What bullet mold for a Beretta 96 40 S&W

[bessemer20]

I am new to casting bullets. I currently shoot 180gr fmj and would like to know what you would recommend for a mold to cast bullets. Thanks.

[badgerblaster]

I've been using Lee's 175 gr tumble lube with LLA (lee liquid alox). Mold is TL401-175-SWC. I casted up a couple hundred of these last night and have shot 1,000s of these through my .40 High Power.
I've been casting a couple of years now and this bullet is very easy with great results.

[popper]

Either of the Lees, but I changed to an accurate 165 when the Lee wore out. I HiTek coat them so no LG is needed. I'll probably get a modified 180 next year. Had leading problems in the PX4 until I coated. XD did fine with any lube, but smoky with Alox.

[tazman]

I have been shooting the Lee 401-175-tc standard lube groove. I size to .401 and tumble lube with White Label 45-45-10.
I get perfect feeding. no leading, and accuracy comparable to jacketed.
It seems to be the best situation I could have.

[bessemer20]

Thanks to all for the information. You answered my questions about all my questions.

[Drdarrin]

Have you slugged the bore on your 96 yet? I own a 96D and my bore measures .4035. I've also had the opportunity to slug the bores on two other 96 barrels. Both of them both measured over .403.

If your's measures the same, I think you will be disappointed with the performance of cast bullets in the 96. I know I am.

[dondiego]

Have you slugged the bore on your 96 yet? I own a 96D and my bore measures .4035. I've also had the opportunity to slug the bores on two other 96 barrels. Both of them both measured over .403.

If your's measures the same, I think you will be disappointed with the performance of cast bullets in the 96. I know I am.

Correctly fitted cast boolits will work just fine.

[Drdarrin]

Correctly fitted cast boolits will work just fine.

Quite true. But given his pistol of choice and the over the counter molds that have been recommended, he is likely to be disappointed with his results, don't you think?

Starting out with a barrel that is over bore, particularly if it is 0.0035 overbore, is a problem. That would be good for him to know, hence my question.

I own and use a Lee 401-175-TC 6 cavity mold. It consistently throws bullets that measure no more that .4015.
Assuming Bessemer's pistol barrel is typical of the 96's I have slugged and the molds suggested are typical of mine, he is going to be disappointed with his results, don't you think?

[tazman]

Until he slugs his barrel we have no way of knowing if his needs are out of the norm for this caliber. Barrels vary. Assuming his barrel will be the same as yours may be a mistake.
The recommendations that were made work for the people who made them and seem to work for the majority of weapons in this caliber. I make no assumptions about your barrel or his. I only recommended what works for me.
If the barrel measures out of the norm then he will probably need custom equipment.
In any case, Lee molds and sizers are easily enlarged to accommodate a few thousandths larger barrel.

[HeavyMetal]

I am going to suggest a TC design in the 145 to 155 grain range, in my opinion boolits heavier than this are to slow.

This round works well in the 1100 to 1300 FPS range most of the 175 180 200 run under 1000.


Shoot flatter, shoot faster use less lead: 150 Grain TC design, in the right diameter of course!

See our on site mold makers for a mold of the right size.

[Virginia John]

I use a Lee 400-145 TC and size it to .401 am very pleased with it in all my 40s. I do plan on getting a Lee 400-175 TC just for variety.

[BattleRife]

I tried the Lee TL401-175SWC and it leaded like crazy. A slug of the barrel and measurement of the bullets that dropped from the mould and after they passed the sizing die showed that I was undersized for my barrel.

Okay, straightforward enough. I lapped and beagled my mould, and honed my sizing die to get properly fitted bullets. Then I loaded up a bunch and tried again. Guess what? After shooting a bunch I looked down my barrel: the throat and back half of the barrel were clean, but about half way down the leading started again.

About that time I discovered a couple of fantastic threads on this forum about cast bullets and .40 S&W. In there were a couple of assertions that the Lee tumble lube method was simply unable to deliver the performance needed in the .40 cal. What I saw backed that up, so I went to a conventional lube groove design and bought some White Label Carnauba Red.

I'd love to tell you the end of the story, but I loaded those rounds about 2 weeks ago, and they're still downstairs. I don't know when I'll get to the range to try them out.

[tazman]

I have been using tumble lube in 40s&w, 9mm, and 38 special for some time with no leading issues at all. I use standard lube design boolits in everything except for a couple in 38 special.
I don't know if the design is the problem in your 40 or the lube is.
I tumble lube with White Label X-lox or White label 45-45-10 as the mood strikes me. There is no difference in results in my weapons.

[rsrocket1]

I don't know if the OP had slugged his barrel yet, but from my readings on the net, the Beretta barrels (both 9 and 40) tend to run on the big side. My M&P9 & 40 barrels slug right at 0.355 and 0.400 with the throats at 0.356 and 0.401 so there is no wiggle room and bullets with exposed vertical sides must be sized or they won't chamber. Along with that, the tended to develop mild leading in streaks when TL'ed with 45/45/10. Not much but the silver glitter comes out when running a Chore Boy wrapped bore mop. The leading is the same whether shooting 50 rounds or 200 rounds and doesn't seem to affect accuracy.

I have since gone to Powder Coating the bullets and the leading went away completely. Only soot left in the barrel which cleans up with a single pass of a bore snake. My bullets dropped at ~0.4025 and after PC, they averaged 0.405 but they slide through the Lee push through sizer without lube and come out exactly at 0.401"

For your Beretta, if you try powder coating, you might get away without sizing them at all. Just cast without beagling, powder coat and load them.

[tazman]

Powder coating is very good for keeping lead out of the barrel. My friend has a Ruger with a rough barrel and has to powder coat to keep from leading.
My experiences with PC have been mixed. While I get no leading, my accuracy suffers in the 9mm and 40s&w. I think it softens the boolits too much. I have tried water dropping them after baking but it doesn't harden them enough for the boolits to work right.
They work great in my 38 special though.
Your idea of casting, powder coating and loading is a good one. I would only suggest one difference, that he sizes them before powder coating to have a nice round boolit to work with.