9mm hard to cast?

[BobMac51]

Hope some of you guys can help...I have heard that casting 9mm can be a real challenge. I'm new to casting so any help you guys can offer in terms of tricks of the trade would be a real help. Thanks.

Mc

[Jailer]

Casting is the same as any other round, it's getting it working in your gun without leading that can be the tricky part.

[SlowSmokeN]

Last week I shoot my first boolits out of my 9mm. 200 shots and had just a little leading. It took under 5 min to clean it out. I am using straight range lead air cooled sized to .356 with Recluse lube.

The reason I believe I got a little leading is because I am using to little powder causing the boolit to skid. I was using the bare minimum. I have loaded 300 rounds for tonight using a higher charge. I will let you know it it works.

It seems like 9mm is really easy to cast you just have to work out the bugs like you would any other round.

[plainsman456]

No trick really.Just make sure your mold and lead are up to temperature before casting keepers.
Welcome by the way.

[captaint]

Bob, If we compare the 9mm to, say, 45ACP, it is more involved to achieve good results. Or maybe I should say that the 9mm is just not as forgiving as the 45ACP. The 45 is low pressure, low velocity. The 9mm, on the other hand is higher pressure, higher velocity. With these factors, we can get away with fewer mistakes, that's all. Also, boolit diameter and lubrication are more important that harder lead. Try to remember that. enjoy Mike

[GRUMPA]

As others have already said casting them really isn't any different than most anything else. The issue lies after that, size, lube and loading techniques. Make sure you slug the bore of what your using and go at least .001 larger than bore diameter, some folks here report excellent results with a boolit that's .002 over bore diameter.

Once that's figured out and you get to loading them up you may want to put just one in the case without powder or primer, give it a crimp and them pop it back out again and find out if your getting shrinkage of the boolit due to the case squeezing it smaller. If that happens try using a 357/38 expander plug to open the case another .002 and do the same things over again and see if it's being squeezed smaller. Just my .02

[beagle]

The casting's no harder but getting a load that will function, don't lead and is accurate is the trick. That's with a semi-auto. Now, if you branch off into the Ruger Blackhawk convertible 9mm cylinder, you encounter another set of parameters.

Pick one bullet, give it a go and take copious, comprehensie notes and keep hacking away at it and you'll find a bunch of good loads. Change one variable at a time.

Sizing diameter is probably the hardest variable to nail down.

But it can be done and is worth the effort./beagle

[RP]

I think Captiant hit it on the head but the casting is just as easy as any other cal for the most part.

[runfiverun]

the one thing i have noticed about the 9mm help me threads has been the use of the lee t/l mold.
it just adds one more complication the the deal.
not overcomeable just another set of problems.

ryan, sent you a p.m. today.

[NoZombies]

Not hard to cast, just "harder" to load for, than say, .38 special or 45 acp.

[blikseme300]

Mc,

9mmP is not as forgiving as .45ACP due to a few differences. Velocity, pressure and case thickness are some of these. How I overcome some of these are listed below.

1. Cast Size: Cast to .358 at least.

2. Alloy: Air Cooled Wheel Weights are OK. I often blend these with pure Pb and some additional tin. I cast at 720* and use a PID to control the temp.

3. Lube: I use a 50-50 blend of BAC & Carnuba

4. Sizing: I size to .358 using a Star.

5. PTX (Powder Thru Expander): open up the brass using a custom PTX or "M"-die to .357. If you don't the brass will probably squeeze down the boolit to under sized.

My reference pistol is a BHP that slugs at .3565 and I measure a muzzle velocity of 1050fps. No leading and better accuracy than I can consistently shoot.

As usual, YMMV.

Bliksem

[MtGun44]

Check this out:

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

9mm is a bit more difficult to reload for than say .38 Spl or .45 ACP. Doing the right things
will make you go more directly to the correct answer.

Bill

[milprileb]

Slug bore :do that first. Find out what size your bullets must be to shoot accurately.
Buy a Lyman M Die: use it so your brass does not swage your bullets down and ruin them for accuracy.

9mm is very unforgiving, the above will get you further toward success

[ku4hx]

Hope some of you guys can help...I have heard that casting 9mm can be a real challenge. I'm new to casting so any help you guys can offer in terms of tricks of the trade would be a real help. Thanks.

Mc

When it comes to casting, 9mm just like all other boolits. Loading is a different story.

If you get poor results, change only one variable at a time when trying to work through problems: lube, size, powder, MV, seating depth and etc. If you change more than one you'll never know what solved the problem or if one change fixed the problem and another negated that fix.

[GRUMPA]

Here's another tip to help guide you through this, use only the same headstamped brass. You may have some that work well and some don't, this way it will help eliminate variations in the different manufactures of the case. Then if you don't have issues at that point try different headstamped brass.