Recently got into the pcc game and needed some ammo advice. Which 9 mm hp ammo would perform for a  9" barrel? What is the realistic range limitations?

I can hit 150 - 200 with a 10.5" bbl $ 115's.  I'm no longer using 115's, have gone to 124/5's & 147's. 147 for suppressed shooting & 124's for everything else. Asking what's the best comes down to personal preference. For defense it's OTC for me.

If you mean for terminal performance, for that length barrel, I might research what people use in subguns. Longer than a handgun, shorter than a carbine; subgun- or PDW-optimized ammo might be a place to start. Then again, if you have access to a chrono, you might (or might not) find that that barrel length makes a standard-pressure load act like a +P version of the same load.

One thing I'd be conscious of would be over-driving a given bullet - pushing it faster than it can tolerate and actually reducing performance thru added velocity.


If you mean accuracy performance, I'd start with any decent 124's or 147's and see how they do. Range-wise, you'll likely be able to clang 150-200 yard gongs (24" or so) if everything is working as it should. That's only 12-15 MOA; should be doable from most shoulder guns once you get the particulars worked out.

I was afriad of pushing 115 way too fast to the point they didn't expand properly. I like the speed of the 124's but with the added barrel length the 147's would get up there too. Glad to know the 9mm can carry itself well enough to make 150-200yd hits. Would the terminal ballistics be able to keep up at that distance tho?

Federal HST 147gr

I have a Beretta CX4 with a 16" barrel. I use 147 grain bullets loaded with 3.5 grains of Titegroup.