How much can I squeeze them down?

[gun toting monkeyboy]

As I said in my other posts, I am new to coating. I have a 147 grain HP mold coming with no lube groves. I believe the official cast size is listed as .359" I will see what it throws tonight when it gets here. I will be coating these as soon as the Eastwood powder gets here, and I figure out where to sent my toaster oven accurately for 400 degrees. Once I get all of that done, I will be sizing the coated bullets down to .358" for use in my various revolvers. My question here is will I have any issues running the coated bullets through a .356" sizer to use the same mold for 9mm guns? And if that is feasible, do I run them straight through the .356" Lee sizing die? Or should I run them through the .358" die first, and then the .356" die? What have you guys done in the past? And how well did it work?

-Mb

[ryanmattes]

Sizing down more than a couple thousandths should be done in steps. Otherwise, you'll think you're tearing your press right off the bench.

Also, make sure .356 is really what you need, I did much better with .357 in my 9mm. .356 showed keyholing on the target and .358 leaded the barrel. .357 was the sweet spot.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[Hick]

I have a couple of molds I use for 38 Special, 357 Magnum and 9 mm. As Ryanmattes says-- size in steps. For the 9mm I size to 0.358, then size to 0.356, then PC, then, if necessary, size again after PC. The biggest problem is keeping the bullets clean so that the PC will adhere well. When I size before PC I do my sizing without any lube-- and this sometimes smears the lead some. Then I have to clean up the bases on some of the bullets. But in the long run it works and I get good PC this way.

[Kraschenbirn]

+1 on what Hick said. I cast a goodly stock (1000+) of 125 gr. TCs at a time and size all to .359...which works just dandy in all my .38/357s...then, I run whatever I think I need for the 9mms through a .357 die and I'm good to go for both calibers.

Bill