I am just beginning to reload for a new-to-me 9 mm pistol. I have been reloading, both J-word and cast, for 38/357, 45 and 380, but only recently the 9 mm, which I have read can be troublesome.
My question involves sizing, but the case not the boolit. My barrel slugs at 0.3550 (with a micrometer) and my Lee 358-125 RF boolit slugs @ 0.3575, so 0.0025 oversize which should be great. As seems to be common, when the boolit is seated and then pulled the base has been swaged down. The boolit was seated to 1.085 OAL (just short of the crimp groove) and then pulled. The base now mics 0.3563.
Question #1. How are my odds that 0.0013 over groove diameter will avoid leading. Alloy is 97% Pb, 1.5% Sb, 1.5% Sn and water dropped from the mold.
Question #2. My Lee powder-thru expander mics @ 0.3541 and an RCBS mics even smaller at 0.3532. If I order an NOE expander plug, what size should I get?
From what can gather from the NOE website and my measurements I think the .359 x .355 would be correct but thought I would check here first. I hate to waste money or time ordering the wrong thing.