OAL and loads for Lee 358-125 RF in a 9mm cartridge

[Jimmy]

Just as the title suggests, I'm looking for an OAL for this bullet in a 9mm as well as some suggested loads. As I'm sure most know, the bullet is intended for 38/357, but I've read that many on here use it in 9mm as well.
I seated it to the crimp groove, but that's as short as 1.03". I'm hoping this isn't seated too deep for 9mm - don't want to end up with insane pressures.
So far I'm going to try it with 3.8 gr of bullseye and 4.4 gr of WSF.
Sized on a Lyman 450 with a .358 die and 50/50 beeswax and 2138 alox.

[Calamity Jake]

Now pull a boolit and see if the base is still .358, seated that deep the 9 case may have made the base smaller.

I would also back off 10-15% on the powder charges and work up to good function.

[Ed_Shot]

Jimmy,

What is the max cartridge OAL for this boolit in your pistol? How long is your 358-125 boolit and how much does your boolit weigh?

[Jimmy]

Unfortunately, I don't have a bullet puller, so I can't see what the base is now.

The bullet itself is .53" in length. I don't have a scale to weigh it with, since I just use a cheap Lee scale for measuring grains under 100, but it's advertised as a 125 grain bullet. My pistol is a glock, so it'll eat just about anything regardless of length.

[Ed_Shot]

Since you say OAL is not an issue, is the load data you quote for a 125 gr. lead boolit? If so, what OAL is specified?

[P.K.]

Unfortunately, I don't have a bullet puller, so I can't see what the base is now.

The bullet itself is .53" in length. I don't have a scale to weigh it with, since I just use a cheap Lee scale for measuring grains under 100, but it's advertised as a 125 grain bullet. My pistol is a glock, so it'll eat just about anything regardless of length.

Sure you do. ;-)

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=132250

[Garyshome]

You need a case length gauge. Sometimes COAL will not work with a flat nose. [I had problems with a TC boolit not cycling]. Or set it to the max length and try to chamber the round, don't forget to try to cycle through the mag also.

[Spud]

You need a case length gauge. Sometimes COAL will not work with a flat nose. [I had problems with a TC boolit not cycling]. Or set it to the max length and try to chamber the round, don't forget to try to cycle through the mag also. Thread's nearly a coupla years old, my Friend.

[thegreatdane]

That's ok. Someone will pull from this thread in the future too. I load mine to just cover the lube groove, whatever that length is. It was determined by the plunk test.

[FergusonTO35]

Thought I would post an update to this thread. I have been shooting these boolits in my Storm Lake equipped Glocks with really good success lately. My mold drops them at 130 grains cast out of air cooled range lead. I size them to .356, lube with 50/50 including the crimp groove. I seat to 1.040, which exposes about half the crimp groove, over 3.7 grains HP-38.

Function is perfect, accuracy is as good as the 356-120-RF with the same load. Surprisingly this boolit seems to produce a bit less recoil than the 356-120 although the primers are flatter. Hope to chrono it in the next couple of days. As an added bonus the 358-125-RF gives the 9mm cartridge a classic .45 Auto hardball look.

[FergusonTO35]

I loaded and fired some more of these and the 356-120-TC last weekend. Sized to .356 both boolits work great in my pistols and are plenty accurate. As an added bonus, I find that my Lee seating die doesn't have to be readjusted between these two. The same setting will produce an OAL of 1.055 with the 356-120 and 1.042 with the 358-125. Great boolits!

[arlon]

Dragging this up from the depths. Thanks to the earlier posters. I was looking for some OAL info. I was wondering how the two compared. Have the 120 mold and have the 125 in the mail...

[Bookworm]

Boy howdy, you did dig deep for this one !

I shoot this, as many others do. Sized to 358, lubed with NRA (50/50) lube.
OAL is 1.050, to chamber in 3 different nines. At that length, about 1/2 of the crimp groove is exposed. It never occurred to me to lube the crimp groove too.
I'll try BLL next, try them unsized. I'm basically lazy, any step taken out of the process is a good thing.

Start low, I just get it to cycle first. Now I have a Trap 100 load that is very accurate, at about 975fps. I don't need to chase brass, it all stacks up just about 3 feet away.