Recommendations for 9mm

[Kosh75287]

This doesn't address your bullet casting/sizing issues, but I'd like to suggest that you use Unique or BE-86 as a propellant. It'll largely take the "Is this the right propellant?" question out of the equation.
I found out the other day that I've been a proponent of Alliant Unique for so many cartridges for so many years, that my local reloader friends refer to me as "Mr. Unique". In any case, I'm going to do it again. I've obtained best results in 9mm with Unique or BE-86, followed by Herco, followed by AA#5. I've found that the very fastest burning powders tend to yield mediocre results. I've had at least adequate results with most powders that are no faster than Red Dot or W231, and no slower than Blue Dot.

[ryanmattes]

I use unique more than 50% of the time in most of the pistol loads I do anyway. It's a safe assumption that unique would be at the top of my list anyway, although not a foregone conclusion, since I haven't loaded for 9mm before.

In fact, the only reason I might want to try to find another powder that will work is because I use unique in so many other loads, and I'm running low.

[blackthorn]

This doesn't address your bullet casting/sizing issues, but I'd like to suggest that you use Unique or BE-86 as a propellant. It'll largely take the "Is this the right propellant?" question out of the equation.
I found out the other day that I've been a proponent of Alliant Unique for so many cartridges for so many years, that my local reloader friends refer to me as "Mr. Unique". In any case, I'm going to do it again. I've obtained best results in 9mm with Unique or BE-86, followed by Herco, followed by AA#5. I've found that the very fastest burning powders tend to yield mediocre results. I've had at least adequate results with most powders that are no faster than Red Dot or W231, and no slower than Blue Dot.

What range in grains of Herco do you use? I have a lot of Herco that I have to use up and I just started loading for 9mm Auto.

[dangerranger]

What range in grains of Herco do you use? I have a lot of Herco that I have to use up and I just started loading for 9mm Auto.

I use the lower end of Unique data and work up to where I want to be. Herco and Unique are right next to each other on the burn charts, and act much the same in loads. The biggest difference between them I have found is the burn color. When you fire a magnum load of unique the flash is white hot and as bright as an arc welder! An equal load of Herco has a dull orange flame. If you shoot indoors or in low light it becomes more evident! Good Luck, DR

[dangerranger]

Like the OP, I did not load 9mm. There was just not a lot of savings in it. But the way things are, I dug out an old set of dies and started loading 9mm. I have a couple molds that I make bullets for 38 super, and 38 spl, that I can get good 9mm bullets from.
What I had forgotten is that the tapered case is a pain to set the sizing die to just bring the case down to the right size. I'm using old steel C-H dies and if you set them to where the shell holder touches the die, it undersizes the case. Then when I seat a bullet it swages a bulge in the case.
My first test batch all passed the plunk test , and fired well, But I will do better on the next test run.
I knew there was a reason I didn't like loading 9mm.
This time I'll be sure to record how high I need to lift the die to get them right!
I loaded a 124 gr Lee TC bullet over 3.8 gr of TiteGroup. They all cycled, and were accurate enough. I just need to work on the die setting. DR

[Kosh75287]

BLACKTHORN, the range of charge weights for Herco in 9x19mm with 125s was 5.6 - 6.2 gr. If memory serves, 5.8/Herco/125 LRN gave me ~1050 f/s. They're right, about the muzzle flash. I'm betting that it'd decrease somewhat with heavier charges & higher pressures.

And I tried Herco in 9mm because I, too, ran out of Unique, because I use it so much!

[porthos]

question about the Lee 120TC. what sizes are you getting as it drops from the mold. i hope to get .358. i haven't got one yet. it will be my first 9mm mold. i will get a 2 cavity and if it works; i will up-grade

[blackthorn]

Thank you Kosh75287.

[trixter]

For monetary reasons many years ago I started casting my own boolits. I started with .45auto. When I bought my 9mm I bought a mold for that too, I started with the Lee TL 356-124 2R, and it served me very well for a long time. I bought a mold for my 45 auto that made H&G 68 clones (Semi Wad Cutter) because of the beautiful holes it makes in the paper. I found that Lee makes a SWC mold in 9 mm and bought one (a 2 cavity). It is actually sold as a 358-105 SWC. I size them down to .357. I was a little concerned by the weight, but after pouring some and using Lee Liquid Alox, I was totally impressed. So when powder coating came along I tried that on them and was even more impressed. I have had a lot of fun finding the right powder and grains for the load, but have had a lot of success. I know, pretty holes is a goofy reason to choose a boolit shape, but that is just me. I really love this hobby/sport.

[ryanmattes]

I have to admit, in my recent first tests with the 454424 I was amazed how the ground behind the target looked like someone dropped their hole punch and spilled out a bunch of intentionally cut, perfectly circular little bits of paper. I can't explain why that was so satisfying, but it definitely was.

My concern with SWC for 9mm would be with proper feeding across various pistols. An RNTC seems like a safer bet.

