I intend casting 9mm with Lyman #356402 mould. Good choice or sell it?

[Walstr]

I'd like to load 9mm for le$$ expen$ive practice shooting & join some pistol leagues. I obtained this single cavity Lyman Mold #356402, 9mm, 120 grain, Truncated Cone, #A3 for $63 in an auction. I didn't mind it's single cavity for now. Firstly, what's your considered opinion for its use in a Glock and H&K?

Thanks for watching. Wally

[Catshooter]

Walstr,

Lots of people use that mould for the 9. There's a couple of threads about the 9mm on this board, I'd read them if I were you. Lots of good data there.

Welcome to the forum.


Cat

[NoZombies]

A single cavity mold for a gun that you want to shoot a lot might be frustrating, but it will be a decent way to start out.

[Walstr]

Single Cavity is not the point. I'd be willing to invest in larger mould, but need to know if this design is optimal. Thanks.

[MtGun44]

It is reported to be a good design for 9mm. I have not used it, but have had a lot of
good results with, and can strongly recommend, Lee 356 120 TC conventional lube
design, which is fairly similar.

Bill

[380AUTO]

I use the 358242 RN version it has fed in every 9mm I've shot it through sized .357 btw mines a single cavity too!

[Reverend Al]

I cast and shot thousands of that Lyman bullet out of a Browning High Power that I shot when I was competing in IPSC years ago. Always had very good accuracy and never had any feeding problems. You should measure a few of them "as cast" from the mould and see what size they are and then slug your barrels to see if they are close to bore size. I used to size mine at .357 to fit my HP ...

[ku4hx]

The 356402 was my first 9mm mold bought in the early '70s. To this day, it casts beautiful, accurate boolits. The only problem I have with it is the slow production rate of a single cavity mold. I briefly went to dual cavity molds, but then discovered Lee six cavity. Given I tend to cast 1,200 - 1,300 9mm boolits per session, I'd have had to limit our (me and wife) 9mm shooting quite a bit if I'd have stuck with the 356402. Just wasn't going to happen.

"Optimal" depends on your gun. I'd think so but I've also seem some very picky guns in my time. My current 9mm boolits of choice are the Lee 124 grain RN and their 120 grain TC both with traditional lube grooves. Both shoot very well in our various 9mm guns four of which are Glocks.

[Echo]

I use the -402 boolit in my 9's (P1 and MAG 98) and have had no problems. That boolit has been around for decades, and is still produced, so folks must like it.

[NoZombies]

Single Cavity is not the point. I'd be willing to invest in larger mould, but need to know if this design is optimal. Thanks.

Optimal designs are something that's hard to pin down. I have some molds that are optimal for my guns, in my opinion. Other people have had very different experiences with their guns and the same designs.

There are a few designs that are almost always good, like the H&G #68 for the .45 auto crowd. The 356402 isn't quite there as far as near universal acceptance, but it's probably one of the more popular designs for the 9mm. I've had several, but never liked one enough to keep it. Some people love the design.

My comment about the single cavity being frustrating was just that, a comment. Maybe I'm weird, but for high volume shooting, I prefer high volume molds.

[Ed_Shot]

I use the Lyman 356402 and it has given perfect function and great accuracy in several 9MM pistols and Hi Pointe 995 carbine. As stated above, it's been around for many decades and has earned a solid reputation.

Having said that.....have you cast any boolits with it? I would personally be disappointed if it cast less than .359.

[spfd1903]

I have cast and shot the Lee TL356-124-TC, TL356-125-2R, and the 356402 from a Browning Hi-power, Hi-point pistol, and Hi-point carbine. The Lyman 356402 feeds in all the 9mm firearms and is the most accurate. Next to the Lyman 147 grain boolit, it is my favored projectile for 9mm. One cavity or not, I would buy it!

[Walstr]

Thanks to all for responding. I needed to know if this was a viable mould before I obtained a Glock 19 bbl for cast boolits. What has been your results with certain alloys, as far as cast diameter? ed shot reports .359" Am I still trying for .001"-.002" over groove diameter? Thanks again.

[Ed_Shot]

I want my as-cast diameter to be at least .359 because I size to .358. My experience and as I have often read here you won't be wrong sizing 9MM to .358. I load for 3 Glocks ( all with Lone Wolf barrels) a CZ 75 and a BHP and they are all very accurate with no leading shooting .358 boolits. A good lube is important....I use White Label 2500+ (he's a vendor here). I follow the OAL's spec'd in Lyman's 4th Ed. HB which I have found work perfectly in the usually tight chambers found in CZ's and Lone Wolf barrels . For 356402 Lyman spec's an OAL of 1.110. An alloy with 3% antimony 2% tin works great for me with 9MM.....depends on what you can get. Your alloy of 20:1 COWW w/pewter sounds fine. Start low with your loads and work up.

[treadwm]

What Ed_Shot said! :-)
Seriously, that's good advice. Just pay attention as you go and tweak as necessary. My Sig 226 slugs out at .355. I started sizing at .356. noticed minor leading so I changed to .357. No more leading. I use WW lead and RandyRat's excellent TAC-1 lube.
That's a good mold and will work fine. I tend towards RN & FP's but only because I like their looks (and that happened to be what molds I was able to find!). I've loaded up prob 5-6 different types of cast bullets so far for 9mm. They all have their preferred load but they all can be made to work well. Even the tumble lube bullets I bought off a forum member work fine after running them thru my lubesizer.
Good luck and let us know how you make out.
--

[Wally]

I have the Lyman 356402 and the Lee 120-TC 90239....IMHO the Lee is better. If you cast a lot the Lee will be far more comfortable to use vs a Lyman DC... I have a few Lyman SC..they are slow but comfortable to use... A Lee mold will cost about $20.00 and is DC... If you don't like how it shoots, it is easy enough to sell it.

[Shiloh]

What diameter does it cast at??

Shiloh

[Cherokee]

I have had great results usng 356402 in different 9mm and 38 Super guns over many years. My Lyman 4Cv gets heavy quickly now (old age) so I mostly use the Lee 356120TC 6 Cv. Based on my guns with my loads, one is just as good as the other for feeding, reliability and accuracy. Oh, and the Lyman 402 nose punch works perfectly on the Lee for sizing and seating boolits.