Loading 9mm making me crazy today

[Jal5]

I have worked up this load over the past 2 yrs. shoots pretty accurately in my S&W Shield too. RCBS 09115 over suitable amount of BE and CCI 500 primers. But today, the darn boolits about drove me nuts in the seating phase of the single stage press. It seems that the homemade lube was too soft, and extra lube on the boolits when I pan lubed them were messing up the seater die. I did about 15 rounds and some came out the wrong OAL, and the lengths were very inconsistent. Then I realized the problem with the seater die getting all messed up with extra lube inside, causing the inconsistency in OAL! In seating only 50 rounds I had to clean the darn die 3 times! I decided to let it sit for another day.

Moral of the story: from now on I think I will use White Label Lubes in all my 9mm at least!

Thanks for letting me rant.

Joe

[Cherokee]

That is one reason why I go with the harder CR lube, and it works fine in my 9mm/38 Super loads, including 1350 fps loads with Lee 356120TC. I also use CR in everything rifle and pistol with CB's.

[Jal5]

Yes I have used CR in the past with no problems. Not sure why I switched this time.

[Rainier]

For what's is worth - give the powder coating thread a look - you can skip lubing altogether and never have a problem with sticky grease/wax based lubes again. I know sounds crazy, that is until ya try it.

[Jal5]

I planned to check that out as a winter project 😊

[fcvan]

Before I started powder coating everything, I had used many lubes. Most of the lubes were soft like Javalina, which is what I used when I was still pan lubing. After I got a Lyman 450 sizer I used softer lubes, and after I got a heater I used Rooster Red. For the past few years I'd used White Label BAC with great results.

Powder coating and sizing to .358 has been quite enjoyable to shoot. I still have many thousands of rounds loaded with lube and so my shooting has been a 50/50 mix of my old stuff and PCd boolits just to rotate my stock.

Back to pan lubing. I started out with a small pan and about 50 boolits. I'd heat the lube and then let cool. The small pan was flexible so I could pop out the lube cake and then push out the boolits. The cake went back into the pan and boolits were placed into the holes. My problem was the cooling time was great in the winter, not so great in the summer. I started dip lubing and placing the lubed boolit onto wax paper.

The boolits had to be warmed up some so I wasn't just dipping cold boolits in the lube. I used Hemostats (surgical needle nosed pliers) to handle the boolits. The lube and boolits cooled quickly and the excess lube at the base of the boolit stuck to the wax paper. This reduced the amount of excess lube which reduced the buildup in my setting die. Yes, I had the same issue with the overall length being screwed up by buildup.

Dip lubing also did not fill the lube groove but I had enough lube to work in my 9mm. I was using a Lee 356-125 2R and shooting as cast (.3585 from range scrap). I adjusted my expander die to ensure the mouth was open enough to ensure the case wasn't sizing down the boolit, and the seat/crimp die to just remove the slight belling of the case mouth. Loads passed the plunk test, shot well in my pistol, and did not led the weapon.

The dip method greatly reduced the amount of excess lube I experienced when using a lube cutter or when I pushed the boolit out of the lube. I also made it a point to inspect my set/crimp die to ensure I wasn't getting the buildup I'd seen before. Good luck and have fun

[JimP.]

i used to size my cast bullets and used Javelina lube, now i use the bullets as cast and lube with Lee Liquid Alox. My glock 19 shoots better and doesnt lead with this arrangement. So it works for me. JimP.

[ACrowe25]

What you did was exactly what you should... Let it sit and think for awhile

I too was in the same position as you. Lubing made casting suck. I don't have a ton of extra funds as a college student... But I saved my pennies for a lyman 4500. It's awesome. Is this something within your budget? Or an older press?

[dverna]

As a poor college student I had the good fortune to have a mentor who was a Bullseye shooter/reloader/caster. He gave me some great advice. "Save your money and buy really good equipment - you will never regret it". 40+ years later I still have the Star he advised me to get. It does not shoot lube all over the bullet, and it is fast.

If you are lubing pistol ammo only, I think that Hi-Tek coating is going to be faster and less hassle then PC'ing. You do need to coat and bake twice (sometimes 3 times) but at least you do not need to stand up every bullet - that sounds like such a pain if you go through a lot of bullets like many pistol shooters do.

Popper does both. Hi-Tek for pistols and PC for rifle. I think he has it right --- that is if you decide not to use traditional lubes.

Lastly, making your own lubes is fun for some but I cannot think of a more useless way to spend my time. I can buy any of the White Label lubes delivered to my door for under $2/stick. I am not sure I can produce lube as good or for less cost.

Don Verna

[Jal5]

That is the last time I use my own lubes for those 9mm. White Label lube gave me no problems.