9mm success

[mr.jake]

Well i found a succesfull load for my glock 9mm with factory barrel that leds very very little and comes out with a soft borebrush and no solvent. I have a lee classic turret with 9mm dies that were swagging down my boolits. So i read the thread with the .38 expander die mod and saw a comment about trying .38sw die. So i bought one and used it with my lee .358 125gr rf boolit and the swagging stopped. I tumble lubed twice with recluse's lube mixeture and loaded it over 5 grains of aa#5 with a very light taper crimp. ps. Im useing water dropped wheel weight. And to think i was just about to buy a kkm barrel :veryconfu thanks guys for the great forum

[Jailer]

So the 38 S&W expander die worked? Mind posting a pic of the expander insert?

[MtGun44]

Congratulations.

Probably don't need the water dropping, either.

Bill

[mr.jake]

So the 38 S&W expander die worked? Mind posting a pic of the expander insert?

I will as soon as i figureout how lol

[mr.jake]

I just water drop because thats how I did it the first time. Seems to work ok for me. Wouldnt the boolits get damaged if they hit slightly cooler boolits? I wasnt sure if that would happen so i just never tried. I do about 300-500 in one session so i thought stacking them on top of one another on a towel would damage them. I keep a cut up car wash sponge floating in my bucket to keep it from splashing and an old pillow case in the bottom so I can take the boolits out easily.

[Shiloh]

I'm going to try a larger expander myself. There have been others that have gone that route with success. Some of my marginal 9mm molds may produce shootable bullets by this fix.

9mm has been the hardest cailber to get running without patterning at 50 feet. The LEE 125 gr RN is the only boolit that drops large enough and shoots accurately

SHiloh

[williamwaco]

I just water drop because thats how I did it the first time. Seems to work ok for me. Wouldnt the boolits get damaged if they hit slightly cooler boolits? I wasnt sure if that would happen so i just never tried. I do about 300-500 in one session so i thought stacking them on top of one another on a towel would damage them. I keep a cut up car wash sponge floating in my bucket to keep it from splashing and an old pillow case in the bottom so I can take the boolits out easily.

No problem.

Dump them on the front of the towel, after dumping 20-30 or so, Pick up the front of the towel and roll them to the back of the towel.

When they pile up so much they are hard to control, Use a spoon to pick them up and put them in a box. They will still be too hot for comfort.

You can damage a bullet by "dropping it on a hard surface". In my experience dropping them directly on a plywood sheet will not damage them, I don't do it on purpose but I do it frequently. ( I have one under my pot to protect the table. ) Dropping them directly on a concrete floor will damage them if they land on an edge.

I usually do 1000 to 2000 at a session and pile them all in a box.

When I first started, I was terrified of "damaging" the bullets. I transferred them directly from the towel to a cardboard box and lined them up like soldiers base first. Over the years I have learned that this is simply not necessary. If it was, tumble lubbing would ruin them.

Relax. Enjoy.

.

[badgeredd]

+1 what williamwaco said!

[DLCTEX]

I do it the same way as Williamwaco except that I pick them up wearing heavy gloves. Don't hold them long or you'll have a hot glove burning your hand. I wear the gloves for casting and use my thumb to cut the sprue, push out a sticking boolit from the cavity, or give a quick push to a corner of the mould block while opening the mould when a cavity is sticking and I don't want to stop to correct it. A little trick I picked up here that makes a sticky cavity drop on opening. Some moulds want a push on the top half of the block and others on the bottom half, but quick sideways pressure on the block will make the bullet jump out. I was doing it with a mallet, but the glove works easier.

[MtGun44]

+1 on William. Left the front edge of the towel periodically and roll them to the back to
leave a clear spot.

Bill

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

i pick up the front of the towel to roll them back into a pile , then you can grab the corners of the towel lift and pour them into the box or can , while you are waiting for the pot to heat back up after dumping in more ingots.

[Jailer]

i pick up the front of the towel to roll them back into a pile , then you can grab the corners of the towel lift and pour them into the box or can , while you are waiting for the pot to heat back up after dumping in more ingots.

Same thing I do.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

never mind...

Rich

[mr.jake]

So the 38 S&W expander die worked? Mind posting a pic of the expander insert?

here you are. 9mm on left .38sw on right. I have not pulled and measured the boolits since switching to this die. Since then I have fired over 1,000 9mm with very very little leading in my glock 34 with factory barrel.

[jarex]

only sucks that you cant buy just the power trough expander die, you have to buy the whole dieset :(

[cf_coder]

You can get parts direct through either Lee or Factory Sales... on the factory sales site, go to the pistol dies, find the 38 S&W three die carbide set and click on the yellow wrench near the quantity box. You'll find part number SE1699 is what you are looking for... and it costs a whopping 3 bucks.

