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Thread: Recommendations for 9mm

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Recommendations for 9mm

    There are a lot of threads on this, and I've read all of them that I could find, but I'm still interested in recommendations.

    I never loaded for 9mm before, because I could buy bulk for $0.17/rnd, and hand loads cost as much or more, plus the time I had to put into it. But with the recent run on ammo, I want to replace my plinking ammo with cast. Of course, if I'm going to cast and load for it, I'll want to experiment and try to get decent performance out of it also.

    I'm open to suggestions for weight, bullet style, etc. I think these will need to be PCd, to overcome velocity limitations, and I don't want to pan lube in bulk. PC vs Hi-Tek?

    So who has a mould that drops a great, easy-feeding, decent performance boolit that they want to tell me about? What's your process, load data, etc? Issues with leading and the like?

    I'm looking for a good, general purpose plinking boolit, lube/coat, and load for semi-auto pistol. I mostly shoot Sigs in 9mm, but might load for a few others as needed.

    Ryan

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    This information has been provided in the following link and recommends two Lee bullets that are available in both 2 cav and 6 cav molds. This is in post #1 of the thread. Due to many variables, it is always suggested you work up your load from the suggested starting book load. The problem you are likely to have is that these molds or any bullet molds, may not be in stock at this time.

    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...s-in-a-new-9mm

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    I would start with a Lee 356-120 TC mold. That style boolit will work with most 9mm barrels in terms of throat compatibility. Then slug your barrel so you know what to size your boolits to. Maybe start with straight coww alloy air cooled. Powder coat and size accordingly. There are some good threads on casting for and loading 9mm. I recently tried some of my 9mm loads that worked well in my M&P 9 but shot poorly in my new CZ 75 B. It can be a fussy cartridge to get cast boolit results from.

    Edit; You should slug your barrel first before ordering a mold.
    Last edited by Cosmic_Charlie; 09-18-2020 at 08:26 AM.
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  4. #4
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    9mm reloading turned out to be more difficult for me to learn than straight wall pistol, or bottle neck rifle reloading. The tapered case was squeezing down the base diameter on my cast projectiles. It gave me a problem with accuracy and leading. I ended up using an expander from a 38 Special that helped prevent "squeeze down." But size is king. My 9mm slugged .357" and my cast projectiles dropped at .356". Powder coating eliminated the leading problem and increased bullet diameter. Now I get accuracy better than factory ammo.

    The cast bullet I'm working with is the Lee 124 grain, RN TL. I was given thousands of them by a friend years ago. With the ammo shortage, I figured it was time to load them up. I had good success with WW231, AA#5 and Unique powders. I had poor success with Bulleseye which was dirty and did not give the accuracy of my other powders in my guns. Blue Dot worked well in both my pistol and 9mm carbine.

    A search here on Cast Boolets will give up lots of load data.
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  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    Right now you need to see if you can get small pistol primers, before you invest in casting equipment.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master trapper9260's Avatar
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    For some of my 9mm I do use the expander and seating die for the size of the cast boolites I need to load in them for what my gun slug to I use the 357 mag dies I have ,
    Life Member of NRA,NTA,DAV ,ITA. Also member of FTA,CBA

  7. #7
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    The barrel slugs at .356, so I think I'm looking for something that drops at .357-.358 in order to give me options, whether to go with a full-size .358 or to size down in increments to find the right bullet for my barrel.

    Edit: I have the old style Lyman 385429, but it's way too long to seat properly in a 9mm case.

    Ryan
    Last edited by ryanmattes; 09-18-2020 at 01:00 PM.

  8. #8
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    I PC all my boolits so mold sizes aren't that critical. I've found that several guns prefer .358 and shot like a shotgun at smaller dimensions. A lot of it depends on your barrel how deep the grooves are/type of rifling. IF you get one that drops at 358 (like you said) you can always size it down. your barrel will give you the answer by shooting different sizes and loads

    The 2 biggest problems loading 9MM
    The 2 biggest problems/causes of failure with loading cast in 9MM are OVER-CRIMPING & downsizing the boolit when seating.
    The 9MM has a tapered case.

    Crimping, I use the Lee FCD and only crimp to where the boolit won't move when the cartridge is pushed against a hard object.

    For seating I like the NOE neck sizing dies so much I talked with a member ob CB who made a Lee powder through die with the NOE profile of several different diameters. I've had good luck expanding the brass using the same diameter expanding plug as the boolit diameter (brass springs back .001 after expanding and that.
    .001 does the job holding the boolit in place!

    A 38spcl/357mag expander plug should work also

    I used to expand the neck with the NOE neck sizing die the use the Lee powder through setup to charge the case.

    Ues a kinetic boolit puller and make sure you're not downsizing the boolit in either of these operations.

    this will go a long way toward tightening up your groups and preventing leading/tumbling

  9. #9
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    The biggest groove dimension on my sigs is .3555. The throats are a different story. I hitek coat and size to .3578 so they survive the trip through the throat. That half thousandth in the groove was so I could lap that sorry roto-forged barrel. One barrel was too big in the throat to use even the .3578 bullet cuz the neck of the chamber was too small. Slug your barrel to find it's dimensions and reduce your frustrations. I had to get Lathesmith to make me a custom expander/powder funnel for my 550 to get those bullets to seat without reducing their size. I seem to remember .356. He made it a bit oversized and I polished it to final dimension. I shoot the same ammo in my west germany P226 without issue. I was gifted the same lot of brass from my local PD's qualification range time so it's pretty consistent. I'm using NOE mold HTC 356-135-RF, CCI SP primers and 3.55 grains of Clean Shot. I didn't have to do a thing to my pistols to get 100% function. My final cost is 6 cents/round. Good Luck with your adventure.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by ioon44 View Post
    Right now you need to see if you can get small pistol primers, before you invest in casting equipment.
    ^^ What he said.

