gas checked 9mm

[barnabus]

Will choosing a gas check 9mm mold stop most leading problems with this caliber?

[runfiverun]

maybe,,, you still have to rely on proper fitment and diameter.
I don't have a gas checked 9mm mold and haven't felt the need to buy one.
I just treat the 9m like a smaller 45 acp, and shoot stuff.

[TomAM]

Will choosing a gas check 9mm mold stop most leading problems with this caliber?

Yes. Works very well.

[sigep1764]

It can work, but if you slug your bore, cast boolits that will fill the bore, and expand your brass enough so it doesnt swage the boolit to a smaller diameter, most of your 9mm problems will be taken care of. After that, its finding a load the pistol likes.

[sigep1764]

The sticky at the top of the first page of threads for setting up 9mm is just about gospel for me. Helped a lot when i got started.

[tazman]

The sticky at the top of the first page of threads for setting up 9mm is just about gospel for me. Helped a lot when i got started.

This^^^^. It worked like a charm in my Beretta 92FS

[Screwbolts]

maybe,,, you still have to rely on proper fitment and diameter.
I don't have a gas checked 9mm mold and haven't felt the need to buy one.
I just treat the 9m like a smaller 45 acp, and shoot stuff.

My thoughts are the same as R5R on this also, in so many cases 1 size does not fit all. A GC can be a band aid to cover an other issue. Different sizing dies and different size molds can also help. Many, and all, are good answers above.

[Lloyd Smale]

theres a group buy for a 147 grain bullet mold that can be ordered as a gas check mold right now in the group buy section here. My thoughts with it is casting as a hp with soft alloy so it will expand and relying on the gas check to let me do it without leading.

[runfiverun]

that'd make a pretty good 38 special self defense round cast from 30-1 or so.

[Boolseye]

All things being equal, a gas check should completely eliminate leading as long as the bullet is the right size. dont use it as a crutch on a small bullet, though. I would consider a gas check design if I were loading cast in, say .357 SIG. I don't see the need at 9mm velocities.

[jmort]

I have been using this in my 9mm pistols and revolvers. It is the RD 135. I am in on the group buy as mentioned above as well.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/img/bullets/catalogue/35-135D.png

[6622729]

I'd consider a GC for 9mm a bandaid too. I cast several non gas check boolits for 9mm. The Lee tumble lubed 125gr round nose and 124gr truncated cone cast with wheel weight alloy and loaded as cast. I also do a NOE hollow point that I size to .357. These all work with medium loads with no leading in the stock Glock poly barrel and the KKM aftermarket barrel.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

The 9mm doesn't need a gas check if you have proper fit and lube. Even out of a carbine.

[PaulG67]

What ^^^^ he said. Not needed, fit is what you need and a reasonable alloy, I use straight ww's, no gc's and no leading. Also 38 special, 45 ACP, and I suspect 44 special but I do not shoot that one so can't say for sure.

[gwpercle]

My thoughts for a gas checked 9 mm , is soft alloy (50-50 COWW and lead) , air cooled , at 1200 fps and with the GC helping eliminate any leading. I have the NOE 358-124-TC- GC , have cast a bunch and now in the process of sizing them .357. Will report back on results.
I also sized a few .358 to try in a Ruger Blackhawk 357 magnum, hoping the lack of a crimp groove is no problem.
Rather like the design of this NOE boolit , hope it works so I can use the softer alloy, my supply of unlimited free wheel weights retired from the tire business and now I need to stretch my supply of COWW metal. NOE still has some 3 and 4 cavity moulds in stock if anyone is interested.
Gary

[tazman]

I have an NOE 358-135-fn that shoots wonderfully in my 9mm guns. I have the same mold in a hollow point configuration with a gas check.
I have cast up a bunch of the hollow point gas check type out of air cooled range scrap which seem very soft. I am hoping they perform as well accuracy wise as the others do as well as giving good expansion due to the hollow point. I am going to try some soon to find out.

[dverna]

You can always use a PB check if your PB bullets leads. Pat Marlin sells the dies to produce your own PB checks

If you buy a GC design you may be stuck using GC's. If you buy a PB design you can run it as cast if it works and add a PB check only if needed.

[tazman]

You can always use a PB check if your PB bullets leads. Pat Marlin sells the dies to produce your own PB checks

If you buy a GC design you may be stuck using GC's. If you buy a PB design you can run it as cast if it works and add a PB check only if needed.

Excellent point.

[Screwbolts]

My thoughts for a gas checked 9 mm , is soft alloy (50-50 COWW and lead) , air cooled , at 1200 fps and with the GC helping eliminate any leading. I have the NOE 358-124-TC- GC , have cast a bunch and now in the process of sizing them .357. Will report back on results.
I also sized a few .358 to try in a Ruger Blackhawk 357 magnum, hoping the lack of a crimp groove is no problem.
Rather like the design of this NOE boolit , hope it works so I can use the softer alloy, my supply of unlimited free wheel weights retired from the tire business and now I need to stretch my supply of COWW metal. NOE still has some 3 and 4 cavity moulds in stock if anyone is interested.
Gary

IMHO, IMHO, IMHO got that, IMHO, if you own a chronograph, you might find as I have found that 1200 FPS from a 9mm firearm other than a carbine rifle is in the realm of Unattainable. Unless you are shooting a very, very light non penetrating boolit. GOOD luck getting 147 gr up to 1200 from any 9mm case.

