Cast bullet for Steel Plate Challenge Competition

[SteveMKentucky]

(Yes, I've been a lurker here)... However, I've recently gotten into Steel Plate Challenge shooting and would like to develop a cast boolit load to use in competition. I'd like to duplicate the Federal 'Syntech' 150 gr. subsonic load for my pistol. Low recoil (for quick recovery time) and solid impact on targets are primary objectives. My intent is to find a bullet design with an adequate cast diameter to shoot in my pistol with a powder coating. The basic specs for the load in question are located at the bottom of the following link:

https://www.federalpremium.com/handgun/syntech/syntech-action-pistol/11-AE9SJAP1.html

The pistol I will be using is a Walther Q5 Match Steel Frame. I have not slugged the barrel yet but it does have a polygon rifled barrel. I'm guessing that it's going to require a .358 or .359 boolit after sizing. I'm looking for the following suggestions:

- Best bullet design for 9mm in a .358 diameter after sizing (the Federal Syntech is a truncated cone - flat nose boolit)
- Source for recommended bullet mold
- Recommendation for powder suitable for low velocity application (sub-sonic)
- Any other recommendations for this application

[geslayton]

I don't know if this helps for sure, but, in shooting uspsa and running the Lee 120 grain truncated nose mold with COWWs powder coated and sizer to .356. I'm using just over 4 grains of shooters world cleanshot and averaging just under 1050 fps

Sent from my moto e5 cruise using Tapatalk

[rintinglen]

There are any number of 147-155 grain TC 9mm boolit molds out there, but I would suggest the 358-155 tc by NOE. 3.8 grains Of autocomp or 3.3 grains of ww231 or Titegroup should work just fine
Hopefully Tazman will ring in here, as I seem to recall him having a great deal of success with this Boolit.

[sigep1764]

The above mentioned Elco boolit from NOE has been my only cast boolit for 9mm for the last few years. In COWW alloy it drops a 151 grain HP for me. Never cast any with the flat point pins. 2.8 grains of Red Dot is mild and accurate. I lube mine traditionally and have heard that coating them might cause seating depth issues as the nose of the boolit is designed to fit short leade/short throat barrels. If you PM me with an address I can send you a few sized and lubed at .358 with Carnuba Blue lube or as cast with no lube.

[SteveMKentucky]

There are any number of 147-155 grain TC 9mm boolit molds out there, but I would suggest the 358-155 tc by NOE. 3.8 grains Of autocomp or 3.3 grains of ww231 or Titegroup should work just fine
Hopefully Tazman will ring in here, as I seem to recall him having a great deal of success with this Boolit.. Thank you! The NOE bullet looks to be exactly what I was looking for. I was thinking a little lighter than 150 rather than over but will try it.

[SteveMKentucky]

The above mentioned Elco boolit from NOE has been my only cast boolit for 9mm for the last few years. In COWW alloy it drops a 151 grain HP for me. Never cast any with the flat point pins. 2.8 grains of Red Dot is mild and accurate. I lube mine traditionally and have heard that coating them might cause seating depth issues as the nose of the boolit is designed to fit short leade/short throat barrels. If you PM me with an address I can send you a few sized and lubed at .358 with Carnuba Blue lube or as cast with no lube.

Thank you for that too, and thanks for the comment on the coating. It looks like that bullet does not take gas checks. Have you found that to be a problem? Will PM.

[mnewcomb59]

As you get faster you will find the heavy bullets run the slide too slow. The fast guys are running 124-135. I can shoot 147s with .19 splits and the 124s at the same power factor can be .16-.17 splits. The slide is really lazy and stays back for a little bit longer with 900 fps 147s.

[sigep1764]

Ive never used a gas check for a pistol boolit. Ive shot cast in Glocks, Kahrs, Sigs, CZs, you name it. Gas checks are not necessary for 9mm speeds.

[Landshark9025]

The Lee 356-120TC is a favorite here for good reason. Stay away from the tumble lube (TL) version. A lot of guys have had issues with that. I've shot several thousand of the traditional lubed version with powder coat over HP-38 and Bullseye. Good bullet.

If you want heavier, I have the MP 359-147 FP https://www.mp-molds.com/product/mp-359-147-bb/ that my HK will hit a man sized silhouette at 100 yards 3-5 out of 10 times with 2.9g of titegroup. I also have the Competition 9mm 147g RN from them that does very well in my Canik. The Competition 9mm RN was a group buy and I don't see it on their site now. At least not by that name.

[SteveMKentucky]

The Lee 356-120TC is a favorite here for good reason. Stay away from the tumble lube (TL) version. A lot of guys have had issues with that. I've shot several thousand of the traditional lubed version with powder coat over HP-38 and Bullseye. Good bullet.

If you want heavier, I have the MP 359-147 FP https://www.mp-molds.com/product/mp-359-147-bb/ that my HK will hit a man sized silhouette at 100 yards 3-5 out of 10 times with 2.9g of titegroup. I also have the Competition 9mm 147g RN from them that does very well in my Canik. The Competition 9mm RN was a group buy and I don't see it on their site now. At least not by that name.

My only concern with the Lee mould you mention is that I read somewhere here that you want your boolit to be .001 over the barrel size. I slugged my barrel today and it is right on .356. I was thinking that I need a .357 or a .358 sized down the .357. Is this wrong?

[Dave W.]

My only concern with the Lee mould you mention is that I read somewhere here that you want your boolit to be .001 over the barrel size. I slugged my barrel today and it is right on .356. I was thinking that I need a .357 or a .358 sized down the .357. Is this wrong?
You are correct, .001 over the slugged size it the traditional amount. I have found that as long as the bullet will fit in the chamber, it can be up to .003 oversize. I size my 9mm's to .357.

