lee 105gr swc in 9mm

[guncheese]

tried a couple loads and found them to be WEAK
5gr of WSF would only cycle the action 2 out of 5 times (1.01")
5.4gr of WSF (1.020") would run the gun fine and at 21ft looked fine. but at 15 yds it wouldnt hit the target (maybe they were laying on the ground in front of it!!) i did not see any telltale signs of trouble.
now i have 5.9 gr of WSF at 1.005" and im thinking it maybe on the edge of trouble
anyone have a similar experience?
am i beating a dead horse?
82730

[Sgtonory]

I have great luck with 3.5g of BE at 1.040 coal. Cycle a G17 100% and drop brass 2feet to the right.

[Boolseye]

I find them really accurate over any suitable load out of my 9mm. Problem for me with that bullet is feeding, not accuracy. I get a fair # of FTFs. With light bullets like that they'll hit the target above POA due to less recoil. The general consensus is that that bullet works well in 9mm.

[MtGun44]

NO! This mold was my first ever - for a 9mm Browning HP and it worked very well in 1975
and still does. Just bump up the load a bit. It feeds 100% in the HP and others and is
quite accurate, with lower recoil.

If the FTFs of Boolseye are failure to close - add more taper crimp - as a separate operation.

Bill

[guncheese]

im worried these maybe a bit to hot!!
i have some data for 100gr jacketed bullet and WSF but it tops out at 5.6gr
im pretty sure they wont go kaboom but still has me concerned

[MtGun44]

Hodgdon shows max of 5.7 WSF for 115 jbullet, so you should be fine at that same level
or a big higher with your lighter cast boolit.

Frankly, I'd use BE or W231 or Unique if you have them. Not sure how well the WSF burn
rate fits this light boolit. I started using this boolit and Unique and all was well right off
the bat when I was an ignorant newbie almost 40 years back.

Bill

[jonk]

I run them in my .380, 9mms, and .38 specials, sized appropriately of course. 2.3 gr bullseye in my .380, 3.0 gr in my 9mm, and 3.5 gr in my .38. Very accurate little bullet.

[Boolseye]

THanks for that Bill, it's the one thing I never tried. Makes sense, since I have to crimp the $%#& out of SWCs to feed in my .45.

[MtGun44]

In a .45 I recommend TCing to .465 to .470, and I personally go on the tighter side.

Good luck.

Bill

[Boolseye]

Yeah, I generally go around .467" or even a little tighter.

[Kilroy08]

I started around 4.4 grains of Unique. That was from an old post on here and seemed too be a pretty popular load for that bullet. My Hi Power loved it.

[guncheese]

ill burn up those hot loads tomorrow
next month im going to grab a 8lber of red dot
and i have a funny feeling im going to settle on a load of 3.6gr of red dot
for everything 9mm,.38spl,.45acp
i find it so odd that that load will make all of them happy

[45-70 Chevroner]

I don't want this to sound like I am berating you, but you have received some good advise here and all of a sudden you are going to go out and buy an 8# keg of Red Dot. Now don't get me wrong because I like Red Dot. I also agree with MtGun44, that Unique is a very good choice.

[guncheese]

well.....
i had made the choice of red dot for other loads especially for 45
and some of the good advice was for Bulls Eye which really has the same burn rate as Red Dot and when using light to medium loads has the same charge weight as BE
if it works out well for 9mm ill be happy but im not married to it for 9mm
i shoot 4 times as much 45 as anything else and red dot is cheap and available here
if im wrong yell at me! i dont take much as a insult especially as your trying to help me
my hide is used to make welding gloves :)

ohh i shot up those hot rounds of 9mm with 5.9gr of WSF
yup they were hot!
the primers got a bit flat, but aside from that no other signs of over charge
unless you count stinging hand after 50 rnds
the rifling even gave me evident torque
of course they cycled the gun real well hehe

[guncheese]

and not to mention THE LOAD http://members.shaw.ca/cronhelm/TheLoad.html
as im going to be doing some light 7.62x39 as well as some other messing about

[Finster101]

I don't want this to sound like I am berating you, but you have received some good advise here and all of a sudden you are going to go out and buy an 8# keg of Red Dot. Now don't get me wrong because I like Red Dot. I also agree with MtGun44, that Unique is a very good choice.

I think you are going to like 4grns of Red Dot (I'm using Promo) better. At least my 9s and .45s do.

[220]

Your experience mirrors my own,
I had feeding issues with them, I'm sure these could be overcome plenty of people have.
I also couldn't get them to shoot, tested them at 25m and couldn't get them to stay on a 2 foot target. The same gun has no trouble holding 4" at the same distance with other cast.
My 686 loves them in 38spl cases, every load tested from 600-1000fps will keep 10 shots under 2" at 25m.
I'm sure you could get them to shoot well in 9mm but I have other loads that shoot a lot better so for me its not worth the time or effort to get them shooting. Simpler to load what I know shoots and keep casting these for 38.

[guncheese]

with a hotter load they were not bad in the accuracy dept, but this gun isnt a target pistol. it didnt have any issue feeding them or anything else i have tried in it (runs like a sewing machine) as long as there is enough powder to cycle the gun
im pretty convinced that i can have a cheap plinking range load with this bullet

[Old Caster]

If amount of lead is your main concern, it is a good choice. If cost of powder is your main objective, go with a heavier bullet. This particular bullet design and shape is quite accurate in a 38 which I did not expect and there is no reason it won't be the same in 9mm. As long as it feeds, you will be fine with your Red Dot.

