Never paid much attention to Frangible ammo. But my Steel Challenge practice group has recently caught on to it. Much less splatter. Distinctive sound when it hits. PLUS we can get it for 6 cents a round!!!
We're all reloading 9mm Norma 95gr frangible .355" diameter bullets from Raven Rock Precision.
https://ravenrocksprecision.com/featured/9mm/frangible/My concern was the smaller diameter, .355" as I usually shoot .356" in both my semi-autos, my PCC and my revolver.
Let's get this out there for those who don't know. 9mm, .38spl & and .357Mag all have the exact same SAAMI barrel specifications. .355" grove, .346" bore. .357" bullets are left over from the era of black powder and soft lead projectiles.
Interestingly enough, the rule of thumb (research it yourself don't take my word for it) is the loads for this round, especially with TiteGroup, are close to the ones for shooting plated 147gr bullets. And that's what I found. In Steel Challenge the priorities are reliable functioning and reasonable accuracy. What my friends and I have found is that 3.0gr of TG function blowback PCCs quite well, however 3.1 or 3.2 is needed for reliable functioning of lock-breech guns. And of course in my revolver it's a non-issue.
They produce slightly lower recoil, we perceive, and have a distinctive sound when they hit and leave a brown mark on the targets with of course almost no splatter.
I used the same setting on the seating die which means they are seated to the same depth inside the case as my 147gr plated bullets. But with the flat nose it works out to 1.06" COAL. Do have to be careful with the crimp as they are brittle and can shatter. So far no problem. Haven't done a chrono on them yet.
Did I mention they are only 6 cents each. And now with CCI primers are under 6 cents means you can reload for close to 14 cents a round. Slightly more with Federal.