Need advice for a 40 S&W mold

[Trapperscott]

Hey all, I'm needing a little advice on what mold to buy. I want to cast boolits for my Glock 22 that I just purchased. I want a boolit in the 165-175 gr range. I also want a 4 to 6 cavity mold. I would like to have regular lube grooves as I have a lyman lube sizer.

For some reason I have it in my head that I dont want a bevel base boolit. It seems to me that when a bb boolit is sized, lube would become a mess at the bb. I may be wrong as I havent ever lubed/sized a boolit with a bb. I would appreciate and tips/hints from anybody with experience with bb boolits.

I really like the design of the LEE 401-175 TC, but it is a bb boolit. I thought about buying it and removing the BB, but would rather buy what I want from the start instead of having to indicate all 6 cavities of the mold in my bridgport mill to remove the bb.

I have been looking at a lot of different mold makers but haven't really found exactly what I am looking for. Any help with suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks, Scott

[rsrocket1]

Can't tell you about lube sizing BB bullets, but I do have the standard lube groove Lee 401-175 TC and tumble lube using Recluse's 45/45/10. Nothing can be easier. If I wanted to load them as cast without sizing, I could and initially did. I simply stuffed them in deep enough to where the cone intersected with the vertical and ran them through the Lee FCD just for sizing. My M&P40 has a tight bore and does fine with 0.400" bullets. I've since sized them in the 0.401 Lee sizer because I like seating to 1.135" and the short throat balks at the unsized bullets, but smoothly chambers the sized bullets even with the longer COL. The 6 cavity mold produces lots of boolits quickly and the bullets shoot very well with no feed problems in the gun for over 4k rounds.

You might ask the question about lube sizing a BB bullet to those who do so. I've heard from a few that it just takes a quick wipe to remove the lube from the base.

The Lee boolit is on the right in comparison to the Xtreme 180 and the Bear Creek 180
57744

A little over an hours worth of casting with the Lee 4-20 bottom pour pot after work one evening:
57745

[dakotashooter2]

I don't have a BB mold but I have tried a few commercial cast BB boolets and have had leading problems with them. I contribute that to..too hard a boolet and too hard a lube.

I've had good luck with the Lyman 401043 (175gr) This boolet is listed for the 38-40 but shoots well in my guns. My most accurate cast boolet for the 40 has actually been a mould I use for my 41 mag. It is an .410 RCBS mould I had hollowpointed. I cast it from WW (197 gr) and size it down to .401.

[pt4u2nv]

BB boolit is no problem to address when lubeing. I use a 45 case to cut circles out of sterofoam meat trays from the grocery store and place them under the tboolit when sizing. After a couple of pass thrus with the boolit it conforms to the sizer and stays there until I remove it when done. You may have to replace it every so often but it works great and is free !!!

[garym1a2]

I load 40's by the thousand of the lee175 tc beval base. you do not get that much lube in it and it does not bother my results.

[Ed_Shot]

The Lee 401-175-TC standard lube grove works great in my G22. I agree that lube build-up is a non issue. Mine drop @ .404 at 180 gr. I use a Lyman 450 and size to .401 with WL 2500+

[Trapperscott]

Thanks everyone for your advice on this mold. Sounds like my worries are nonfounded. And, Pt4u2nv has a remedy for my concern of getting lube in and around the BB of that boolit. I'm gonna go ahead and order it and see where it takes me. I appreciate your responses to my request for advice. Thanks again.

[Lefty SRH]

NOE 402-160 RN or the NOE 402-180RN they shoot great in my G22, G24, and my G35, they are plain base boolits.

[dakotashooter2]

Depending on the sizer you are using you can also plug a couple of the bottom holes in the die so only the grooves are getting lube.