Newbie ...... anyone care to share???

[Jkallen83]

Hey y'all...been reloading for a while now and love it....tomorrow my lee mold for 9mm will arrive. I'm gonna give making my own 9mm a try...anyone got any "basic" tips? I'm not going to get technical...just wanting to load some cheap target loads for target shooting of around 30feet. IF they do OK I may run some through my 9mm carbine and might bust a coyote. Buy I love to shoot and buying jacketed bullets just to shoot paper starts to hurt the bank after a while.

So any beginner tips for mold prep and care or whatever y'all wanna share would be great....I been reading the forums but sometimes y'all might still have good advice.

[GRUMPA]

First welcome to the CB site, you'll fit right in with the rest of us addicts.

First thing I would recommend is do a search oon the main page and search for LEE-Meanting.
Second thing is just make sure you have EVERYTHING you need, believe me on that one.
Third put in your location like mine so if you run into an issue and ask for help someone that lives in your area just might be able to offer assistance.

[canyon-ghost]

:Fire: Yep, I'll go on 9mm Luger. I found that a case chamfer is a good tool to have, one of those little handheld cutters for beveling the outside of the case. Doesn't hurt to have them tapered just a little so they don't hang up going into the chamber.

Next, Speer #13 (and other manuals) state that you should start low and work up (by one tenths of a grain) on powder charges. Deeply seated bullets can cause drastic pressure buildup in the tiny case. I found out the hard way, ended up pulling bullets. They say a starting load or just enough to function (activate the slide and action). I got a load that is medium soft, just a bit more powder. I ended up pulling bullets though. Having extra brass helps.

Other than those two things, it went pretty good. I used Bullseye but, would recommend Unique or something slower, that pressure thing again.

I had trouble with brand new brass wanting to scrape the sides of the chamber, and the typical -too, too hot- pressure build up. Otherwise, I have hundreds of rounds I can spit out of the semi-auto at will.

Good Luck,
Ron

[a.squibload]

Mold preparation: use the handles, helps a lot.:-)

Grumpa is right, someone might come help you out.
Depending on what kind of help you need, sometimes it's better to just call 911...

[lead chucker]

I like a hard bullet for my 9 mm's tried softer lead and would lead my barrels. There is a bit more pressure than say a 45 acp for example that is very forgiving when it comes to hardness.

[Jkallen83]

thanks yall, good advice.

[mooman76]

See if you can find a mentor close by. A picture is worth a thousand words.

[jabilli]

My Beretta 92 will accept cartridges I made before I learned to size the bullets, unlike other pistols of mine....Good rule of thumb if you want more reliable feeding- Size 'em. 9mm is .356 sized to .357, I believe. You'll know if your bullets need sizing by an apparent bulge in the brass where the bullet is under.

[Grandpas50AE]

Welcome to CB. For 9mm I suggest SR4756 powder, since it is a bit more forgiving and hard to overcharge in that particular cartridge. There are plenty of Stickies on mold prep, just read them. Plenty of great info on this site; I've been casting since 1974 and learned a bunch when I came to this site 6 months ago. I suggest reading the book "From Ingot to Target" which you can get as a free download from one of the stickies in this forum. Also, have more than one loading manual handy - publishers occasionally make printing errors and having at least two manuals to cross reference can help keep you out of trouble.

Welcome to the double-addiction: casting + reloading.

[StratsMan]

My Beretta 92 will accept cartridges I made before I learned to size the bullets, unlike other pistols of mine....Good rule of thumb if you want more reliable feeding- Size 'em. 9mm is .356 sized to .357, I believe. You'll know if your bullets need sizing by an apparent bulge in the brass where the bullet is under.

According to my in-depth research (12 seconds), 9mm is .355, sized to .356 for Cast Boolits...

[Texantothecore]

Scrub your mold with acetone and a toothbrush. You should scrub the casting chamber as well as the face of the mold. The face of the mold has venting holes and you want these free and clear of any oil or obstructions. Most molds come with some machining oil in them and it is much easier to take the oil out than get bad bullets.

Cast at a rate (to start) of three to 5 bullets per minute.
If you have problems with mold heat, Walgreens has a single burner hot plate for 14.99.

Have fun! Pouring your own is a blast.

By the way, this is from a newbie who is learning the ropes very rapidly.

[Wayne Smith]

There are many threads here dedicated to loading cast in the 9mm. It is that challenging. Don't be discouraged if your first efforts don't work well, and you learn how to get lead out of a barrel!

Do a search on 9mm and you will get much more information than you can easily absorb.

[quilbilly]

You didn't say what type of carbine. I have a T/C carbine in 9mm Luger and love it for game out to 80 yards. 4.6 gr of Unique behind the Lee 357 cal 125 gr. RNFP shoots very well

[mdi]

Slug your barrel to find out exactly what your 9mm diameter is. Clean molds are essential and the only to learn how to cast, is to cast. Experiment with temperatures, both melt and mold. Vary the style you use, ladle pour, bottom pour, "down the middle", splash off the side, mold in contact with the spout or a distance away. Find what method works best for you and your molds (each mold may want different styles/temps. to work well).

Lee tumble lube bullets are designed to "pour and shoot", no sizing needed (if you use a Lee T/L mold make sure you measure the bullets as dropped from the mold). Look up different lubes in the Lube section stickies (45-45-10 works great and is easy to use).

