Finally getting going

[Nate1778]

and have some questions. The first is I am going to order some six cavity molds for 9mm and .357. My question is can I simply order a .357 mold and sizer for both? Meaning size half the bullets for 9mm and half the bullets for .357, which in lead I do believe is actually .358. Is there any merit to this, or are separate molds in order. Obviously I would have to find a weight that would work in both, probably in the 124g weight. Whats the thoughts. I like a round Ogive bullet, although if I have to order two different molds I would order a SWC for the .357. Thanks for the info........

[Calamity Jake]

If you want to use one mold for both then you will need a round nose or truncated cone nose for the 9 to feed and function properly.
You can go up to 150gr. weight and still find load data for the 9 also.
Slug both gun barrels to find what dia. sizers to get.

[runfiverun]

quite a bunch of 9mm bbls are in the 357-8 saize already.
and even if smaller will usually shoot those sizes better anyways.

[Bret4207]

Your 357 will probably want boolits in the .359 area, or maybe larger. I'm not a 9mm guy,, but from what I see here guys are having luck with boolits in the .358 area, and larger. Your individual guns will need to be fed what they want. Slugging will help give you and idea- not a hard and fast rule- on what they'll want.

Provided the boolit weight is proper for the gun you should be able find a design that will work. Sizer dies are the easy part. Be aware many 9mm designs and some 357's tend to be a bit skinny for our needs.

[alor_swe]

For a 9mm with a conventional barrel 356 is a good start. For a polygon barrel you might have to go up to 357 or more.
I shoot plated 356 bullets in three poly-barrels (two glocks and a pardini) with good grouping on 50 yards.

As Calamity Jake wrote, RN or TC is a must for a 9.

I have noticed that a light bullet with more speed usually gets better grouping, at least with jacketed bullets. Have tried a Fiocchi 100 grain TC bullet at 410 m/s (1 345 fps) with great result in my glock 34. Probably not to recommend that speed for a cast bullet without a gas check.

[Nate1778]

Thanks guys for the advice.

[Bret4207]

Nate- you have cast before, right? Starting off with a 6 cavity is sudre recipe for major headaches. A single or 2 banger is the place to start.

[Nate1778]

Nope never cast, been collecting for it for some time but never really had it all together at once. I have decided to do the double mold as opposed to the six cavity. My one exception is my Sharpshooter 00 mold.

[HeavyMetal]

You may want to look at Lee's little 105 grain SWC.

It's a little light for 357 work but it will feed in a 9, used one for years, and it has a crimp groove for revolver work. This Is the best of both worlds and cheap in a Lee 2 banger to boot!

When you decide to move up to a seperate, heavier, boolit for the 357 take a good hard look at RCBS's 150 grain SWC. I can't say enough good things about the mold or the boolit itself!

[crabo]

I shoot a lot of Lee 125 rnfp in my 38 Super, 38 specials and 357 mag. It is a great boolit.

[Echo]

The Lee 105 is great for popcorn loads. I load them in front of 2.7 grs BE (.38 Special) for kids and ladies that have never fired a pistol before. And it works fine in my P1, too, all sized to .358.

[Bret4207]

Okay, by all means start off with a single or 2 cav till you get to casting good boolits, Many of the 6 cav Lee's work great right out of the box, but if you get a cantankerous example you'll just have 6 times the headaches.

[ironhat]

Okay, by all means start off with a single or 2 cav till you get to casting good boolits, Many of the 6 cav Lee's work great right out of the box, but if you get a cantankerous example you'll just have 6 times the headaches.

Hey Bret, I'm with Nate1778 as for experience so I have one more question. Regarding the difficulty with beginners and six cavity molds do we get around it if we only use two or three of the six cavities? I hate to have to buy another mold.

TIA,
Chiz

[armyrat1970]

Hey Bret, I'm with Nate1778 as for experience so I have one more question. Regarding the difficulty with beginners and six cavity molds do we get around it if we only use two or three of the six cavities? I hate to have to buy another mold.

TIA,
Chiz

I've never used a six cavity. All of mine or single or double. I see a cooling issue if you just use two or three cavities in a six banger. Maybe wrong though.

[Bret4207]

Hey Bret, I'm with Nate1778 as for experience so I have one more question. Regarding the difficulty with beginners and six cavity molds do we get around it if we only use two or three of the six cavities? I hate to have to buy another mold.

TIA,
Chiz

Nope, makes it worse. Look, you can surely start with a 6 banger and learn to make good boolits. The problems is instead of having one cavity or 2 to deal with and figure out, you have 6. That's 6 times the problems if you don;t know what you are trying to do. Lee's 2 bangers are an option for learning. Or use your 6 cav, but remember that the mould has to be clean and hot and the alloy has to be clean and hot and you need to have the mould in mechanical shape to cast good. That means no little burrs and dings to catch alloy and gall the surfaces, the pins have to be lubed (very, very lightly) and each cavity may well have a personality of it's own.

It's a lot simpler to start off with a single or double cav and learn what a good cast boolit is supposed to look like before you jump to a 6 banger.

[TAWILDCATT]

I dont diagree with the posters here.but I have never had a problem with Lees
6 cavities.but then I am able to work any thing.and have been casting longer than any one here.not that I am any better perhaps.I also have Lees double cavity and colt and rem molds.molds are like any thing else you have to work with them not against them. when some one throws a mold away it means he is not capable of takeing the time to find out whats wrong.this reloading is relitively new
as there never were many loading before 1960s.and up to 1990 it was mostly dedicated shooters. correct me if you think I am wrong.