I used lapping compound to open up the diameters on some of my Lee molds. The molds for the Master Caster are large enough already, with out modification.

[Landshark9025]

My only concern with the Lee mould you mention is that I read somewhere here that you want your boolit to be .001 over the barrel size. I slugged my barrel today and it is right on .356. I was thinking that I need a .357 or a .358 sized down the .357. Is this wrong?

No worries. The odds of that mold dropping at .356 aren't great. Plus, if you are going to powder coat, you'll be adding .002 or so to the diameter anyway. I would not be surprised if your final, pre-sized boolits ended up at .359 or so.

[ioon44]

(Yes, I've been a lurker here)... However, I've recently gotten into Steel Plate Challenge shooting and would like to develop a cast boolit load to use in competition. I'd like to duplicate the Federal 'Syntech' 150 gr. subsonic load for my pistol. Low recoil (for quick recovery time) and solid impact on targets are primary objectives. My intent is to find a bullet design with an adequate cast diameter to shoot in my pistol with a powder coating. The basic specs for the load in question are located at the bottom of the following link:

https://www.federalpremium.com/handgun/syntech/syntech-action-pistol/11-AE9SJAP1.html

The pistol I will be using is a Walther Q5 Match Steel Frame. I have not slugged the barrel yet but it does have a polygon rifled barrel. I'm guessing that it's going to require a .358 or .359 boolit after sizing. I'm looking for the following suggestions:

- Best bullet design for 9mm in a .358 diameter after sizing (the Federal Syntech is a truncated cone - flat nose boolit)
- Source for recommended bullet mold
- Recommendation for powder suitable for low velocity application (sub-sonic)
- Any other recommendations for this application

I am shooting Steel Challenge matches with a Walther Q5 Match Steel Frame my bullets are 130 gr FP from an Accurate 35-130c mold loaded to a little over 1000 fps with Sport Pistol powder, this load will shoot 1" groups from a bench at 25 yards.

My Walther barrel slugs at .357" " yours may be different" so I have been running my bullets sized to .360 " and depending on the brand of brass a pulled bullet will measure .359", I always barrel check all loads I am going to shoot at a match .
I coat my bullets with Hi-Tek and the barrel is very clean after 300 rounds or more.

I have tried 140 gr fp, 147 gr fp and 160 gr rn bullets which worked ok but always seem to come back to the 130 gr.

9 mm can be hard to load with cast bullets die adjustments need to make sure the bullets are not being swagged too small.

The Walther Q5 Match Steel Frame is a lot of fun to shoot I also shoot it in IDPA and USPSA matches.

[jsizemore]

I'm shooting this in my 9mm's:

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop/355-9mm/htc356-135-rf-ah2/htc356-135-rf-ah2-5-cavity-pb

I put 2 coats of red copper HiTek coating on right after casting COWW + 2% tin. After coating I size to .3579-.358. In front of 3.55grs of CleanShot it holds the 4" plate at 30 yards with ease in my P226's. I can send you some if you want to try, just send me a PM.

[mto7464]

I am running miha 135 grain 9mm boolit in my PPQ's sized .3575. PC'ed and they shoot great.

[sutherpride59]

If you are going to get into competitive speed shooting such as steel challenge or uspsa may I highly suggest whatever molds you purchase for it you buy 6 cavity versions of. Those pills don’t have to be perfect at 15 yards but you need a lot of them. I did uspsa for two years before I left the military for college, I’ll get back into it when I’m done too.

[fredj338]

A 147gr running 900fps is going to get it done. Several good molds out there. Hard to go wrong with Accurate, 4 or 5cav. I run WST, fast powder, burns clean, accurate & very soft recoil compared to other powders in the same vel range. BTW, I doubt you need 0.358 to shoot out of a modern 9mm. I run 0.356" out of my stock Glock poly bbl & have no issues smacking 8" steel plates @ 25y. They will shoot into 2" off a rest at 25y too. I used to run 0.357" but ran into issues chambering with mixed brass & lng 147gr.

[Petrol & Powder]

Just going to toss my $0.02 worth.
I don't see an advantage with such a heavy bullet. The 9mm Luger likes to run in the 115-125 grain range and that standard weight isn't a fluke.
When you run a 9mm Luger cartridge above the 140ish weight, you turn the gun into a 38 Special. Now I love the 38 Special but that's 20,000 psi cartridge pushing a 150-160 grain bullet and not a 35K psi cartridge pushing a 115-125 gr projectile.
When shooting steel targets the name of the game is fast accuracy. You only need enough energy to reliably drop the plate, anything above that is just unnecessary (and detrimental) recoil.
I know that the "heavy for caliber" 9mm bullets can produce good accuracy (probably due in part to the long bearing surface of the bullet) BUT a 125 grain bullet can be just as accurate AND allow for quicker follow-up shots. The faster you get that pistol back on target, the faster you can knock down the next plate.

[ioon44]

If I understand the OP's is shooting Steel Challenge and the plates don't fall all you have to do is hit the plate.

[Petrol & Powder]

You're right, I was thinking plate racks.
That's even more reason to go with a standard weight bullet.

[kens]

If I understand the OP's is shooting Steel Challenge and the plates don't fall all you have to do is hit the plate.

A big flat meplat does hit harder on plates, but if you only need to 'ding' the steel, then a flat nose becomes a moot point.
On a timed event, I would opt for the lightest load for a faster recovery.
Lightest bullet + lightest powder charge = fastest recovery. A ding is a ding no matter what
I would opt for the lightest load that will cycle the action. (and hold accuracy)
Are you allowed to install lighter springs?