Reportably, 9 mm is a bit more difficult cartridge to cast/reload, but be patient, a lot of guys around here cast and shoot them quite well. Most of all, have fun, it's one of the most satisfying shooting hobbies around...

[MtGun44]

Here you go:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=121607

Bill

[jabilli]

@Strats
Good looking out and thank you. Onlookers please note, however, that people use variability in sizing for 9mm. Cast bullets should be .001 over bore size. Strats is right, most cases, size to .356.

[MtGun44]

Most 9mm guns require .357 or .358 to shoot accurately and not lead. Undersized
9mm is a epidemic with cast. Some succeed with .356, but most do not find success
there.

Please read the sticky that I posted the link to above. You have gotten some
potentially unhelpful info from a few inexperienced posters.

Bill

[a.squibload]

Bill, good sticky.

A friend wants to start casting for his 9, I told him I heard it was
one of the hard cartridges to pin down. Will use your guide
to work it up.

Wife and her friend just got 380s, I assume some of the info
on 9mm would apply. Got a lot of sluggin' to do...

[Cherokee]

You might tell us what mould you ordered and what gun you are going to load for. We might have some specific experience with those. Welcome !!

[MtGun44]

380 is similar to 9mm, lighter boolits, smaller guns may make the feeding
issues more problematic.

The basics are the same.

Bill

[fredj338]

I like a hard bullet for my 9 mm's tried softer lead and would lead my barrels. There is a bit more pressure than say a 45 acp for example that is very forgiving when it comes to hardness.

Actually a lot more pressure. I find the 9mm can be fristrating to load led for, depending on the particular gun. They tend to like bullets on the larger side, but then they still have to chamber. It's pretty much trial & error, but if you use Unique w/ your lead bullets, that has always been a winning formula for me.

[DK1911]

Hey folks: I'm a newby too. Been reading this sight heavily for about a month. I'm heading to casting boolits for probably the same reasons you all do. Love shooting, need to cut the cost, need to improve the bullet quality, enjoy spending my spare time doing gun stuff.
I'm buying the cheapest lead I can for my .45 ACP. 200 SWC ($40/500) over 5.8 g Universal. Like this load a lot, and shoots pretty well at 15-25 yds. Bullets are sized .451 supposedly, but, leading is a problem. I'm probably shooting a too small dia, no idea what the lead hardness is, etc.
Casting seems a natural for me, so I'm starting a project. I'm reading tons of good info her and I'm excited to start. Watched an H&G 68 go yesterday on E-Bay for $180 or so, a bit saddened, but, probably shouldn't spend all my fun money on something like that until I'm set up with the other equipment.
Thinking of a Lee 2 cavity ala HG68 ( out of stock maybe the 6 cav) a small lee pot (4#) and some Lyman #2 to give it a try.

Advise?

[Grandpas50AE]

Hey folks: I'm a newby too. Been reading this sight heavily for about a month. I'm heading to casting boolits for probably the same reasons you all do. Love shooting, need to cut the cost, need to improve the bullet quality, enjoy spending my spare time doing gun stuff.
I'm buying the cheapest lead I can for my .45 ACP. 200 SWC ($40/500) over 5.8 g Universal. Like this load a lot, and shoots pretty well at 15-25 yds. Bullets are sized .451 supposedly, but, leading is a problem. I'm probably shooting a too small dia, no idea what the lead hardness is, etc.
Casting seems a natural for me, so I'm starting a project. I'm reading tons of good info her and I'm excited to start. Watched an H&G 68 go yesterday on E-Bay for $180 or so, a bit saddened, but, probably shouldn't spend all my fun money on something like that until I'm set up with the other equipment.
Thinking of a Lee 2 cavity ala HG68 ( out of stock maybe the 6 cav) a small lee pot (4#) and some Lyman #2 to give it a try.

Advise?

A 4# pot won't get you very far with a 6 cavity mold; about the time you get that 6 cavity mold up to temp and throwing good boolits, you'll have to stop and refill the pot and your molds will cool back down some. If a 6-cav is even a consideration, you'll need a 20# pot. JMHO.

[DK1911]

Thanks for the advice:

Spent some time in the chat room, got similar feedback. Bigger is better.

20# will throw 6-800 boolits. How long is a typical casting session? 6 cavities 1 minute per throw(?) = 1-2 hours + set-up and clean up... 4 hours. Sound right?

[DK1911]

Jkallen 83:

Didn't mean to stomp your thread, looks like your getting some good feedback on 9mm, and I'm watching that too. Didn't intend to break it up. Moderator, did I pull a faux-pas? Should I start a new thread?

[Grandpas50AE]

DK - everyone has their own limit as to how many hours they can handle for a casting session. Before my neck surgery I would typically cast for 6 - 8 hours, but the collapsed disks in my neck, although fixed now, have left my left hand weak, so my limit now is about 4 - 5 hours tops. I haven't used any aluminum molds or 6 cavity molds, but my 4C steel molds will do about 2 - 3 drops per minute. Only your body can tell you your session limit, but whatever that turns out to be for you, stay focused on your cadence that keeps your mold dropping good boolits and you will be surprised how fast the boolits pile up, and you will greatly reduce the number of rejects by keeping your cadence matched to your molds.

[DK1911]

Get a big big melter...afternoon of fun. Thanks