[SlowSmokeN]

Thanks coder, good to know

[jarex]

and that will work in the 9mm Lee powder trough expander die?

[Jailer]

here you are. 9mm on left .38sw on right. I have not pulled and measured the boolits since switching to this die. Since then I have fired over 1,000 9mm with very very little leading in my glock 34 with factory barrel.

Thanks mr.jake. That looks a lot easier than what I did with mine.

[flipajig]

I shoot a Ruger P 95 and I have feed it a steady diet of cast Boolits. I shoot this gun in IDPA matches I have used MBC Boolits up til now and I'm feeding it my cast Boolits. I use HP 38 or Win 231 with a cci or a Tula primer running around 1100 fps with no problems. For my loading dies I'm useing Lee 4 die set. So far after around 5 K with no problems. I gues after reading some of these posts I was lucky.
Flip

[Lloyd Smale]

anyone try firelapping a glock barrel? Just wondering how there unique rifling responds to it.

[mr.jake]

anyone try firelapping a glock barrel? Just wondering how there unique rifling responds to it.

I was wondering about that also..

[monge]

nice to see someone casting for 9mm with success, after all I read I kind of shide away from it. I think Ill give it a try now! :lovebooli

[mr.jake]

Thanks mr.jake. That looks a lot easier than what I did with mine.

No problem jailer. Sorry you had to go to the trouble. But look at it this way you saved $11 bucks and made it work with what you had avalable :smile: If this hadnt worked i was going to follow your thread and do it your way.

You can order the die buy its self here: http://www.titanreloading.com/pistol-reloading-dies/lee-pistol-powder-thru-expanding-die/lee-special-order-powder-thru-expanding-die/lee-special-order-38-sw-powder-thru-expanding-die great company. Ive spent about $500 there in the past couple months and have been pretty dang satisfied. Also if you call them the owner is the first person to answer, not some machine.

[Jailer]

The 38 S&W expander is already on a USPS truck on it's way to me as we speak. I ordered that and a few other odds and ends from factory sales as soon as I saw your thread. :cool:

[mr.jake]

Im using the entire .38sw die. Im not sure if the expaner will work in the 9mm die. It may with some sanding. I should have been more specific. I appologise...

[Jailer]

From your picture the body of each expander look to be the same height. The entire expander from the 38 S&W is longer due to the longer expander plug but that's what we want. The interior is what I'm curious about. If the bodies are the same length then the powder measure step should be at the same depth in both of them.

If I can't make it work no big deal it was only $3 so I'm not out much.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

I use Lyman M-die that allows me to drop powder through it. I've had no problem with 9mm or .380 ACP loads. No leading and accuracy equal to, or better than, the factory stuff.

[mr.jake]

From your picture the body of each expander look to be the same height. The entire expander from the 38 S&W is longer due to the longer expander plug but that's what we want. The interior is what I'm curious about. If the bodies are the same length then the powder measure step should be at the same depth in both of them.

If I can't make it work no big deal it was only $3 so I'm not out much.

If I would have hought about it ida mesured them. I feel better knowing it only cost $3. Please let me know if it works for you.

[skeet1]

mr.jake,
I have been having the same problem with my 9MM and I think I will try the Lee .38 S&W as well. I think your on to something good.

Ken

[MtGun44]

9mm can be a PITA.

Have you seen the sticky in Handguns section on setting up a 9mm for boolits? Might be
useful.

Bill

[autopilotmp]

Jailer:

Let us know if the insides of the two expanders match up. My wife is wanting a nine soon and it will get fed boolits, so this is a hot topic in my house. Just wish I could go ahead and get a boolit mold and get some cast up but dia seems to be an issue with 9mm pistols.

[Jailer]

Got my expander in the mail today. I'm happy to report that it is a perfect drop in replacement for the 9mm expander. The Pro auto disk works perfectly with it too.

The expander portion diameter measures .3555 at the very tip and .3560 in the mid section. The bell portion at the base of the expander spud measure .360. The length of the spud is exactly the same as the 38/357 expander. It's perfect for seating boolits in 9mm.

Thanks mr.jake for sharing your discovery on the expander. This 3 dollar part should save many people who use Lee dies a lot of headaches when it comes to loading boolits for the 9mm.

[mr.jake]

No problem jailer im glad it worked out for you. If it werent for your sticky i would never have saw the comment that the 38sw die may work.

[shotstring]

No problem.

Dump them on the front of the towel, after dumping 20-30 or so, Pick up the front of the towel and roll them to the back of the towel.

When they pile up so much they are hard to control, Use a spoon to pick them up and put them in a box. They will still be too hot for comfort.

You can damage a bullet by "dropping it on a hard surface". In my experience dropping them directly on a plywood sheet will not damage them, I don't do it on purpose but I do it frequently. ( I have one under my pot to protect the table. ) Dropping them directly on a concrete floor will damage them if they land on an edge.

