Looking for a good bullet mold that will shoot well in a .40 S&W Springfield XDM. My son got one and now we're going to cast for it. So any advise on bullets & loads gladly accepted.
Looking for a good bullet mold that will shoot well in a .40 S&W Springfield XDM. My son got one and now we're going to cast for it. So any advise on bullets & loads gladly accepted.
The Lee #401-175-TC over stout charges of Unique & HS-6. Shot both conventional sized/lubed and PC.
I HATE auto-correct
Happiness is a Warm GUN & more ammo to shoot in it.
My Experience and My Opinion, are just that, Mine.
SASS #375 Life
Lyman 401043, 401638, or 401654 PC'd over Promo/Red Dot 4.1 gr. are all winners for me. They chrony @ 975~1000 fps.
I don't think you can beat the Lee 175 traditional lube.
[The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze
I really like this one:
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/prod...02-188-wfn-bv1
I cast them as cup points and they come out right around 180 grain and look like this:
WWG1WGA
Another vote for the Lee 175 TC.Mine is happy over BlueDot
If you like Lee molds, the 401-175-TC is a great bullet. As is the 401638, but I would look for an old used one rather than buying a new Lyman. I had Veral Smith cut a 401-175-TC 4 cav, and it is excellent in both 10mm and 40 SW.
Previously had an NOE 403-180-RF 5 cav. Excellent mold, but cast too fat for my PC needs.
"There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something."
~Thorin Oakenshield
If you want to try the Lee 175 TL mold I have a 6 cavity that I was about to put in the PIF thread. It has some gouges on the top under the plate and throws a bullet or two with a bit of finning on the base...but if you dont mind trimming that you can it for price of shipping.
I started with the Lee TC mold and have gone to the NOE 402-170-TC-AN4. Pleased with it.
I love the Lee 401-175-TC six cavity mold. It's a perfect balance between my TL452-230-TC which heats up quickly but needs cooling between pours and my 356-120-TC which needs a good preheat on my hot plate to get the mold up to temp, otherwise it needs about 10 pours to stop dropping wrinkled bullets. Powder coating them and sizing them with the 401 push through sizer makes great bullets. I have cast, loaded and shot about 70k through my M&P 40 and it's my favorite gun/round.
Lee offers two great molds. Their 175gr TC is great for full power loads and their 145gr SWC is a great mold for plinking and ranges and if you load it hot enough it will do pretty good as a self-defense or farm-pest/looter bullet also...
I Cast my Boolits, Therefore I am Happy.
Bona Fide member of the Jeff Brown Hunt Club
Another vote for the Lee 401-175-TC. My favorite load is 6.9gr Power Pistol.
Thanks everyone for your input. Looks like I can't go wrong with the Lee, so will be placing an order for one, and we'll go from there.
Attachment 259086 Another vote for the 175 gr Lee. I haven't loaded it in a 40 but I have in my sons 10 mm Colt Delta Elite and it shoots them better than anything. The powder coat helps feeding in semi auto pistols IMHO.
IT AINT what ya shoot--its how ya shoot it. NONE of us are as smart as ALL of us!
By the way, how hard do you guys cast them? What's your alloy mix & BHN?
I use range lead that is from muzzle loading matches so it is pretty soft. I use 2% tin. Powder coating lets you get by with a softer boolit, in my experience, and also "slicks" up the boolit so is squirts up the feed ramps of auto loading pistols easier.
IT AINT what ya shoot--its how ya shoot it. NONE of us are as smart as ALL of us!
I shoot mostly the Lyman 401638 in competition. My Glocks ain’t fussy and a number of other molds are perfectly fine. But my PCC IS a lil finicky. And this one seems to be least finicky.
When I first started losing for it I was running the LEE 145 and it was goose grease!! But now it’s short OAL causes issues.
The afore Mentioned LEE 170 TC works real well and shoots very accurately. But occasionally hangs up on it’s longer nose.
The 638’s RFN and small me play seems to feed like a RN. BHN is meaningless with PC. I shoot them from about a 7/8 up to a 15 BHN with complete I terchangability confidence. It simply makes no difference for me. Thousands upon thousands of rounds thru factory and after market
Glock barrels and ZERO bullet fouling. Velocities from say 8-1200 FPS.
CW
CW
NRA Life member • REMEMBER, FREEDOM IS NOT FREE its being paid for in BLOOD.
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BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |