Proper cast boolit sizing for Beretta M9

[jamesp81]

I slugged my Beretta's barrel at .3558 yesterday. With that in mind, I suspect .356 is going to be too small.

Should I be looking to cast at .357 or .358?

Additional question. How do I stop the case from swaying the boolit down during seating? I have read that this is a common issue with casting for 9mm.

I'm hoping casting might give me better groups with this gun...but I suspect it's going to come down to user error. I think the flat sided grip is giving me some issues, and I suspect my grip technique just isn't good either. Still, everything I can do to help is worth doing.

[Scharfschuetze]

I load for a couple of 9mm pistols. I've standardized on .358" for my standard load and it is accurate in the Beretta as well as a High Power.

[tazman]

I own a Beretta 92FS(civilian version) that slugs even larger than yours at .357. I size all my boolits for this pistol at .358-.359 when I size them at all.
Quite often I shoot as cast since this pistol will chamber boolits up to .360 with no problems. I tumble lube with White Label X-LOX.

[TexasGrunt]

I load for a couple of 9mm pistols. I've standardized on .358" for my standard load and it is accurate in the Beretta as well as a High Power.

I've settled on .357 for my 9mm stuff.

[williamwaco]

+1 357 OR. 358.

I have seen a couple of 9mms that will not chamber a cartridge with a .358 bullet but never a problem with .357.

[DougGuy]

SAAMI calls for a tapered freebore before the leade in to the rifling, if your barrel has rifling running right down to the chamber mouth with no freebore, it will always be problematic.

You could slug the throat and size to fit in the freebore, you'd want your boolit to be seated in the freebore but not jammed into the leade ins.

If the barrel doesn't have any or doesn't have enough freebore, or the freebore it has is less than the diameter of what you'd ideally like to size the boolits to, have it throated then you can seat any boolit you choose to any COA so long as it feeds through the magazine.

[tazman]

I was at the range today shooting some ammo I loaded before I started using the Lee FCD. I was shooting my Springfield Range Officer when I came upon a cartridge that simply would not chamber. I tried it 3 times and tried to assist it but no go.
I got out my Beretta 92FS and it fed and fired no problem and no need to assist.
There are lots of different chamber dimensions out there in the different 9mm guns. I realize my Springfield is more of a target pistol than the Beretta, but the chambers are quite different between them.
I think that Beretta would feed gravel.

[Outpost75]

Beretta doesn't have a SAAMI chamber, but a CIP chamber which resembles the one in NATO Standardization Agreement 4090.

This has a cylindrical freebore 9.1mm in diameter and 3mm long with a 5 degrees Basic forcing cone. So size .358"

[Larry Gibson]

+1 357 OR. 358.

I have seen a couple of 9mms that will not chamber a cartridge with a .358 bullet but never a problem with .357.

+1....same for me.

Larry Gibson

[country gent]

My Beretta does much better with the .358 cast bullets than the .355-.356. But mine slugs at around .357. I suspect that.359 would do even better but not sure they will chamber as well as the .358s do. I normally shoot a 125 grn truncuated cone or round nose. I'm thinking of making a moud for a 125-130 grn semi wadcutter similar to the 45 cal 200 grn semi wadcutters for the cleaner holes in the targets.

[DougGuy]

STANAG 4090 (when and where you can find it) looks to me like it states the throat is to be .360" in length total, it has a taper of .025" in 1" which puts the angle on 1.432 degrees, so the freebore is indeed tapered, as is the leade in to the rifling. Correct me if I am reading the drawing wrong.



This is about what I cut them on. My custom ground carbide reamer is on either 1 degree or 1.5 degree I forget which now, but the throats it cuts are nice and long and smoothly transitioning from chamber mouth to top of rifling.

Lone Wolf 9mm barrel, throat is cut with the reamer as described:

[Outpost75]

Your STANAG drawing sourced online is probably a newer revision than my paper copy, which dates from the early 1960s.

The Beretta M9 I used to have had the ball seat and throat I described.

[Love Life]

I feed my stable of beretta pistols with .358 bullets and run them hot to duplicate NATO ammo. They all run and shoot like champs. Oh, and I use gas checked bullets.


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[tazman]

I have never tried a gas checked boolit in my 9mm. I don't have any problems with leading so I wonder if it is even worthwhile to try?

[jmort]

It is a 35k psi round
I have been using Ranch Dog's gas check 135 grain RF
Love that bullet

[samari46]

My 92fs slugs out at .357 and the normal 9mm cast bullets at .355-6 leaded horribly. Shoot remington 125 grain 357 JHP's with no problems. Bought a bunch years ago and slowly working my way through them. Frank

[Love Life]

I have never tried a gas checked boolit in my 9mm. I don't have any problems with leading so I wonder if it is even worthwhile to try?

I get better accuracy with gas checked bullets and skip most of the hassle of working loads for several 9mm guns.

Not to say that I can't figure out how to make full snort loads with PB bullets in 9mm, because I have. However each was a journey in itself and an individual effort for each gun.

Using a gas checked bullet I just cast, size to .357-.358, add gas check, and load over my favorite 'splody powder. If a 9mm won't work with my go to load then the gun is not worth my time and goes away.

I use either the RCBS 125 rngc or the NOE 124 ft tcgc bullets cast out of whatever alloy is on hand and melts.


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[jamesp81]

I get better accuracy with gas checked bullets and skip most of the hassle of working loads for several 9mm guns.

Not to say that I can't figure out how to make full snort loads with PB bullets in 9mm, because I have. However each was a journey in itself and an individual effort for each gun.

Using a gas checked bullet I just cast, size to .357-.358, add gas check, and load over my favorite 'splody powder. If a 9mm won't work with my go to load then the gun is not worth my time and goes away.

I use either the RCBS 125 rngc or the NOE 124 ft tcgc bullets cast out of whatever alloy is on hand and melts.


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Would use of 147gr boolits at their lower velocities alleviate the need for gas checks any?

[btreanor]

^^^^Yes, at least for me. My go-to 9mm load is a Mihec 147 gr. PB bullet cast from straight WW and sized at 0.357. I load it with 4.0 gr. Power Pistol and it's a tack driver, doesn't lead, and recoil is moderate. I've never had a problem with function, either.

[jamesp81]

^^^^Yes, at least for me. My go-to 9mm load is a Mihec 147 gr. PB bullet cast from straight WW and sized at 0.357. I load it with 4.0 gr. Power Pistol and it's a tack driver, doesn't lead, and recoil is moderate. I've never had a problem with function, either.

Good to know. I've always liked heavy for caliber bullets in handguns anyway. I'm never going to get enough velocity out of them to change performance on target by any appreciable amount, so I might as well throw the heaviest piece of lead I can.