Okay, What's Recommended for 9mm?

[Grump]

RCBS 82062 two-cavity GC mould.

Got great results more than a decade ago and then got busy. Now I'm ready to melt stuff again. I think the past alloy used was BHN 10-14 or so, might have been two separate batches, one at each end of that range. No difference between them back then.

So before I start mixing up some alloy, what target BHN is generally recommended?

And is my plot to test without gas checks folly? I'm pretty sure that the Lyman can be set to leave the GC groove un-lubed. Maybe the Star can? Or maybe if the Smurf Lube 61.X or 62.X works out, having a lube "groove" exposed to the powder chamber won't matter?

Yeah, fulla questions. Hope I'm not fulla....you know.

Oh, guns are both new-is, SIG and S&W M&P, both regular size.

Thanks!

[MtGun44]

I have had excellent results in a wide range of 9mm pistols with
Lee 356 120 TC conventional lube design, sized to .357 or .358
and lubed with NRA 50-50 formula lube. Air cooled wwts that will
run about 11 or 12 BHN work just fine.

No reason for a GC in any pistol.

Bill

[Echo]

+1, plus I suggest trying TL'ing w/Recluse lube. I haven't used it yet on my own 9mm stuff, but have no fear of trying it. TL has worked with every pistol caliber I used it on.

[Harter66]

No checks for me either. I shoot 9s 1k-1100 and 45s to 1100 ,by book numbers the 40 I shoot is maxed out ,but I won't chrony it till I get the splatter shield up. Don't ask ...... let's file it under "those who have and those who will".

Shooting Darrs lube ,356-125 TC, 4.0 Unique.

[Shiloh]

LEE 9mm 125 gr 2R or LEE 125 gr RF. Both have given good results for me.

The trick with 9's is to have a large enough boolit. I size to .358. Th 9mm was by far the most difficult to get running well.

Shiloh

[Larry Gibson]

Grump

Suggestion; use the bullet design designation not the product catalog #, that will give us a much better idea of the bullet you are refering to. Most won't go to the company website and look it up to understand what you are talking about. You'll also get much better feed back that way.

Larry Gibson

[captaint]

What Shiloh said. I, too, had problems getting my 9s running right. Turned out, I just needed to size them @ .358 and be done with it. Just for kicks, I tried some plain base gas checks on some Lee boolits were a little too small, that worked well, also. Not something I want to do all the time, but it did work. Mike

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I use round noses, conical and truncated nose bullets in my 9 mms without gaschecks cast out of straight WW metal. Good feeding, no leading and decent accuracy. Sized usually to .358 and lube is old NRA formula 50/50 Alox/Beeswax. I keep the MV in the 900's which has been adequate for 25-50 yard work.

[918v]

I run 125gr .38/.357 TCFP sized to .359" @ 1.040" OAL in my KKM 9mm barrel. I've shot everything from 22 down to 11 BHN without any leading, although the softer bullets required a different load to give me the accuracy I wanted.

Boolit size depends on your throat diameter. Use the biggest size you can otherwise she'll lead.

[40Super]

I like the heavier side of things,140gr tc and 147gr tc's, all sized to .358 except for one barrel that won't chamber anything bigger than .357(even that can be tight). With the 9 size is key, hardness is what it is. I do tend to run 14-18'ish if I cared to test them.

[gunoil]

lee (90457) 125gr rn/6cavity for the 9mm. 2 cavity molds take to long.

Iam having a mold made (from a lee blank #90952) like the LEE 105 gr RN, but a makarov nose and will scale out at 110gr and will be a 6 cavity mold. Will use in 380 & 9mm pistols.

[Raven_Darkcloud]

I like the lee 358-125-rf sized to .357 for my glock 19. Works well in every 9 I have tried it in.

[Grump]

Larry G., I guess you're right.

My bad for not posting the link on the description of the mould.

And also my bad, not saying "alloy" recommended for 9mm.

For those eager to recommend moulds that I don't have, here's what I have used and intend to use:

http://www.gunaccessories.com/RCBS/PistolBulletMoulds.asp Just search for "82062" an you'll see a nice pic of it.

It's a pointy, gas-check design with one lube groove.

Looks like BHN 12-14 is recommended, but sizing big enough is king.

It's been like 20 years, but the now-gone ingots we used dropped bullets that could be barely marked but not grooved by my thumbnail. Didn't have a hardness tester back then.

Thanks!

[winelover]

That's the very first boolet mold I bought for 9mm. I use AC WW alloy or equivalent. I size to .356 with 50-50 NRA lube and load 5.0 grains of Unique for a Browning HP and Beretta Nano.

Winelover

[Bullet Caster]

I use the Lee TL .356 2R 124 gn. lubed with 45/45/10 "Recluse" lube over 4 grains of Bullseye. I leave the front driving band exposed and don't size them. They go from the mould to the lube bowl without sizing. I miked the boolit after casting and they measured .356-7 most of the time. My 9mm has a .356 bore after mike and they shoot fine w/o leading. BC

[Grump]

Winelover:

You running them as designed with the gas checks, or bare-bottomed?

[Jason30-30]

Can't go wrong with the old 358242

[winelover]

Winelover:

You running them as designed with the gas checks, or bare-bottomed?


Fully dressed.

Winelover

[captaint]

Grump - I have that RCBS mold also. Nice mold, makes very nice boolits. Just a little too small. They come out around .357- . No bigger without Beagling. Which I may try one of these days. Mike Also - that is the same boolit that I put the plain base gas checks on because they were small. They shot good then !!!