100 % of Bullets Tumbling at 10 yards

[Allay]

Sorry about that I meant caliper must be the cold.

[405]

Likely they're not tumbling just very unstable and yawing around the axis.

Use caution and pay attention to all the details when re-loading for semi-auto handguns!!!! Including OAL, crimp, case length and the like! Pay attention to any backed out primers in fired cases. Anonymous forums yield all manner of cavalier recommendations. Use as clean a burning powder as you can find in the burn rate, velocity/pressure range your gun needs to cycle reliably and shoot accurately. Don't try to overpower the competition with high velocities in the semi-autos! Avoid ball powders. Use reasonable hardness alloy, avoid baking, heat treating, water quenching, etc. Use a fairly soft lube like a modified Felix or slightly oil softened Carnauba Red, Bue Angel or whatever. Avoid really hard alloys. Alloy hardness in the 11-15 BHN range will work for 99% of all these type applications. Pay little attention to those who must use .0001" accuracy micrometers to measure cinder blocks. Pay attention to the groove diameter of your bore. Size bullets from groove diameter up to about .001" larger than groove diameter (fat bullets in semi-autos can work but check for reliable function and free chambering!!!). If you use a lubrisizer you'll have to pick a die that will work. Pick one that is your objective diameter either groove diameter or +.001 groove diameter. Shooten'em AS CAST may get interpreted as running the bullet thru an oversized lubrisizer. That will yield bullets which will likely vary in diameter- what's the point if you have to run them thru the unit anyway? Good luck

[HangFireW8]

First he says

I slugged the bore finally here what I got.
.357 to .3575 in the grooves
.3485 in the lands

Then he says

And leading up the wazoo but it brushes out easily or I just chase it out with store bought ammo which does seem to mind the cold??????

Ever wonder why your bore is oversized?

BTW Once you get rid of your leading problem, I'll bet your keyholing will go away too.

-HF

[NuJudge]

I've recently had excellent results with the Lee 358-125-RF, cast with scrap wheelweights and a bit of Tin, waterdropped so they were hard. It has been marketed as a Cowboy mold. The pictures on sales websites and on the box show a really short bullet with a big flat on the nose and a bevel base. What the mold cast for me is a bit longer bullet with a longer nose, smaller flat, and flat base. The as-cast bullets I measured were .3595-.3600".

I ran them through a Star lube/size machine with a die marked "358." They came out .359". I loaded a few with increments of WW231 (3.7gr to 4.3gr), and I've never seen such small groups from an unmodified 9mm (in this case a Beretta 92SF). I ran some of these bullets through a .357" Lee die, and they came out .357", and with the same powder charges they did not shoot quite as well.

CDD

[Cherokee]

Welcome to the forum and good luck in the learing curve. Let us know how it works.

[HORNET]

Alay, as recommended earlier, do a search on "Beagling" and cast something bigger than the bore. Try that out, then look up "Lee-Menting" and search for mold lapping threads (there's a bunch of them). Get those boolits bigger than the groove diameter and they should work. You might also check out threads on polishing out Lee sizers to larger diameters.

[Bucks Owin]

Is it really cold up in Canada? Always warm when I am up there.

Different parts are warmer in winter like BC...
[/QUOTE] You could've fooled me! I've "weathered" many winters in Prince George of -30F (or more!) temps. Shovelled many tons of snow after school too as a whippersnapper up there...Brrr! Don't miss those winters at all!! Dennis