I sold a wonderful NOE 135-FN RG mold after many loads were fired with many different alloys and beautiful boolitz. The mold was a 4 cav and a pleasure to run.
I used water, snow, dry and wet crystallized, wet paper, wet sawdust, wet sand, it became apparent to me that getting a HP to reliable open up when fired from any of my 3, 9mms 3" to 5" barrels, breaking 1000 FPS without cratering/pushing the primers into the firing pin hole rupturing primers wasn't going to happen. soft, pure lead won't always open up. Maybe, the 1 of tin would have broken the surface tension of the lead enough to allow them to open. Did not try 30 to 1.

IMHO get a nice meplated boolit mold and have fun.

Ken

[Boolseye]

In my wet phone book testing, an hp boolit bhn 8-10 will open up pretty consistantly at anything over 900 fps.

[Screwbolts]

as i wrote,maybe I should have added tin.

Ken

[Harry O]

There have been a number of threads here on how to get the 9mm to shoot. One thing I eventually noticed is the ones who were reporting success were using much lower loads than I use. I have a number of 9mm handguns and not all of them will function with reduced loads. When loading them up to full powder loads (that would operate any gun I own), the accuracy went to hell long before I reached full power. I tried 3 or 4 different plain-base moulds, different hardnesses, different powder and powder amounts, and different diameters up to .358". While I could get certain loads that would work reasonably with certain guns, I never found one that would work even reasonably well with all of my guns.

Then I noticed that the .357 Magnum was just about the same pressure as a full power 9mm load. I use gas checks on ALL of my full power .357 Magnum loads and have not had a problem with getting any of them to shoot. So I bought an RCBS 9mm 115gr gas-check bullet and have never looked back. It works well in any of my guns at near maximum loads. Some of the people here think that is stupid, but it works for me and it works well.

[Boolseye]

I think GCs make sense for 9mm. I don't use them, but I notice that garden variety 115gr. jacketed bullets are more accurate in my 9mm than any of my CBs, regardless of how well they fit!

[Lloyd Smale]

heres my take on it. I'm in on this group buy for a gas checked bullet. For one I want it for my 9mm ar15. I want to cast hps out of soft lead and push them at top end velocitys out of that gun and handguns so that I get expansion without leading. Even 5050 ww/pure without a check will lead a lot of black guns like glocks sigs, M&Ps ect. Another BIG advantage to checks is id say ive found that in proabably 90 percent of the guns ive owned over the years and I'm talking probably a 100 guns ive shot cast out of, a gas checked bullet of some sort was the most accurate bullet. Now I'm not saying that I couldn't find accuracy with plain based bullets and that in some cases the comparison was pretty close but the gas checked bullets just seem to be more accurate and also eaiser to work up a load for to find that accuracy. Now I'm not going to cast and load thousands of these softer gas checked bullets to use to plink out of my gun. Ive got other 9mm molds that work fine that are plain based. Casted at 10 to 20 bhn they do fine without the expense of a gas check. I ordered 2k of gas checks. Cost about 60 bucks. About the cost of 3 boxes of factory ammo. Not a great expense but granted it is an added expense. I figure though that 2ooo of them will last me a good long time. No a gas check isn't NEEDED with a 9mm but then my 7stw doesn't need a scope either but it sure makes it shine.

[ironhead7544]

I use a 160 gr RN designed for the 38 Super. I find that the 160 is the easiest way to get good accuracy with good function. I load it light, just enough for 100% function. It seems the longer surface takes the rifling better.

If I wanted a high speed cast defense load, the HP GC would be the way I would go. Probably go with a 147 gr.

[HangFireW8]

The problem many folks run into with 9mm is the barrels are oversized, running .358" or even more. Try to load at .359" in a 9mm case and it has a reverse taper and often feeding problems, or you're just swaging the boolit down to more normal 9mm sizes.

Gas checks do at least three things for 9mm, they help the boolit from getting swaged so much by the loading and crimping process, they allow a softer (cheaper) alloy to work, and they scrape the bore and help prevent leading.

I can see those pushing for performance in 9mm, the GC might be the hot ticket. For me, I do cast for pistol for cheap high volume practice, the last thing I want is the extra time and expense of gas checks. I solved my oversized bore problems (in another caliber, but same principle) by buying a quality aftermarket barrel. That slugged out exactly at the correct diameter, and I got on with life.

[Lloyd Smale]

Like you I mass load for 9mms. I try to keep at least 5k loaded and for the blasting ammo I don't need checks either. What my thoughts were is to load about 2k with checks casted soft and with hp for expansion and sticking them away for just in case or when I using a 9 for ccw. Those 2k would last me for many years and the price of the checks is pretty minor.

[beagle]

I'd like to amen the use of PB GCs in the 9mm over regular checks. With regular checks, loading can get expensive with commercial checks. I'm loading a FN High Power clone, a FN Belgium produced High Power and two Ruger Blackhawk convertibles. Each one wants its itch scratched as to diameter or I will get a small amount of leading. Finally, I bought a Pat Marlin .35PB check maker and PB check everything no matter which gun its intended for. No more leading and improved accuracy./beagle

[Boolseye]

I bought a Pat Marlin .35PB check maker and PB check everything no matter which gun its intended for.How do you find them to apply? I bought some 35 pb GCs on ebay once and they took some serious force to apply. I recall running them backwards through my RCBS turret press with max leverage. I have a PatMarlins .30 cal checkmaker which I love, and hope to buy more. That 35 PB would be high on my list.
P.S. Beagle (assuming you're the same one) thanks for your bullet enlarging innovation!

[bstone5]

I make the gas checks on tools I made. The same gas check will work on 9 mm and 357 plain base cast bullets. Powder coat and a plan base gas ckeck goes on all of the cast bullets that are cast with a Master Caster.

Zero lead with several hundred bullets shot at gun club.