9mm Reloads for Suppressors
Back in the 80’s, the UZI’s were not considered good suppressor hosts because heavy subsonic loads didn’t exist yet and you couldn’t easily port the barrel of an UZI where it would need to be ported which is inside the trunion. Israel (IMI) initially swaged .38 special 158 Gr projectiles for 9mm then started making 9mm specific 158 Gr ammo which they released to the commercial market as the IMI ‘Blue Tip’ ammo. Later, the US market started making 147Gr subsonic which is more common today. Since then I have yet to see IMI do any 147Gr subsonic and have stuck with 158Gr since day 1.
I know the title of the webpage is for reloading but I am mentioning some factory loads first to give an idea of the baselines and especially to document what various manufacturers used for their COL (Case overall length).
Reloading has always been more economical for subsonic ammo than buying factory. In addition many favorite factory loads often become unavailable and leaves the consumer looking for multiple alternatives. As a reloader, as long as you can get your components of your preferred bullet weight you should have an endless supply of ammo that is consistent for you.
NOTE: All the information here is for my own reference. I am not advising anyone to use any of this information especially when it comes to any load data.
No longer available IMI ‘Blue Tip’ 158Gr.
IMI imported some 158Gr again but no longer with the blue painted tips around 2018 or so.
Around 2014 IMI imported some 158Gr projectiles and I loaded them up to be pretty hot. Cases are coming out with some slight swelling and I’m sure this charge is probably borderline dangerous…. I only run this in an open bolt UZI. Note that the official max charge for Titegroup and 147Gr is 3.6 so this is really high pressure using 3.7 with 158Gr.
Fiocchi 158Gr JRN, I think the current Fiocchi 158Gr is Flat Nose
Freedom Munitions Hush 165Gr I tested was really weak and would cause runaways in my full size UZI and wouldn’t cycle my suppressed 9mm Beretta.
Federal 150Gr Syntech flat nose
FNM 147Gr is no longer available. It was one of the hottest factory 147Gr offerings I’ve seen, often seeing swelled brass with this ammo.
Federal American Eagle 147Gr Flat Nose uses a pretty short COL
Alabama Ammo’s ‘Special K’ was a great choice years ago which is also no longer available but the original creator of that ammo posted what his recipe was here: https://www.ar15.com/forums/Handguns/Special-K-setting-the-record-straight/20-210517/
He stated it was 3.8Gr of VV N340 with a 147Gr JRN bullet. I happened to still have some so I documented the COL
Dr Phil Dater (previously of Gemtech) shared many times what his favorite load were. In the post below from 2006, he states his #1 choice is 3.6Gr of VV N320 with a 147Gr bullet. Second choice is W231 (around 3.9Gr) with a 147Gr bullet.
I too used to use W231 for some time but I used 3.6G with a 147Gr bullet. Data below is from Hodgdon’s website and they are saying max is 3.4Gr w/ 147Gr.
I stopped using W231 as I thought the powder seemed abrasive on the aluminum blast baffle that was used on the Gemtech MK9K. I had eroded my blast baffle after many thousands of rounds.
Dr Dater also states, “the desired velocity is about 7% lower than the speed of sound (you get a lot of buffeting noise in the transsonic region).”
I was using Dater’s load in the early 2000’s but then VV powders dried up and I switched to Titegroup. One of the competitors at the SMG match I go to was running 4.0Gr of Titegroup with 147Gr while Max is listed as 3.6. I did my own chrony testing and found that was going borderline supersonic so I settled on 3.7 knowing that if my powder measure was a little over I would be fine.
These days, prices of everything have gone up. 20 years ago, VV was about double the price of Titegroup. Today VV is more expensive than Titegroup but not double. VV is probably the cleanest burning powder I’ve tried for SMG’s and if you are sensitive to the blowback, you should consider using it.
American Reloading got some 155Gr JRN in for a great price so I decided to try to load some up.
I had assumed that I was getting max velocities out of my 9″ IMI full size UZI 3 lugged barrel but it turns out that is not the case. I believe both barrels are 1/10 twist. Just goes to show you that you really should chrony your loads to know where you are at.
I chose N340 for these 155Gr projectiles because you can get higher velocities than N320 and I can use it for 147, as well as 155, 158 and 165Gr.
What bullets to use?
I used to use plated Berry’s for several years. Plated 9mm should be .356″ as documented on their site. I received several thousand that were having accuracy issues and turned out that they were undersized at .354 and less. I contacted them and they wouldn’t do anything for me so I never bought from them again. I noticed that if I just changed to jacketed that it was consistently more accurate across all of my guns so I just shoot jacketed exclusively. Back then, I could also get 147Gr Precision Delta bullets cheaper than plated: https://www.precisiondelta.com/products/9mm-147gr-fmj/ so I don’t know why you would bother with plated when you can get real jacketed .355″ diameter for less. BTW, I just checked (8/2024) and it is still cheaper to get bullets from Precision Delta than Berry’s. There is also RMR reloading: https://www.rmrbullets.com/shop/bullets/pistol/9mm-355/9mm-147-gr-rmr-full-metal-jacket-round-nose-bullets-new/ Lower cost than Berry’s, or Precision Delta but as mentioned on their site, their bullets have a larger ogive and can get stuck in barrels that have short leade’s… IME, that is almost all of my barrels have this issue. I did run a reamer through a few of them to handle the RMR bullets but I don’t think most people want to do that to a bunch of barrels.
Some may argue that they want plated as there is no exposed lead. Almost all factory ammo have an exposed lead base. Exceptions like hollow points are made where the exposed lead is in front which is great but most people don’t want to run 100% HP due to cost. Regardless, even though I shoot 99% suppressed, I don’t think it is worth it to pay extra for bullets with no exposed lead. If I can get it for same price sure, if not, I am not going to go out of my way to get that. That is why I like SMG suppressors that are easily serviceable.
Below are some nice jacketed bullets I got from American Reloading and you can see there is no exposed lead. I got them for less than all of the options mentioned above for under $50 / 500 delivered (8/2024). These are great if your gun feeds them.
Coated bullets are some of the lowest cost but these days I would rather go with jacketed blems for very close to the same price.
What about heavier than 147?
I posted above about some of my experiences loading 155, 158Gr but I typically standardize on 147 since:
- It is more commonly available.
- Higher probability it will not cause any issues across all 9mm firearms where the heavier stuff can cause issues like mentioned by Dater below. Do your own research and you will find mixed experiences on running 158Gr in an MP5. I definitely wouldn’t run the really hot 158Gr I made in my MP5’s. The heavier you go, the higher the risk of excessive pressures or run into low powered heavy stuff that won’t cycle.
- Same ammo for all guns suppressed or not, pistol or PCC or SMG. Don’t matter.
Exceptions to above is when I can get jacketed bullets heavier than 147Gr for less than it costs for jacketed 147Gr. Those cases are pretty uncommon but it happened with the JRN 155Gr pictured above for under $50 / 500 delivered (8/2024).
How about 124Gr for subsonic?
I’ve done it in the past, I think I was using 3.8Gr of VV N320 with a 124Gr bullet which is subsonic in FL. I personally like to load my ammo for more energy on target for knocking down steel plates while still being subsonic so I don’t try to do subsonic with lighter than 147 often.
I have also left my powder measure set to 3.7Gr of Titegroup for my 147Gr loads to also load 124Gr for subsonic but I think it was a little weak in some guns and had to bump it up to 4.0Gr.
Some COL and chrony readings of some factory ammo I had laying around.
