Dipping my toes into the melt

[tehweej]

So I have been wanting to start casting my own for quite a while now and am ready to start to get serious. I am in the "source lead and save money for equipment" phase. I will mostly be casting for my 92fs and my 45s. I have been shooting Missouri bullet softball in my 45s, and I have not slugged those yet. Minimal leading with 5.5 grs of 231, mostly in front of the chamber. The problem child is the 92. I have been shooting the Missouri sub sonics, with horrible leading. Slugged the bore at 0.360, and the boolits I have measure .356, so there is my answer to the leading problem.

All that being said, my understanding is that I need my boolits to measure .361 for a good fit. Should I be looking at a mould that measures .362 and size to .361? I am not sure what my lead source is going to be, and I am not familiar with figuring shrinkage, and I don't mind the process of reloading. I find peace in it, so tumble lubing has no real appeal to me. Am I on the right track here?

[tazman]

.360 is extremely large for a 9mm. You may have trouble getting a mold designed for 9mm to drop large enough to fit that unless you go custom.
You will certainly get bulging cases when you load a boolit that large into a standard sized 9mm case. If your chamber is large in proportion you will be ok. Otherwise you will have trouble with feeding.

[tehweej]

I thought it was on the large side. Might it be worth and aftermarket barrel with better dimensions? Another member sent me the 9mm loading link, so I need to read up on that before I go any further.

[petroid]

I would double check the calipers or mic used to measure the slug. Then I would slug it again. If it is truly .360 you may have trouble getting a .361 boolit to chamber

[tehweej]

Ok I am using calipers and I rechecked my measurements I got .358 which seems more reasonable to me.

[tazman]

I bought a 92fs barrel for my Taurus pt92. It miked at .3555.
I thought Beretta was doing a better job on quality that releasing a barrel at .360. I was a bit surprised.
The sticky on getting started on 9mm is a very good thread. I used the information there when I started and avoided a lot of problems.

[gray wolf]

I have been shooting Missouri bullet softball in my 45s, and I have not slugged those yet. Minimal leading with 5.5 grs of 231, mostly in front of the chamber.
Your 45 bullets seem a little small with leading at the chamber mouth, I would measure one, it's probly .451
go up to .452 a standard size for most 45 acp. You do not need harder than 50/50 WW and soft PB
Along with a good lube and you should be fine. I gather this IS a 45 ACP of sorts.

[Bzcraig]

I would venture a guess that if you used a mic to measure your slug on that 9mm it would be still smaller, just a guess. I was amazed at how much better a mic measures.

[kenn]

I found a used Mitutoyo micrometer on ebay for about 20 bucks. It is incredibly accurate. There are a couple of online vernier scale tutorials you can use to learn how to read it. You can very easily read an analog vernier out to .0001". If you are really good at reading vernier you can get a pretty close estimate for accuracy out to .00001". It blows my caliper away when it comes to consistent, accurate measure.

I would not trust a caliper for slugging. My .02 and I'm sure others will disagree, but I can "squeeze" .001 in/out of my caliper pretty easily.

[osteodoc08]

You really need a micrometer to measure your slugs. Gotta use the right tool for the job. A micrometer is the right tool.

I too am surprised your 92 slugs at .360 or even .358. What I'd do is find someone here to "donate" you some .357" 9mm boolits and give em a try. I don't have any made up right now or I'd send you some. Worst case scenario is your barrel is out of spec and you get more leading.

If it truly is .360, I'd imagine a .355 FMJ would almost drop straight through.

[tehweej]

Yeah I am going to snag one of my dad's mikes when I visit him in a few weeks, I think he has two. I know he doesn't use use it that often anyways :). The caliper I'm using is an old Lyman plastic one, and I have found it isn't bad if I try to feel the stop and not push hard. Measuring around the slug several times at all the grooves I got consistent .358. I cleaned off the faces of the calipers as they had built up some residue, so that might be where the .360 came from.

Accuracy with with factory fmjs is good, and I got this gun used, with no real history.

ETA: they are all 45 auto pistols. The bullets I using measure .452. The leading in those is totally livable, just like and inch or so right in front of the chamber, and it is the same after 10 rounds or 200 rounds.

I have a glock 41, and old argentine 1927/1911, and an m&p45

[tehweej]

So the boolits tazman sent me worked well. I miked my slug and it measures .357. Had some trouble with chambering, but I was having trouble not getting some lead built up in front of the case mouth upon seating. Just had a couple rounds that needed a whack to chamber. No leading though!

[kryogen]

yup, always use a micrometer.... caliper is not good for .001 measurements.

[Down South]

So the boolits tazman sent me worked well. I miked my slug and it measures .357. Had some trouble with chambering, but I was having trouble not getting some lead built up in front of the case mouth upon seating. Just had a couple rounds that needed a whack to chamber. No leading though!
Sounds like you are seating and crimping in one step. I like to do this in two steps, seat then crimp and then just enough crimp to take the bell back out of the case mouth. If it will pass the plunk test, you should be good to go.

[tehweej]

Yeah I don't have a powder thru expander for my lnl progressive, and figured that would fix or help fix the problem if I separated the steps. I am running mixed brass, and most the rounds pass the plunk test. Since they are just for range fun at this point, I have some time to straighten things out.

[tazman]

Sounds like you are seating and crimping in one step. I like to do this in two steps, seat then crimp and then just enough crimp to take the bell back out of the case mouth. If it will pass the plunk test, you should be good to go.

I agree. When I went to seating and crimping in separate steps all my feeding issues disappeared.