Cast Boolit progression in 9mm

[thx997303]

Okay, so I had been casting rounds for my 9mm for quite a while before I got my reloading supplies.

What I loaded up when I got my setup are Lee 356-125-2R boolits from my 2 cav mold. The boolits drop at .360" and I loaded them unsized.

I loaded up from 3.4 gr Unique to 4 gr Unique.
OAL 1.1"
Federal SPM Primers
LLA/JPW/Mineral spirits
Mil Brass Headstamp WCC 04

And this is the gun I'm shooting.
Springfield Armory XD9 Tactical
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll331/thx997303/DSCN0954.jpg

I went out and shot em, and here are a few of the groups I ended up with.

This group was with 3.5 gr Unique.
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll331/thx997303/100_0918.jpg

This group was with 3.8 gr Unique.
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll331/thx997303/100_0919.jpg

And this group was with 3.9 gr Unique.
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll331/thx997303/100_0920.jpg

Nothing to write home about. Also, all of these groups were shot from 7 yards on a rest.

The bore looked like this after all of the test loads and running a plastic brush through the bore once.
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll331/thx997303/100_0954-1.jpg

Not really a leaded bore if you ask me. So this is good.

Anyway, I loaded up some more rounds from 3.7 gr Unique to 4.3 gr.

I also added a second coat of the lube to the boolits.

And here are the best loads I found with this pistol.

This one was 3.9 gr Unique.
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll331/thx997303/100_1028-1.jpg

This was 4 gr Unique.
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll331/thx997303/100_1031-1.jpg

And this was 4.2 gr Unique.
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll331/thx997303/100_1030-1.jpg

And this is what the bore looked like after all of the test rounds and a plastic brush passed through the bore.
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll331/thx997303/100_1047-1.jpg

No leading.

So, it seems that I needed that extra bit of lube to make this gun a cast boolit shooter.

And I'm having way too much fun. :D

[9.3X62AL]

The "fun" part is the most important element.

[fatnhappy]

very good work Jeremy. You are now officially addicted

[Blammer]

lookin good!

I'd say the 4gr is the winner!

[canyon-ghost]

Jeremy,
That's some really good work on that load, it wasn't the easiest you might have picked to start out with. You can now officially call yourself a handloader/caster. Now, all that needs done is to enter this load into the reloading cookbook so that other guys can share it if they need 9mm. Being a Lee tumble lube bullet and lube, this is a great one for the site. Just need to pass it around some.
Keep up the enthusiam and attention to detail, you're coming up now. Good Luck in the future.

Ron

Your reward, an interesting load thread: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=744974#post744974

[thx997303]

It's actually not a tumble lube boolit. It has one lube groove. :bigsmyl2:

http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll331/thx997303/sample7.jpg

And thanks for all the help I've gotten here. (Particularly in chat)

[HeavyMetal]

I've shot the Lee 125 -2R and been very happy with it. To the point that I bought two 6 bangers in this design for general purpose 9mm loads for everyone I shoot with that has a 9.

Mine don't come out of the mold at .360, more like .357, but I've always thought that Lee's guys pay more attention to the 6 banger molds than the Two's when cutting them!

I was afraid when I got my first mold in this design that the grease groove wasn't going to be big enough ( I'd still like it just a touch larger) but I have never had a leading problem with it and have pushed it to the mid 1400fps range ( yes I know it weighs 125 grains) in my Customized Taurus 99.

Lube has been Blue Angel or Carnuba Red.

Try playing around with some of the "slower" powders for this caliber, I've found a diffinate taste for Bluedot in the 9mm.

[d_striker]

I can't believe you got them to fit in the cases w/o shaving them at .360

[thx997303]

No shaving, but they ended up .358" after seating.

[MT Gianni]

See what your best group does @ 15 yards then 25, That will let you know of stability issues starting to crop up. My training @ the 7 yard line is gun in hand at full drop, raise to sight line and fire 3 in as short a time as possible. I don't see the point of 7 yd aimed other than minute of wolf.

[thx997303]

The 7 yard groups are for initial accuracy testing.

I am planning on doing testing at longer ranges, just gotta load them up.

And my training is generally not done at a range as they usually don't allow the various drills I like.

Most ranges wont allow you to draw and fire. Much less fire while moving. :-(

[thx997303]

The interesting thing about this is that my bore is .354" at the chamber and .355" at the muzzle.

I expected leading at the muzzle because of this, but surprisingly, no leading. Interesting.

[chris in va]

Are you water dropping?

[thx997303]

No, alloy is air cooled wheelweight.