Lee 125 gr. T/L Trucated Cone

[Ben]

Much has been said about this Lee 38 / 357 , 125 gr., Tumble Lube Trucanted Cone cast bullet being an in-accurate bullet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Capture-6.jpg

Most of the " horror stories " link the bullets poor performance to the 9 mm Luger round, hitting the target sideways, etc. I've never tried it in that particular round, but I have plenty of experience with it in the 38 Spec. If you can get it to cast large enough, it is a SHOOTER !

I cast these at .3590" ( I had to lap my mold to get it to cast this large ! As they dropped from the mold prior to lapping, they miked .356 ", which could be a big part of the problems with accuracy in the 9 mm Luger) . Shooting " sub- sized " bullets will get you nothing but leading and poor accuracy.

Once sized to .358", I put 1 thin coat of 45-45-10 on them, let them dry over night and load them in 38 Spec. Cases.

It shoots VERY WELL in my Model 92 , 38 Spec. / 357 Mag. rifle also.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/001-76.jpg

By the way, my friend took my pistol and ammo and shot ( at the same distance with 6 rounds ) a tighter group than I did in the photo above. THAT ALWAYS HURTS ! !

[Low Budget Shooter]

Very nice!

[fecmech]

I shoot that same design only with the lube groove for Hunters Pistol silhouette for everything but the ram. Very accurate out of my .38 K frame and both Rossi rifles. It has replaced the H&G #39 RN as THE most accurate bullet in my K-38.

Ps. I agree that probably the main fault for that bullet in 9MM's is that it's too small in diameter.

Here is a 12 shot 50 yd group with 11 in 1 3/4". Load is 4.2/BE for 1000 fps.

[FergusonTO35]

Glad to hear it works for you. I had this mold before I knew of Cast Boolits and Lee-menting and couldn't get it to work in any of my guns. It went down the road and I replaced it with the 356-120-TC which is a really sweet boolit. I have sent a bunch of 'em down range out of my 9's with good success. Seated to 1.053 with 3.5 grains of Bullseye is a winner in my Ruger SR9c, Kahr CW-9, and Kel-Tec PF-9. My mold drops right at .357 so I'm going to try it in snubnose .38 Special too.