9mm Tumble Bullet???

[easymoney]

Greetings all. I've a problem that maybe someone can help me with. I'm using a Lee 356 Diameter 124 Grain Tumble Lube Truncated Cone mold to cast for my 9mm. I originally loaded for my Glock 17 with a Wolf replacement bullet and it worked well. A few days or so ago I took out my Springfield XD Compact, using the same load and found that the bullets were key holing, tumbling, at 15 yards. The load was a mild load so I stepped it up considerably but the bullets still tumbled. I can push the bullet a little faster but I'm not sure it's worth the effort. Has anyone experienced this type of problem and, if so, what was done to stabilize the bullet? I don't want to start buying a bunch of different molds in hopes of solving the problem so any help would be appreciated.

[williamwaco]

I suspect the bullet is too small for your Springfield bore. Have you slugged it? ( The Springfield. )

It is a good bullet. I use it in two different Kimbers.

[.5mv^2]

I had tumbling in a KelTec using a Lee 105SWC, but not other 9's I tried. Different powders were tried and the tumbling got better when I went from 231 to Unique and seemed to stop using WSF. At least at the target range I was using.

Not saying that it would help your problem.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

+ 1 for boolit not properly fitting the bore of the Springfield ,Too Small Try slugging the bore with a soft lead .358-.360 boolit or a lead sinker that is a bit oversize.

I'm not trying to minimise your problem---it could be something else, but this is where I would start....don't buy another mold until you get a handle on the problem...there are threads here that will tell you how to enlarge the cavities of your mold , if necessary..used Lee molds are out there and they are cheap , if you want to try another boolit--let us know what you find...

[MtGun44]

Try this sticky, it should help.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=121737

Tumbling with too hard and undersized boolits is extremely common with 9mms.

Bill

[golddredger]

I to have a problem with the lee mold 9mm tumbling. I tried all sorts of things and I was also getting leading no matter what. I switched to the 125 gr 357 flat nose lee #358-125-RF mold. I water dropped WW and I am running 4 grains of Unique now with no more tumbling and Zero leading issues. For the life of me I could not get the 9mm Lee's to stop tumbling in my gun. I suspected my barrel was just to big for the bullet. So the jump to .358 Dia. made the difference.

[wmitty]

My son purchased a Springfield Compact as you described and this boolet tumbled when we were shooting my loads for my HP in his pistol. I didn't slug his barrel as he isn't interested in shooting cast but I suspected the tumble lubed boolets were too small for his groove dia. They seem to do fine in the HP.

[captaint]

What SlowElk said. If it were me, I would begin by thinking "boolits too small". It would make some sense to begin there. Let us know how it works out. We like to hear success stories. enjoy Mike

[easymoney]

Thanks for the info folks. I'll go with the undersize boolit theory as the chief cause of the tumbling problem. I do water quench all my cast boolits so that may be aggravating the problem. I think I'll try just air cooling the boolit and not sizing them and see what happens. If that works great, if not no big deal. I have a bunch of factory loaded 9mm bullets on hand and was just tinkering with this casting. I'm not ready to invest a lot of time or effort on the 9mm. Now if the problem was with my castings for my 45's then I'd be in a panic. But they'll shoot almost anything I put in the chamber without complaint.

[Cherokee]

My Springfield XDM 5.25 likes .356 bullets of a medium hard alloy. Shoots great and no leading. But every gun is different. Go bigger, won't hurt if it will chamber.

[bruce drake]

My FEG 9mm High-Power prefers .358 boolits so the advice presented by previous posters is valid.

[chris in va]

The Lee 356-125-2r mold actually drops at 360 with wheelweights. I size them to 357 and no keyholing. They have the added bonus of better feeding and less powder compression vs the 358-rf mold.

[Shiloh]

I need a minimum of .357 for accuracy. .358 is even better.
The LEE 125 gr. 2R drops at .3584 on the parting line. Just under .358 on the small diameter.
The last batch of LEE 125 gr. RF dropped at about .3593 an d were sized at .358.
Both give good consistant accuracy from the 9mm. My othe 9mm molds will pattern at 50'
and they are hitting sideways.

These are the only boolits that cast large enough out of my five LEE molds. The .358 RF is for the .38/.357 but was purchaed to have another booliut I could use in the 9mm as well.
VERY good accuracy in the .38/.357

Shiloh

[noylj]

Go back to the beginning:
Do you have pictures? Many times people confuse the target moving and producing an oblong bullet hole with tumbling. Do you get a sideways bullet cut-out that you can place a bullet in?
Did you slug the barrel and ensure that the bullets are at least 0.001" larger than the groove diameter? Often, particularly in 9x19, the bullet needs to be 0.002" larger than groove diameter. Note: 9x91 barrels can have groove diameters of 0.354-0.362". I shoot mostly .38 bullets in my 9x19s--from 0.357-0.359" and they have all fit in all my 9x19s.
I DON'T size any of my bullets. Shoot as-cast and tumble lube. You can play with the alloy to adjust as-cast diameter--more lead, smaller diameter; more alloy, larger diameter.
Are you getting leading? Without leading, it would be very strange to actually have tumbling, as the bullets would be gripping the rifling and should have enough stability for 25 yards, at least.

[easymoney]

Sorry about the delay in responding guys. I haven't any pictures of the target but the bullets were definitely going in sideways. I haven't slugged the barrel, never had a need before as this is the first problem I've encountered. I think I'll start with not water quenching or sizing the bullets, just cast, lube and shoot. I shoot bullets cast from wheel weights only so I might also try adding a little soft lead. If that works then problem solved, if not then back to square one. Initially I wasn't too concerned about this. The Springfield shoots everything else without a hitch and is amazingly accurate. More accurate than me and my old eyeballs and I have sufficient amounts of factory and reloaded jacketed bullets that it will be a long time before I'm in real need of anything else. But after reading all the responses and suggestions I just might make this a project. Winter is coming so a little more time in the shop and a little less time in the cold works for me.