    Otherwise I'd recommend the Lee 356-120-TC or for a better quality mold the NOE 359-121-RN (which is in stock today). It is easy to make either of these feed very reliably. COAL is weapon dependant, you can plunk-test for your chamber. I find perfect function in multiple 9MM's with the 356-120-TC at COAL 1.052" and the 359-121-RN at COAL 1.065". I recommend sizing to .358 not only because it works in every 9MM I've loaded for but also because if you don't expand the case neck to .356 you're probably going to size nown your bullet anyway. .001" is a very small measure. As for loads, get at least two good manuals and see what your weapon likes best. My go-to is Blue Dot 6.5 gr. for the two boolits mentioned above. It's not hard to out perform factory ammo.

  11. #11
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    I went through several different 9mm moulds ...the Lee 356-120-TC , 120 gr. truncated cone , was about the right weight and the TC profile fed from all 4 different pistols I had . All liked boolits sized .357 " .
    I wanted to use a softish alloy , air cooled and drive them to 1,000 fps which gave me the idea of a gas checked boolit .
    That led to a NOE 358-124-TC-GC mould . It's a winner . Sized .357 I use it in 9mm luger loads .
    Size the same bullet to .358 and I use it in 38 Special +P loads and even 357 Magnum loads .
    The gas check lets me drive them to some decent velocities .
    If you have a 357 magnum rifle this one is just the ticket ... the GC keeps the lead at bay .
    If I want any plain base ... I have the Lee 2 cavity mould . But the 4 cavity NOE is getting all the action . I'm one who isn't allergic to gas checks and see a benifit from using them .
    One thing I don't care for is the round nose design ... I have the Lee 356-125-2R and they feed just fine ... but I always grab the TC or a SWC design when casting . The Lee 358-105-SWC makes a surprisingly good 9mm boolit ... I have a WWII era Walther P-38 that loves that one .

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  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    I have a Lee .38 long and short die set, I should be able to use the expander for opening the case mouth enough.

    I am dangerously low on all primers (except LR, I have about 1800 or so, including a hundred pack of magnum that I haven't ever needed, and I only use them for .308), I hadn't restocked before all this happened. But I've got enough to do a few runs and work out a cast and load, and hopefully in the next month or two I'll be able to restock.

  13. #13
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    Really a shame about the primer situation. Hard to sell reloading equipment when there are no primers. I just cast some pure lead .359 boolits to do some barrel slugging. Got a new to me CZ 75 that won't shoot .357 boolits well at all. Think I can deal with a .358 groove diameter but any bigger would be a problem. We shall see.......
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  14. #14
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    I second the 356-120gr TC and powder coating.
    Keep your powder dry and watch your six !!

  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    Did some looking and found a couple molds available. Ordered the Lee 358-125-RF and the 356-120-TC based on the above recommendations, both in 6 cavity to speed up production.

    For ~$40-$60 each, I'm not out much if one doesn't work for my pistol, and it may still work for someone else who wants to let me play with their toys. Went ahead and got the .356, .357, and .358 sizing dies while I was at it. There's a gun show coming in a couple weeks, where I can usually score some primers and powders. It'll take a while for me to get the stuff in, cast a bunch, and work up some loads, but I'll report back with my findings.

    After that, I'll start digging into coatings. Any opinions on PC vs HI-TEK?

  16. #16
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    Folks on this site get good results from both PC and Hitek. Pick your poison.

    I want to point out that the start of the web on a 9mm case is a lot farther up the case wall then 38/357. You may have to expand and flare in 2 steps. I didn't have enough die space on my Dillon to do that. You can do it the multistep way to figure out what you need before you make the investment.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by jsizemore View Post
    Folks on this site get good results from both PC and Hitek. Pick your poison.

    I want to point out that the start of the web on a 9mm case is a lot farther up the case wall then 38/357. You may have to expand and flare in 2 steps. I didn't have enough die space on my Dillon to do that. You can do it the multistep way to figure out what you need before you make the investment.
    I just ordered a 6 cav Lee 358-105 SWC partly because my CZ has a larger groove diameter and also the shorter boolit will be easier to case mouth expand for. I can also use it in my K-38 Smith. We can all report back on our results.
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  18. #18
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    The Lee 358-105 is a fine little boolit for 9mm or .38. A six cavity will allow you to produce plenty of them. Once I learned where to seat them all of my 9,s run them well.

  19. #19
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    My lee 158 125 Rf and the lee 356 120 tc is

  20. #20
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    Is great in my 9 mm not sized. I got the Lee 358 105 I haven’t shot yet but casted a bunch up. I use only white lable lube 45/45/10 or lee liquid alox. 3.5 to 4 gr of bulseye works great for 115 to 125 gr bullets. Only problem my high point likes Bullets sized to .357 and all the rest like .358. I use range scrap to wheel weights. I even tried wheel weights cut in half with pure lead .I do use the NOE expanders With the lee flare tool and get no leading.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

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