The Lee 356-120 and the 358-125 came in, but they're both 6 cavity, and I don't currently have any 6 cav mold handles, so I guess I have to wait for handles to be delivered.

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[Cosmic_Charlie]

Got my Lee 358-105. Drops nice boolits at .3595". Just powder coated a small batch and sized 30 to .358". Loaded on top of 4.2 grains of Titegroup. Will be testing these in my CZ 75 B. I'm using a NOE expander and Dillon 9mm dies which have separate seat and crimp dies. We shall see.......

[higgins]

I cast the Lee 358-125-rf for my 9mm with a .3580 groove dia. and get good accuracy. My mold drops them at around .358 (give or take .0001) so you do have other options. I have not yet loaded any .38 spl. with them so can't speak to that.

[ryanmattes]

I cast 100 or so from each mold for testing, and they both drop at right about .3580-.3585.




I have sizer dies for .356, .357, and .358, so I'll seat and crimp one of each size for both boolit styles, and see how they look, if they bulge, how they seat, how they chamber, etc.

Whichever ones work that far, I'll load and start shooting with the smaller diameters and work my way up, watching for leading, seeing how they group, if they keyhole, etc.

I'll just pan lube these test rounds, but once I figure out the boolits themselves I'll start looking at coatings.

Then I'll borrow a 9mm from my brother, and maybe one from a friend, and do it all again to see if I can find a "standard" bullet and load to make that I can actually share without causing problems.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I cast 100 or so from each mold for testing, and they both drop at right about .3580-.3585.




I have sizer dies for .356, .357, and .358, so I'll seat and crimp one of each size for both boolit styles, and see how they look, if they bulge, how they seat, how they chamber, etc.

Whichever ones work that far, I'll load and start shooting with the smaller diameters and work my way up, watching for leading, seeing how they group, if they keyhole, etc.

I'll just pan lube these test rounds, but once I figure out the boolits themselves I'll start looking at coatings.

Then I'll borrow a 9mm from my brother, and maybe one from a friend, and do it all again to see if I can find a "standard" bullet and load to make that I can actually share without causing problems.

Good looking boolits there!

[mdi]

My favorite mold for my 9mm, 38 Spec., and 357 Mag is the Lee 358-125-RF. I just size it to the gun it's to be used in. I started out just pan lubing, then dip lubing and PCed several hundred. All worked quite well in my 9mm pistols. Lately I've been getting lazy and just lube them with my Speed Green or Carnauba Red...

[ryanmattes]

Pan lubing is fine in small batches, but it seems like PC or Hi-Tek would be faster at volume. I can only pan lube about 50 at a time, and I spend way too much time cleaning the lube off the bases and crimp grooves.

With PC or Hi-Tek I could do 500 at a time, and no cleaning the bullets one at a time.

[Txcowboy52]

Great looking boolits !

[ryanmattes]

I seated all 3 sizes of both styles in an empty case, to make sure they fed and chambered properly, and all 3 chambered fine, both directly (by hand) and from the magazine.

Next step is to load up a set of 20 in each size and both styles, and see which shoots best. Hopefully none of them leave leading.

Looks like the TC got damaged a bit by the feed ramp, so that's not good. But the bullet seating die seems to have left a mark on the RF, so.ill have to look at that too.

I'll also need to experiment with the seating depth and crimp, since the TC doesn't have a crimp groove but the RF does. But since 9mm indexes on the case, I can't really use the crimp groove. I assume that's intended for .357. So do I just seat past the crimp groove and taper crimp over it?

Also, anyone have trouble with the Lee FCD resizing your bullets for you? Is it squashing my .358 sized bullets down to .356? I didn't really feel the sizing ring when I crimped, so I'm not sure it did anything, but I'm wondering if anyone else has had a problem using the FCD, and if I need to get the standalone taper crimp die.



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[charlie b]

Nice job.

Only you can tell if the FCD is causing problems. A way to find out is to pull a few bullets and measure their diameter.

The crimp groove thing is not an issue. Just seat and taper crimp where the round will feed properly.

The seating stem can be an issue with different shape bullets. Some mfgs including two different stems, one for RN and one for SWC. Once you decide which bullet you will use for a gun, then you can reshape the seating stem if you want (for pistols it really doesn't cause a problem). Either by cutting, or, with some JB Weld (wax a bullet/case with Johnson's past wax, put a blob of JB Weld in the end of the seating stem and press it against the bullet, wipe off excess, let set).

[ryanmattes]

I think because the 9mm case it tapered, the sizing ring in the FCD never touches the case at the mouth. Just an logical deduction, I haven't tested it, but I'm pretty confident. On a straight case it might cause a problem.

The ones I seated all fed great by manually cycling the action, but the test loads will tell the real story.

The die set has another seating stem, I'll have to check it against the RF slug and see if it fits better. It was late and I just wanted to get them crimped and tested, a little mar on them doesn't matter for what I was trying to test.

Good news is, since they all chamber correctly, I have options to test, to find what works best.


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