Looks like I'll need to size em'.

[TNFrank]

Well, ran over 200 of the little 102gr Lee RN bullets for my 380acp and they're not round at all. Of course that's what I expect from a Lee mold so it's no big deal but what IS a big deal is the out of round runs .358" on one side so if I load them up I can't chamber the round. I'm going to need to get a .356" Lee sizer die to get things back into round and smaller so when loaded the ammo will chamber. Just never seem to win, LOL.

[40Super]

You would probably be better served getting a .357 die. As far as not being round, while not ideal, I think a perfect bottom has the most effect on accuracy than perfect roundness,plus a proper fit is better also.. Rifle would be more fussy in this area but pistol isn't.
This is where those custom molds sure are nice.

[Thompsoncustom]

I have the lee 102gr and 125gr both seem to be round but cast at .358 I just ordered a sizing die this week end. .358 seems to be were lee 9mm like to drop as I also had the 124gr or 125gr TL boolit from lee and it also dropped at .358

[MtGun44]

Round is nice, but a bit overratted. The 'ultimate sizer' (the barrel) will sort them out
if launched reasonably straight.

You should try them as cast, .356 if frequently too small for 9mm and .380 and causes
tumbling, leading and inaccuracy that are fixed by using .357 or .358.

Check out the sticky on "Setting up a new 9mm for boolits". It may save you some time.

Bill

[TNFrank]

I would have ran them "as cast" but the loaded rounds won't chamber all the way. Even with a huge crimp on em' they still won't chamber. Seems like .358" is just too far out of spec for my pistol.
I just ordered a Lee lube and size kit in .356", that should get things in spec so I can load up a few more rounds for testing. I don't even want to fire the 3 rounds I loaded up, not only because they won't chamber all the way and allow the gun to lock up but because of the monster crimp I put on em'. In a couple days I'll have my sizer and all will be well in cast boolit land again.

[MtGun44]

Look and see if the issue is LOA, not diameter. Is the full diam portion just ahead of
the case marked by the rifling? Then seat a bit deeper. Use the dismounted bbl as the
gage. The round should drop in freely all the way or with about a 1 lb fingertip push.

Bill

[TNFrank]

I loaded them to an OAL of .975" which is actually shorter then standard .984" that the book calls out BUT after putting a round into the barrel off of the gun and pushing it in nice and tight it appears that the ogive of the RN boolit IS getting into the rifling so I may need to load these a bit shorter. Not sure yet how I'll figure out how short or what my OAL will be to be "good to go" but I'll just have to see what I can come up with I guess. Thanks for the info, I think I still would like to size them though just to keep things uniform if for no other reason.

[TNFrank]

Well, that was a good idea but it's a No Go. The problem is that the boolits are .359" a head of the lube groove and that hits the front of the chamber even at .960" OAL, which I really feel is too short since standard is suppose to be .984" and the factory ball I have is .975"., anyway they just need to be sized down so that they'll get into the rifling leed and allow the case to headspace properly. Sizer will be here tomorrow, that should take care of my problems and then I can load them to something close to proper OAL like .970" or so. Thanks for the idea though.

[mdi]

FWIW; I reciently got a new alum. mold and was having trouble with small/out of round bullets (Ranch Dog/Lee 6 cavity .44 cal.). When I lowered the lead temp. the bullets started dropping at mold diameter and out of round by .001" and .0015" variation measuring 12 bullets from random pours. I kept the mold temp. as even as possible, slightly cooler than normal for aluminum molds, and the bullets dropped to .432" +- .001". I know the numbers mean little to nothing and I wasn't using my themometer, but I turned down my Lee pot from 7.5 to a hair over six.

[runfiverun]

remember unless the book used the lee boolit to develop thier oal and load data and a gun the same make as yours,,,, things will be different.
stuff like the oal,and the load because of it.

[40Super]

I personally could care nothing what "The books listed oal" is. I load to MY guns and what works for me. Thats one of those BIG misconseptions that people have is thinking that what the manual lists as THEIR oal is what they have to also or the OAL POLICE will come and take them away.;-)
The only purpose for it is a ROUGH estimate and what charge was used,so a person has to change the charge weight as the oal moves. I have loads that are .08 longer and some that are shorter, but they fit for my guns.

[TNFrank]

Just a quick update. Sized my 102gr RN's to .356", loaded up three rounds with 3.0grs of Unique to test. OAL is .960"-.965" and they drop into the chamber and headspace on the mouth of the case as they're suppose to. Need to get a Vel. reading from these three rounds as soon as the rain lets up then I'll know if I'll stick with 3.0grs or bump it up to 3.2grs but at least the bullet "problem" is solved.

[Moonie]

Have you slugged your barrel? I'd almost be willing to bet that .356 is going to lead.

[pcarpenter]

I had the same problem with the little Ranch Dog .380 bullet in a .380 barrelled Makarov. As cast (about .358), they did not lead but I had to seat them real deep. Sized to .356 to let me seat them back out where they belong and then they leaded....sort of as expected given the groove dimensions. Most of these handguns nowdays seem to have little or no throat and very sharp rifling transitions. That's a scenario that you may get by with using jacketed bullets but it's not so ideal for cast lead.

Do be sure to be careful....if you have to shorten the OAL (and I agree that's perfectly fine), then pressures will go up and you may need less powder....sometimes quite a bit so with as little case capacity as exists in the .380 ACP to start with.

Good luck!
Paul

[TNFrank]

They're running OAL at .960" so I think they'll be fine. I checked for pressure signs and there was none. Even the factory ball ammo is at OAL .975" which is under the called out OAL of .984" so what's a body going to do,LOL.
I'm not one to change loads much. Once I find something that'll work I stick with it so now that I've tested the 102gr RN and 3.2grs of Unique it'll be pretty much set in stone as my "go to" 380acp load. Just glad I got things figured out and made these little boolits work.