Everything started coming together. The Star size die from Lathesmith arrive the middle of the week & the Arsenal 358-125-TC was in the mail box Friday.
I got up early Saturday while it was as cool as it will be & cast over 500 boolits & sized 200 of them that evening. The Arsenal mold is a beauty, but the boolits as dropped measure .35950 instead of the .358 I wanted. Picking 3 @ random weighed 121.2 gr. each. The good news is the size die from Lathesmith sizes them down to .35650: perfect for the .35540-.35550 bore.
The #1 photo attached tells the story.
Taking the advice from P Flados my test brass is Federal.
I'm starting out with the load suggested by LUCKYDAWG13: 3.8 of red dot. My old Lyman pistol & Revolver book shows this as the suggested starting load.
The #2 photo shows 3.8 of R.D. in the case (I don't see how there would be enough room in the case to add more). Question: are compressed loads normal in the 9?
It'll take me a while to become accustomed to handling these small components.....I've considered tweezers to handle the boolits in & out of the Star.
I'll be sure to equip myself with my shooting glasses + gloves before touching that first one off tomorrow morning.
Henry