets list the bullet as 112gr.

Winchester sells there 9mm NATO load with a 124gr bullet. Most "official specs" I have seen call for a 115gr. However, when we pull 9mm on Army ranges, it comes in Winchester boxes, and the rounds look the same as the 9mm NATO you might buy at Wal-Mart, complete with NATO symbol and red primer sealant.

Either 115gr or 124gr will be fine. The real issue is velocity. You will need to get to around 1260fps, which means going over 9mm luger pressure limits.


(Next time we get 9mm I will dismantle a round and weight the bullet so I finally know the answer to this question. I see it come up a lot.)

If you could weigh one or two that would be much more definitive.

Thanks, Andy

[cw4aus(ret)]

Also the 124 Grain FMG Truncated Cone 9mm is much prefered for stopping power over the 115 FMG Ball, as the 115 tends to just have a lot of penetration without transferring energy onto the target.

The army did know this, however there could have been a problem that some of the other countries weapons, NATO remember, did not reliabily feed the TC, so we went with the FMJ Ball only.

Howy

[dwDragon88]

Out of curiosity, why do you want to load to M882 specs? It is a hot, snappy load that will leave lots of brass shavings under your ejector. A 124gr at 1100fps would be a more enjoyable range load and is very accurate.

[CadillacMike]

The brown box mil packaged stuff doesn't have the weight listed. and even if it looks the same, the 9gr difference can't be detected.

Every page I came across has 115 gr, but all my win 9mmNATO is 124gr ???

[mattp]

i have zero facts to back this up (like actual weighing of bullets) but I thought it was supposed to be 124gr for NATO 9mm ball.

[dwDragon88]

That's the thing, it is commonly thought that 9mm NATO uses a 124gr bullet. Winchester, the manufacturer of US military 9mm, sells a 124gr NATO load commercially. However, the only official data I have ever seen list a bullet in the 115gr range. For example, the Army Ammunition Data Sheets, Small Caliber Ammunition:

http://www.ar15.com/content/manuals/TM43-0001-27.pdf

This is one of those discussions that goes in circles until someone can pull a bullet and weight it.

[ANDYZ28]

Originally Posted by dwDragon88

That's the thing, it is commonly thought that 9mm NATO uses a 124gr bullet. Winchester, the manufacturer of US military 9mm, sells a 124gr NATO load commercially. However, the only official data I have ever seen list a bullet in the 115gr range. For example, the Army Ammunition Data Sheets, Small Caliber Ammunition:

http://www.ar15.com/content/manuals/TM43-0001-27.pdf

This is one of those discussions that goes in circles until someone can pull a bullet and weight it.

That's right. It would be nice to open a new box of M882 and pull one bullet and weight it.

I want to load to M882 specs to duplicate military ball ammo. I currently do not own a 9mm pistol, but plan to in the future. I just have all this primed brass, and since it is winter I just thought I would load it in my spare time.

Thanks, Andy