First time shooting my own cast boolits

[JohnFreeman]

Went to the range today and all my 9mm chambered, cycled and fed well in 2 different 9mm autos with my first cast 125g RN wheelweight bullets.

I had some issues with a couple keyholes, (these were sized to .356) and I'm not sure what to attribute that to. OAL was 1.18, 4g 231 and taper crimped on a Star Universal, sized on an old Ideal Number 1 .

So.. I'm thinking maybe they were sized a bit small. Someone else suggested that the crimp might be too heavy. Since I'm shooting these in multiple 9mm, slugging the barrels might be more confusing than helpful, but I can try that too. I don't fully understand why commercial ammo is largely bore-insensitive but cast bullets are apparently more fussy.

The good news... NO leading. Barrels were shiny clean after 25 rounds in each, and I've got some things to try!

John

[Old Caster]

The insides of a 9mm case is a lot smaller than most people expect plus not very far down in the case, it starts to taper much smaller and this can ruin your bullet if it is too soft. If you shoot hard bullets your sizing gets very critical in that the gun will likely not shoot as well with an oversize bullet and 9mm guns are all over the place in regards to their barrel diameter.

[bowenrd]

I size cast at .358 for use in 4 9mm pistols. FWIW

[MtGun44]

Attribute the keyholes to .356 sizing. Use .357 or .358 and they will go away.

Load a dummy round with .358 to be sure it will chamber, most will do fine. If so try .358, if
not try .357 - again verify it will chamber. TC is unlikely to be the issue, but it is possible
that seating a boolit in 9mm will size it down.

Read the sticky on "Setting up a new 9mm for boolits" - save some time.

Bill

[vettebob]

Slugging the bore is the best way to know what size the bullet should be sized to. I would slug your bores on all your 9mm you intend to shoot them out of then size 2 thou over the smallest dia. Here is another thing to check for. What happens with soft lead bullets a lot is it gets squeezed down in size when it's pressed into the case. I have had this happen when casting soft bullets. I have had to use a larger expander before and or harden the bullet to remedy this. You can seat a bullet in your case then use a kinetic bullet puller to remove the bullet from the case and measure it. This will tell you if the bullet has been sized down in the case. Another problem people have is shaving the bullets by not flaring the case mouths enough. Hope this helps Bob

[Shiloh]

.356 is to small. Commercial cast bullets are .356 and they almost always tumble. It is a scarce 9mm that has a bore of .355. .358 is the ticket. I use the LEE version of that boolit as wel as the LEE 125 RF. Work up the load for the 125 gr. RF as it need to be seated a bit deeper in the case thatn the 125 RN.

SHiloh

[Boolseye]

Congrats! Sounds about right for your first time out w/ 9mm cast.
size to .358 and watch your keyholes go away.