Low Budget Shooter
09-24-2013, 06:52 PM
Dear Fellow Shooters,
My recent 9mm boolit experiments produced a surprisingly light winner. My NOE 358242 mold throws a 97-grain bullet with the range scrap I'm using. I size to .3575 and lube with Carnauba Red. I bought this mold to use for .380, but the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook 4th Edition lists this bullet over 4.0 grains Bullseye as a possibly accurate load. So I tried it. Sure enough, a load of 3.9 grains Bullseye with this bullet shot the tightest groups out of everything I tried, and shot to the same point of impact as the Speer 115 grain Gold Dots I was using for a standard. This performance was repeated in both of the pistols I was testing---a Kahr CM9 and a Springfield EMP. The fact that this load was my best one in two different pistols makes me think it might do well in others, also.
FYI, I loaded these bullets, all sized and lubed the same:
97 grain 358242
110 grain 358-105-SWC
128 grain Mihec HP
132 grain 356-125-2R
149 grain Mihec 360640
with these powders:
Bullseye
W231
Unique
in just about every combination in the books, and some not in the books :)
This bullet also grouped well with 4.3 grains W231 and 5.1 grains Unique.
So, if you have this mold, you might just try this load with it.
UPDATE: During 2014-2015 powder drought, I have tested this bullet with Universal, and found 4.9 grains Universal to be a very good load.
Thanks,
Low Budget Shooter
My recent 9mm boolit experiments produced a surprisingly light winner. My NOE 358242 mold throws a 97-grain bullet with the range scrap I'm using. I size to .3575 and lube with Carnauba Red. I bought this mold to use for .380, but the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook 4th Edition lists this bullet over 4.0 grains Bullseye as a possibly accurate load. So I tried it. Sure enough, a load of 3.9 grains Bullseye with this bullet shot the tightest groups out of everything I tried, and shot to the same point of impact as the Speer 115 grain Gold Dots I was using for a standard. This performance was repeated in both of the pistols I was testing---a Kahr CM9 and a Springfield EMP. The fact that this load was my best one in two different pistols makes me think it might do well in others, also.
FYI, I loaded these bullets, all sized and lubed the same:
97 grain 358242
110 grain 358-105-SWC
128 grain Mihec HP
132 grain 356-125-2R
149 grain Mihec 360640
with these powders:
Bullseye
W231
Unique
in just about every combination in the books, and some not in the books :)
This bullet also grouped well with 4.3 grains W231 and 5.1 grains Unique.
So, if you have this mold, you might just try this load with it.
UPDATE: During 2014-2015 powder drought, I have tested this bullet with Universal, and found 4.9 grains Universal to be a very good load.
Thanks,
Low Budget Shooter