[45-70 Chevroner]

well.....
i had made the choice of red dot for other loads especially for 45
and some of the good advice was for Bulls Eye which really has the same burn rate as Red Dot and when using light to medium loads has the same charge weight as BE
if it works out well for 9mm ill be happy but im not married to it for 9mm
i shoot 4 times as much 45 as anything else and red dot is cheap and available here
if im wrong yell at me! i dont take much as a insult especially as your trying to help me
my hide is used to make welding gloves :)

ohh i shot up those hot rounds of 9mm with 5.9gr of WSF
yup they were hot!
the primers got a bit flat, but aside from that no other signs of over charge
unless you count stinging hand after 50 rnds
the rifling even gave me evident torque
of course they cycled the gun real well hehe
No insult intended. Red Dot will work well for you. I use it a lot in my Ruger, Colt 45's.

[Low Budget Shooter]

I tried this bullet in 9mm a few years ago based on advice from this web forum. We've now shot many, from three different pistols, and found it to be an excellent 9mm bullet. I have ended up sizing .3575, with Red Carnauba, over either 3.3 grains Clays (I'm out of Clays at present), 3.7 grains W231/HP38, or 4.4 grains Unique. My only .38 Special gun has fixed sights, and this bullet prints very low.

[MtGun44]

Heavy boolits go high, light boolits go low.

Bill

[FergusonTO35]

I'm going to pick up the Lee 356-102 mold for 9mm practice ammo at some point. Looks like it would feed more easily than the SWC.

[JimP.]

i loaded this bullet in my Walther P-38 9mm, with 5.0 grs of Red Dot, sized .358. Bullet combination was so accurate it amazed me. I'm going to load some up and see how my Glock 19 likes it...JimP.

[smithgar3840]

I've used 4.5gr of universal under this bullet out of several 9's and a 380. Love it. I use it unsized (.357) in the 9's but had to size it to .356 for the 380. 9's can be fussy but size the bullet at least .001 over and do the plunk test and you should be fine

[Stilly]

Today I shot some ladder loads with this bullet out of my 92FS Centurion. I swear they were like shooting lazers...

I used Power Pistol, (I THINK I like that!) HS-6 (AWESOME!), CFE Pistol (GREAT!), 700-X, WSF, ZIP, PB, RED DOT, and Unique.

I still have to make them in HP-38, BE, and Blue Dot but I had an issue. I am typically good at making educated guesses as to what charge. I guessed about 7 gr of Blue Dot and I did not like what I was seeing, very light compaction. I did not make any, I passed and wanted to research Blue Dot some more and then put some together.

HS-6, PP, and CFE-P were the best to shoot, HS-6 maybe the charge was a tad high, but everything shot and most things fed well. Funny how that feed issue works...

All of the rounds were inserted and crimped at the crimp line, but maybe I need to go a tad shallower next time. That made about every round approximately COAL= 1.0035. I used Sellior & Belliot SPP and the brass was mixed. I believe these were all sized at .356 with my Lee push through sizer and they were PC pills as well.

The actual charges I have written down in the other room, but I did not care for RD, PB, ZIP and Unique. I think those charges need to be increased next time or keep them as a single shot bunny fart load. CFE-P and HS-6 were VERY nice though. PP was too, but one of those three made me feel like I was hammering away on my frame.

[Lloyd Smale]

4 grains of aa2 runs them just fine in my wifes lc9. Its the load I make up for her for practice and plinking. Very light recoil.

[Stilly]

I made some of these in Power Pistol and I crimped them with just a little bit of the shoulder sticking above the rim (.9805 OAL I think) and they seemed to be fine. They seemed to feed from .9805-1.0075 with no issues, even longer I think. There was an issue with them being so short though that with one powder it was making weird looking FTF where the shells were so short that as they were pushed forward they seemed to nosedive or point up and get jammed. But that was only with one charge and one powder, I want to say red dot.

I have AA#7, 9, and 5 I think, but no AA #2. Thanks Lloyd, that is good to know. I decided to get out and just make a lot with different powders because of the lack of centralized info out there on thie load and it is STILL not in the Boly or Bolee so what gives?

Anyways, I was going to make it in 7.0gr of Blue dot but after I put in 7.0gr of BD it seemed a bit excessive. Anyone else use BD for putting this in 9mm? I will go and look at a few more sites/sources before I revisit those BD loads and make them.

[Shiloh]

I have great luck with 3.5g of BE at 1.040 coal. Cycle a G17 100% and drop brass 2feet to the right.

Won't feed reliably for me.

Shiloh

[666damosydney]

I love the lee 105 swc i size to 356 and use hitek coating.
I use 2.7 - 2.8 g of AS30N for my 9mm edge with a 6 pound recoil this pic was from last sat 25 meters standing normal two hand hold for length i just drop test until they fall out of barrel.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/885g8slqguyl2bc/20160507_104838.jpg?dl=0

[Bullwolf]

I tried the Lee 105gr SWC in 9mm. My Beretta 92 would feed them well enough, as would my TZ-75.

Sized em at .358 with a little bit of the shoulder exposed, and tumble lubed in 45-45-10.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=91449&d=1360126151

I like that boolit better with target level 38 Special loads and Bullseye though. I haven't worked it all that much in the 9mm.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=142136&d=1434339770


- Bullwolf

[JimP.]

5.0 grs Red Dot. size .358 shoot them. very accurate my Walther P38.

[Boolseye]

I recently cast a bunch of these, plan to load them up. The can be finicky feeders in some 9mms. they are very accurate when they leave the barrel, tho. I plan to try a few in my 357 SIG at about 1400 fps :-)