Feeding a PT99

[XRING363]

Had a great time shooting my First 9mm pistol at the Hurlburt Field, Rifle and Pistol Club down in FL. Moms good son is a member. I realize the shortcomings of the Lee 2banger but thats all I can afford right now. I'm looking for the greatest group of casters on the planet to give me some recommendations as to which mold to try. This Taurus seems to prefer lighter projectiles. Win. white box won the day. Having said that, I've only ran 200 rds. through it. Still learning. 9s don't buck like a 45acp and SURE don't handle like a revo. Any help??
Regards,
Jeff

[mag_01]

Jeff my Taurus likes the Lee tumble lube 125gr. boolit (lubed twice) with 3.8 grs. of bulls eye---also a very light load of 3.5grs. of W231 performs well. The Taurus bore wants a boolit as cast and the tumble lube boolit dose the job. If you use a regular boolit do not size just lube. Just my experience---Mag

[XRING363]

MAG, any experience with Tite-group?? I will be re-upping my powder supply and I'd like to use up my supply of Tite-Group before I do. I've been useing it for 45acp. with cast Lee tumble lube. I'm looking for a broad spectrum powder to use with 45acp, light 357 and 44 and maybe 9x18 Makarov. Any thoughts??
Regards,
Jeff

[Buckshot]

...............XRING363, number one thing with cast is to slug the barrel and shoot only cast that meets the groove OD at a minimum. A VERY good thing to do with the 9x19 as groove diameters can vary widely. Better still is to shoot lead at least a thou over groove.

Possibly you're well versed in reloading for the 9mm, but if not be aware that 9mm brass can be wild in caseneck thickness between makes.

I just got a new 45ACP bbl for my full sized Witness pistol and had thrown together 100 rounds of ammo, 'Just to go bang'. I used 2 powders and 3 Boolits. Powders were Unique and W231. The slugs were 228gr RN, 230gr TC, and a 190gr SWC. The 2 heavy slugs acted like they wanted to do well, with the RN's going 2" or less.

However the little 190gr SWC's distributed themselves in a free for all, hitting just about everywhere on the target except in the middle :-). With it's 38 Super barrel the pistol likes the Lyman 147gr FNBB a whole bunch, and will shoot them into about 1.5" at 25 yds going 1225 fps. Not quite as good, but still pretty fair is the Lee 124gr RN.

...............Buckshot

[KYCaster]

XRing363: From the Hodgden 1999 manual: Tite-group,

44Mag...........240gr JHP.......10.0gr............1292fps............37, 700CUP
357Mag.........158gr JHP.......6.1gr...............1299fps...........41 ,900CUP
9mm..............125gr FMJ.......4.4gr...............1136fps...........30 ,600CUP

No data for 9x18.

I used lots of it in 45ACP when Winchester was selling it as 452AA. They dropped it after numerous complaints from the IPSC crowd because of wierd temp. sensitivity. (hotter is slower, cooler is faster) Hodgden picked it up and still have it in their lineup AFAIK. I've used a couple pounds of the Hodgden flavor and it appears to be identical to Win. 452AA. Seems to be good for mid-range to warmish loads (no gross pressure spikes), as long as you're aware of the reverse temp. reaction.

Enjoy,
Jerry

[XRING363]

Buckshot, Thanks for the heads-up. I slugged my bore and it appears to be .3565.
I slugged it with a pretty hard .358 SWC. Softer lead would be better,no??
KYCaster, thanks for that temp information. I had assumed tite-group was a new ST. Marks powder. I may just go back to AA#5 as it worked real well in my 45 auto. Well, now I have a size to shoot for and some powders, all I need to do now is figure out which mold. Thanks again.
Regards,
Jeff

[9.3X62AL]

All three of my 9mm's need a boolit at .357". 9mm's are really just a small rifle when you figure in their op pressures and fast-for-application twist rates. As your velocities elevate, harder alloys help in grabbing the lands and holding on. 92/6/2 AKA Taracorp alloy gives me no-leading performance past 1250 FPS with cast 125's. Something with a longer straight shank like a TC design or Lyman #358242 (121 grain version) works better for me than the typical "Ball-duplicator" RN shapes.

Good luck!