I usually do 1000 to 2000 at a session and pile them all in a box.

When I first started, I was terrified of "damaging" the bullets. I transferred them directly from the towel to a cardboard box and lined them up like soldiers base first. Over the years I have learned that this is simply not necessary. If it was, tumble lubbing would ruin them.

Relax. Enjoy.

.

I do pretty much the same thing, except to bypass having to remove them from the towel, either cut a slit in the center of the towel or put over your container at a slant - the slug just hits the towel and then rolls softly off it either through the slit or off the end of the towel and lands gently on the pile of boolets. I usually do this over water, but it would work over any container.

[BAGTIC]

Is it safe to infer from this thread that undersized bullets are definitely a cause of leading?

Personally I have always favored large bullets as long as they chamber reliably.

[fullofdays]

Im now afraid of shooting .356 cast boolits out of my PRP Springfield XD.... I reload on a dillon 550 b and am afraid that ill do harm to the match barrel in my 5.25 XD

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[gefiltephish]

Lead won't harm the barrel. Where does this stuff come from? At worst it may "lead" the barrel. All you have to do is clean it out and then try to figure out what the cause is and come up with a solution. Simple. :bigsmyl2:

I'd venture a guess that you won't be happy with .356 though, depends on what your barrel slugs at.

[40Super]

FUlLOFDAYS,
You should be good with .356 in your xd(if the barrel is like the XDM),all my xdm barrels require the smaller bullets because of the tight throats.As a matter of fact with .357,it would already be jamming and shaving lead on any rounds that are not loaded absolutely perfectly straight and concentric,or with thicker walled cases.I wished mine had bigger chambers because I have to keep 2 different loads for every bullet and caliber I have one in.None of my bullets from my other guns will fit in my xdms.It is almost easier to just stick with the "J" or "P" bullets in them, but they shoot the cast so good.
With a XD it may be different but I don't have any of them.Slug your barrel,then you will know for sure.

[fullofdays]

I think it is an xdm actually. 5.25 comp match barrel. Just slugged it actually. first time doing that and i was scared of gouging the barrel with my rod. i wrapped it in tape and got the slug out eventually. my caliper doesn't go to .xxxx so it looks like a micrometer is in my near future. this thread is very helpful!

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[40Super]

Oh ya, I sould have caught that it was an xdm by the 5.25,thats the only way they come. Then those bullets should work for you,the match barrels run pretty small compared to most others. You will be pleased with how good they will shoot also.

[fullofdays]

Slug measured .354 so it looks like the .356 sizing die will be the trick on my .356 round nose. now i gotta build a dummy and figure out how to seat the boolit without pinching and resizing the boolit... crimp should be easy to dial in...
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[MT Gianni]

You only need a 38 special die not a 38 S&W. Most would have a 38 special/357 die that could be easily substituted.

[Jailer]

A Lee 38 die won't work. The powder through expander is designed to work with the Lee powder measure. The 9mm brass is too short to bottom out the expander in the die and bell the case or drop powder.

The 38 S&W expander is a drop in replacement for the 9mm expander and works perfectly for boolits. It does the same thing as my modded 38 expander without all the work. Alternately you could purchase the entire 38 S&W powder through expander die and use it for 9mm.

I'm going to take some pictures with measurements and add this information to my 38/357 expander mod thread. There's no need to go through all the trouble that I did when a $3 part will produce the desired results.

[jarex]

Ok, so i got my 38 S&W expander but it seems it expands to much for use with .356 bullets, the Lee TL356-124-TC goes to far down in the case even before it hits my seating die, how do i solve this?

[slim400]

Had a customer order some bullets at BHN 12 and what I found. Dropped more than about 4 or 5 inches is that they would get dent and dings. My answer to the problem was. I just took an old ragged towel and put in the bottom of the bucket just give it a little padding and you won't have any trouble even at BHN 18 if you let them drop more than about a foot when warm.

[MikeS]

I've yet to water drop any of my boolits. What I do is I open the mould while it's sitting on a felt surface, and the boolits drop at most 1" to the felt surface, then using a gloved hand I push them over to the front of the pile right in front of a small fan. They don't cool off as quickly as water dropped boolits, but from time of casting, they're cool within 5 - 10 minutes. I don't know if this effects their hardness or not, the only thing I've ever seen that even suggests that it might is in Richard Lee's book, in the second edition. I've been doing this before I read his book, and was surprised by his statement, although I've never tried letting some cool totally naturally to test his theory. When I have a pile of maybe 100 boolits there's not much more room, so I then count them out into a plastic container, and by the time I get to the last ones cast they're already cool. If I wait a few minutes before counting them out, then the last ones are actually cold to the touch!