Casting oversize

[armoredman]

My nice shiney new boolits from the .356 124 Lee mold looked great. I zapped them with One Shot, and started sizing them through the .356 sizer. Ummph! What the...came out definately looking "slimmed". I measured the resized boolit -.356. Cool, but what did the first ones size out to? So, I grabbed one, and WOW - .360! Is that normal? Of course, this means I can use this boolit in my 38 as well, just sized to .358...:???:

[leftiye]

What groove size is your bore? .004" sized down shouldn't be (though it might) a problem. Maybe get a better sizing lube (lanolin/ synthetic 20/20 oil) to make it easier? And yup a lot of molds cast bigger than the manufacturer lied about! A different (softer) alloy might cast smaller. I'm running 50/50 WW/Pure lead in my 9mm with that boolit, and they cast .358". That is hard enough for 1000 fps. (3.9 grs. bullseye).

[VTDW]

A lower casting temp can help too.

[Cayoot]

A lower casting temp can help too.


Is that true? I thought that if we cast at too HIGH a temp, there was a chance for excess shrinkage as the boolits cooled?

I was hoping that by casting cooler, the boolits would retain a bit more diameter.

Bary

[Buckshot]

..........Due to possible difficulties in sizing short boolit's straight (getting them started straight) I'd sure try simply Tumble Lubing them and then running up through a Lee .356" push through die. For a fact, the sizing would be almost effortless.

................Buckshot

[armoredman]

Well, it was a Lee push through sizing die, they were lubed, and there was effort. On some at least. S'Ok, still looking forward to trying them out!

[44man]

Cayoot, yes too hot will shrink the boolits. Cool will cast smaller. The proper temp will give the largest boolit. Doesn't work that way unless there is antimony though because too hot won't effect them the same.
Some guys would die for the oversize mold. If it is for a 9mm, why not try .357 or .358? If they chamber, they will shoot.

[armoredman]

I may try sizing to 358 next time - the only two sizers I have are 356 and 358. I loaded 40 of them tonight. Not bad - from ingot to loaded ammo in one day.

[Cayoot]

Thanks 44Man

[Newtire]

I found that unless the boolits were lubed first, if I tried to size down too much, they smeared the grooves away. With lube in the grooves, they came out uniformly nice looking with nice straight lube grooves. The lube in the grooves holds the shape of the groove as it won't compress as we know.

[BruceB]

My 9mm pistols, about five to date of several brands, have all preferred .358" sizing.

Some guns may not accept such fat bullets, so load a few dummies in every make of brass on hand, and try them in the chamber of your barrel. This is best done with the barrel removed from the gun, so you can see if the rounds chamber freely. There are great variations in 9mm brass, so make certain that you try the fatsos in ALL your variously-headstamped cases.

I believe that the only .356" bullets I use these days are for the S&W M52 .38 Special target autoloaders.

[armoredman]

I have all of my 9mm brass separated carefully...and all the 38 spl brass jumbled together. :)
I'll try that with a dummmy later today. No, not me, a dummy round!

[DanM]

I have been buying .358" commercial cast boolits for my 9x19s. They all shoot better with the fatter boolits. I badly need a mold for this caliber. One like yours may be ideal for me. Which profile did you get?

[armoredman]

It's the Lee TL 356-124- 2R mold. Made good boolits right from the get go, cleaned and smoked.

[EMC45]

I have the 120 gr. Lee truncated mould. It casts at .360! Too big, not bad. Too small, bad! I cast a bunch and sized them on my 4500 in a .358 sizer then brought them down to .356. They leaded terribly. So I will size them to .358 and be done with it. My Browning slugged at .357 so it oughta work!

[armoredman]

I have a 6 day weekend coming up, I'll cast some more of the 9mm boolits,. and try the .358 sizing.

[Cloudpeak]

I just cast up a bunch of Lee TL 356-124- 2R bullets. Of the four Lee 6 cavity molds I have had, this is the best by far. Man, does this mold cast good bullets. I polished a .356 Lee push through die so it sizes to .357. The Hornady One shot lube before push sizing works well. I tumbled lubed with Johnson Paste wax to test it out as opposed to the LLA I generally use.

I've read where some folks shoot "as cast" bullets without resizing. I've found that, with the Lee 6 cavity molds, this could be a mistake. Because of temps, alloy, maybe not having the mold blocks completly closed due to maybe a speck of lead between the halves, that there can be a wide range of diameters. A slug that happens to come out at, say, .360 could lead to an overpressure situation with some powder charges. Anyway, I feel much more comfortable running everything through the sizer. Should lead to more uniformity and, hopefully, better accuracy.

Cloudpeak

[jhrosier]

armoredman,
The 124 gr bullets are a great plinker in the 38 spl.
I have a couple of ammo cans full of them loaded with 2.5 grs Bulleye that were left over from my foray into steel plate shooting.
On some days I would swear that I can actually see the bullet going downrange.
The best part is that I have fired one hole groups with them out of a TC Contender at 25 yards.

[armoredman]

Methinks I am going to have to score some Bullseye.