Have had good luck with 124 and 115 grain Hornady XTPs over 5.9 grains of Power Pistol. I get ~1400 fps out of my Camp 9 with them. Good out to 100 yards.

 

I'm currently trying to load 125gr lead for practice over 3.6 gr of Titegroup around 1000fps. M&P Shield likes em just fine but having issues with recently bought camp9. Round doesn't seem to go all the way into battery and hangs up every couple rounds. Sometimes even first round needs a little shove on the charging handle to seat well. I suspect the recoil spring is bad.
My last 4 rounds of these cycled fine (go figure) and then 5 rnds of Rem 115gr factory at 1150 fps cycled fine. Titegroup lists a little hotter load (1100fps) but was told to stay near 1000fps because of leading concerns.
I have a used factory spring coming from Numrich (iffy purchase) and 16.5 from Wolff. Local GS says the wolff might be too stiff for the low velocity loads to cycle thats why I got the 11lb from Numrich.

Is it reasonable to load the lead to the hotter load for cycling the Wolff spring?
Is the used spring just a waste of time?

Please help. I'm new to reloading and this rifle and don't have the range access or the funds (hence the lead) to sort out all the mistakes myself.

BTW: Speeds mentioned are listed pistol data, not chronographed from rifle.

 

The factory Camp 9 spring was anemic to begin with. You should be find with the 16.5 Wolff regardless of your loads. Unless you're doing bullseye target loads down under 900fps.

Being a blowback action, the Camp is very susceptible to dirt and grime buildup. Make sure you take it apart for a thorough cleaning before you start trying to change out parts. It's just a fact of life that blowbacks get dirty faster and need to stay clean.

 

Ditto above. Don't worry about the leading either, as long as your bullets are over .356 or so, you'll be fine. There would be no difference between 1000 and 1100 fps anyway, even if the round was the worst leading round ever...

 

Jonny and Thren,
Thanks for the quick response and the advice. Looks like I have exactly the info I need to move forward. Since I'm expecting the 11lb spring today yall probably saved me another disappointing trip to the range, I'll hold out till the 16 arrives.
Glad to hear about the leading being something of a non issue. Would I see any accuracy difference going closer to 1100fps? I just want to arrive at one reliable load for both guns(kind of the point in a PCC right?). It's mostly about the carbine as the shield has yet to balk at a round of any kind.
I use Hornady Critical Duty as a carry round and based on RGP's post I'm guessing that will work fine in the carbine. I plan to test that before I hang my life on it but I want to get the gun functioning in general before using that rather pricy ammo.
Thank you again.

 

I'm doing the same thing you are with my S&W 5904. I want to load the piles of 9mm brass I have with lead 125 gr bullets for fun and practice, and then carry a 125 gr jhp factory load.

You're going to have to play with the charge weights to get the most accurate load. 4.9 gr might shoot crappy, but 4.8 or 5.0 gr might be great. Save yourself a lot if aggravation and get a chronograph, it'll cut the guessing way down...

 

Thanks Jonny. At least I know Im on the right track.

 

Normal 9mm speed range is around 1100 out of a handgun. Out of a rifle, you'll be around 1300, depending on powder and bullet weight. The stock spring works (especially with anemic loads), but allows the bolt to batter the buffer, receiver and stock. Hence the 16.5 recommendation for shooting standard velocity or better 9mm loads. Have some fun with that thing! Btw, MecGar magazines work quite well in it and you can get up to 20 round versions.

 

FWIW, Over the 25 years or so, I've owned at least three, possibly four, Camp 9s. I've run the Wolff 21# spring in all of them. I've not tried any especially light cast bullet loads in mine, but my 9MMs function reliably with the lightest ammo I've tried, up through the NATO, +P and +P+ without any problem. I know it seems to be conventional wisdom that the Wolff 16.5# is for the 9MM, and the heavier 21# spring is for the .45 ACP. Can't speak to the .45 ACP version, but I have not found this to be the case as far as the 9MM is concerned...ymmv

 

Bumping an old thread but I've had good luck with 4.4gr of Titegroup pushing 124 gr JHP or plated FP. This chrono'd about 1140 fps from my 4" Springfield XD and about 1190 fps from my Camp 9. Interestingly I tested some factory UMC 147 gr and it gets SLOWER in the carbine. 940 fps pistol vs 890 carbine. Darn quiet almost like a loud pellet gun.