Lee 358-105 SWC in 9mm

[Pablo 5959]

The 358-105-swc sized to .357 at OAL 1.000 in lead feeds fine in my Glock17 but stovepipe jams in my Beretta 92FS. When I powder coated them they still don't work in the 92FS and now occasionally stovepipe jam the G17. I think the OAL is too short to kick the nose down and chamber the round. The plain lead must slip better when the nose hits the chamber and the PC sticks a little bit more.

I have been running these through my 92fs and P226 without any issues. Unless I get stingy with the powder.
I don't think I ever even measured them. Just made a dummy and made sure it cycled.
Then use the same dummy to set the seat.

I must have run 5K through each gun with 45-45-10 sized at .357 before starting to play with the HF Red.

Now moved on from HF to better PC paint.
I can see the holes punched with these even at 25yds.

[.5mv^2]

My 105 SWCs weigh in about 110. They load pretty short in 9mm I started low because of the limited volume in the case as they are less than an inch long. Setting them out to the crimp groove would cause them to not load in some of my 9mms.

I load them in 380, 9, 38spl and 357 mag.
I can hit my 40 yard 6x12" gong regularly with my wifes old glock 19.

[Stilly]

So for those of you that are running this, where do you recco to go look for load data?

I have WSF and Power Pistol that I am looking to load these with. I would prefer WSF, but also, what are your OALs? I am getting around 1" or maybe a tad under.

Nice pics BTW. PC pills are always nice to look at.

[tazman]

I was getting an OAL of right at 1.0mwhen I was using that boolit.
Start your data search with 115 grain starting loads and work up till you get where you want to be. That should work fine.

[Stilly]

Thanks. What about powder?

I was looking to start out at 5.0gr of WSF. Currently I have some that are at 5.2gr of Power Pistol but i think they are compressed at around 1.0 OAL. I might have even noticed a slight bulge around the base of the bullet after seating and crimping. I do not know how anyone gets in 5.5+ of PP with this bullet so they are clearly using different projectiles. I was thinking of just going with 4.0gr if I can not find any decent 115gr data. I think this pill when used in .380 is mixed with about 2gr of PP.

I really have to use WSF since I have an 8# bottle dedicated for the 9mm round. But I should have some Extreme plated 115gr coming and then these should all work, but for myself, I like to toy with these little pills.

BTW, Apparently the Lyman Cast Handbook- 4th manual lists data for this mold, but it is listed in the 38/357 section and not the 9mm section...

Since I am just feeling out PP, is it wrong to maybe start at 4.0gr to eliminate this bulge?

Thanks for the reply Tazman.

[tazman]

4.8-5.0 grains of WSF should be a good start load with that boolit.
The bulge won't be caused by powder. It is because the base of the boolit is expanding the case at that point because the walls of the case are thicker there than at the mouth.
I think 4.0 of Power Pistol would be too low to function the gun, but you could load a very few and try it. I think your load of 5.2 would work better.

[rintinglen]

I did not have good luck in the 9mm with this boolit. It gave frequent FTF problems in both my S&W 39 and Sig P6. I had no problems with the 358-242 122 grain Ideal mold that I bought, so I consigned the Lee 105 to the mold box. Now I can't find it! Was going to use it in 38 special starter loads for my Grand Daughter.

[Stilly]

Hmmm.

I WAS going to give a startup of around 5.0gr of WSF.
Everything seemed to pass the plunk test with the P320 barrel but the G-17 barrel was not liking the longer COAL. I have to keep it to just below 1.0 I think for the G-17 to like it.

I DARE say that the P320 could even feed 9x21 if I had some. But I will not try it, it just seemed to have no issues at all plunk test wise.

I will look for the Power Pistol loads and start with around 4.0 or more and I will load 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 Etc up to around 5.5 if I can muster it. Then I will pay close attention to the feeding/cycling and see when it works with no issues. Then maybe document that and keep it as a load to make some more of.

Same with WSF, although I found some load data that I took from another lrn bullet for that. The bulge looked like the shell had a muffin top. That was why I was asking about that. It could have been that I crimped too hard too though.

[Motor]

We got the round nose Lee (102gr?) Got them for .380 auto. It took some experimenting to get them to work in 9x19. They worked good in the short barrel .380 but would lead the 9x19 barrel.

Most of the leading was in the last inch of barrel. I had to hard cast them and lube them twice just to work with a minimum load that would cycle the action.

I'll gladly use the extra 20gr of lead that the 124gr needs.

Motor

[JimP.]

5.0 red dot....works well in my glock 19

[Stilly]

We got the round nose Lee (102gr?) Got them for .380 auto. It took some experimenting to get them to work in 9x19. They worked good in the short barrel .380 but would lead the 9x19 barrel.

Most of the leading was in the last inch of barrel. I had to hard cast them and lube them twice just to work with a minimum load that would cycle the action.

I'll gladly use the extra 20gr of lead that the 124gr needs.

Motor

Ahh. I PC everything. I figured it was a given for most folks now a days but yeah, I cast and then PC everything.

The nice thing about this mold is how it is so versatile. You drop it at .358 and resize down to .356 if need be, but mostly at .357 it seems for many 9mm and .38/.357. PC takes care of all the leading issues typically... It is a win win except for finding published load data all over the place, it is kind of missing that, but I know I see folks shooting it all over so it is just a matter of getting everyone to share the data a little more.

[gwpercle]

I wanted to get a light load for a WWII 1944 mfg. Walther P-38, something that wouldn't batter the old pistol.
Used the 105 grain Lee, sized to .357, conventional lube in the groove.3.5 grains of Red Dot would not give 100 % functioning.
Moved up to 4.1 grains...much better, but not 100% in a friends Springfield-Armory pistol.

4.3 grains of Red Dot worked out the best, functions in the P-38 and three other 9mm's , accurate too.

Gary

[VJERAN]

Please help. I made bullets mold 358 - 105- swc, Lee, and I do not have accuracy in 9mm. Full with powder Vihtavuori N310 and N 320 and see the results in the photo. Disaster. I cut them to the size of .356. I have a gun Springfield XDM 5.25 9 mm. Does anyone have any advice on how to improve the accuracy in my gun? I shoot in 25 m!

[whisler]

Try sizing to .357 and see if they chamber. How much VV N310 are you using?

[.5mv^2]

Are they leading your barrel.

I size them .358" for all my guns that I use this bullet for.

Perhaps you are shooting them too hot?

Hope you can figure it out.

[Artful]

Have you slugged your barrel? - have you shot them as cast without sizing - just hand lubed?

[Shiloh]

Won't chamber reliably for me. Single shot?? They shoot well.

Shiloh

[Artful]

Won't chamber reliably for me. Single shot?? They shoot well.

Shiloh

What are trying to shoot it in? And you have, of course, played with the OAL I assume.

[Shiloh]

Glock.
Yeah, I've played with the depth. Best is with the same length brass with a bit of the boolit edge riding on the feed ramp..
What I haven't tried is an extro power recoil spring. Probably won't do that.

The LEE 125 gr RNFP works great.

Shiloh

[VJERAN]

The Company set their'm the problem. I put a weaker spring on the shutter and I filled with gunpowder min load. - It turned out ok. big difference of lead bullets and copper.