Newby find, and a hello to you guys!

[YoGerry]

Hi all,

I just signed up here and I am stoked to find this info all in one place for cast reloading. I have reloaded shot gun for years, and I am just now getting into reloading 9mm Luger. I am a plumbing contractor and have collected a buncho lead over the years, but last night at the "Zerns sale" a farmers market here in PA. I found these 9mm cast beauties all 7.5 lbs.for $10...NICE!

I went home and sorted them by weight (122 thru 128 grn.), and they all are between .355, and .358 on the dial micrometer. What I cannot figure is if they are coated or not? I coat my buckshot with Alox/mineral spirits/beeswax mix that smells like crayola crayons :), but these boolits have no odor? Is there another way to check if they are coated?

That, and do you all think I should shove them thru a sizer before using? thanks guys!

Gerry

[mdi]

Welcome! Yeah, dis be da place...

I can't tell from the pics but I think the builets look like they are Hi-Tek coated. Is the surface of the bullets smooth and black, with no wax lube in the grooves? Was there anything on the container they came in (manufacturer, weight)? I have shot a lot of Precision coated 9mm and 45 ACP (which look just like yours) and they shoot great; clean handling and no leading, but I use the same sizing as my cast; .002" over groove diameter. You could prolly shoot the .358" bullets in a .38/.357 and mebbe the smaller ones in a 9mm. Won't hurt to try...

[Echo]

I agree with mdj - probably coated, and loadable. See which ones will chamber in the 9, and load the others in 38's. Probably no need to size them...

[Jupiter7]

I haven't found a single use for a .35 caliber boolit sized under .357. Well except for meltin' and re-castin'....

[YoGerry]

I'm not sure MDI? They look kind of like the old lead fittings and pipe I have out in the shop. The pics make them look darker then they really are. Looking at them on the table here I would call them graphite, or medium dark grey, but they do have a "slippery" feel to them.

Do you all think there is an issue with tumbling them again in an Alox mix before reloading? I don't want to load up the barrel of my SR9 with lead fouling if I can avoid it. I do have a Sig .380 and was not even thinking of reloading for that before you mentioned it Echo, thanks!

thnx, Gerry

[dondiego]

I believe Echo was referring to .38 spl.

[10mmShooter]

Welcome aboard, their is a wealth of knowledge among the community here.

[Vulcan Bob]

Nice find and welcome to the club!

[YoGerry]

Thanks for the welcome guys!

I have all the components except primers to try my first run. The brass is cleaned, de-primed, and I sorted out a dozen or so .356, 124grn to try. I think I am going to tumble them in Alox first. I only have red dot powder, so I'm going to go with 3.8grn and work up from there. I am going to bring my Lee hand loader to the range and hopefully try a few different weight noses, and alter the powder. I need to save up for a chrono! :)

btw, I will be shooting them from my Ruger SR9 which I just read here loves cast boolits. Blind squirrel and all that! :)
thanks again for the info!

[leadman]

Those appear to be moly coated. May or may not lead. Your plan to coat with Alox may save you alot of cleaning.
It is very important to match the bullet to the bore. At minimum same size as the bore, .001" over bore size is better.

[YoGerry]

thanks leadman.

I guess I will be slugging the SR9 barrel while coating the noses.

Gerry

[Blammer]

give a good flair to your cases, load and shoot. :)

[TXGunNut]

Welcome to the affliction!

[fastfire]

Those appear to be moly coated. May or may not lead. Your plan to coat with Alox may save you alot of cleaning.
It is very important to match the bullet to the bore. At minimum same size as the bore, .001" over bore size is better.

This ^^^^^

[montana_charlie]

What I cannot figure is if they are coated or not?
Wipe one 'clean' with a coarse cloth.
Does the outer surface come away like 'tarnish' on silver, or with more 'body' ... like a layer of something 'painted on'?

You could also boil one in water and see what comes to the surface.

CM

[Ajax]

Welcome YoGerry,
you won't find a better more knowledgeable place on the net.


Andy

[YoGerry]

OK guys,
here is the dope on my first go round with the cast boolits. Loaded 100 cast assorted noses with 4.0 grn of Red Dot powder and Winchester primers. I shot them thru my Ruger SR9 and the loading is fine to cycle the pistol with maybe 5 FTF/smokepipes
(actually I had 3 "duds" where the primer was struck but no bang?"). I set the noses at 1.150 + - .005 and had no issues with cycling thru the mags.

Here's my big question...when I was setting the noses I was getting a "shaving?" or 1/2 moon sliver of lead off the boolit? Besides that, the load was in spec. should I be worried?

thanks guys!

Gerry

[dubber123]

I'd first try flaring your cases more. Lead boolits need a pretty good flare to prevent shaving lead when seating.

[YoGerry]

OK guys,
here is the dope on my first go round with the cast boolits. Loaded 100 cast assorted noses with 4.0 grn of Red Dot powder and Winchester primers. I shot them thru my Ruger SR9 and the loading is fine to cycle the pistol with maybe 5 FTF/smokepipes
(actually I had 3 "duds" where the primer was struck but no bang?"). I set the noses at 1.150 + - .005 and had no issues with cycling thru the mags.

Here's my big question...when I was setting the noses I was getting a "shaving?" or 1/2 moon sliver of lead off the boolit? Besides that, the load was in spec. should I be worried?

thanks guys!

Gerry

[Wayne Smith]

Not sure about the double post, Gerry. Are you using a Lee loader to load these? You need to invest in a short needlenose plier. You use these to put a flare on the mouth of the case before you put the boolit in. When you seat the boolit the die will remove the flare and provide a little crimp. Put enough flare on the case mouth that the boolit sits down in the brass when you put the seat die down over it. Viola, no lead peeling off the boolit.

[dondiego]

3 duds? You either have a real batch of bad primers or, more likely, they are not seated deeply enough.

[YoGerry]

Thanks guys!,
I am using the 9mm Lee Classic hand loader kit, but then I made tooling to use it with my 3 axis drill press instead of hitting the tools with a hammer. It might be easier buying a "standard" reloading setup, but I like to make my own tooling. So far I am keeping a good tolerance of +- .005 which seems to be better then the ammo out of the factory box. I also made a quick "go/nogo" gauge at 1.155/1.145 for quick check after seating the nose.

I ran a box of Berry 124grn FMJ RN with no issues, but still getting slight shaving with the cast noses. The cast ones do measure .357 so I guess I could make a sizer and push them thru that, or like you all suggest flair the case a tad more.

Thanks for the help guys!

Gerry

[mozeppa]

i'd size them anyway.

that makes you 100% sure that they are the right size....might reduce the shaving too.

also these 9mm case headspace off the case mouth ...
so even if the primer is seated deep enough, it may not fire due to the shell case being too short.

it seems to me that factory ammo cases are already at the minimum of saami specs to begin with,
and having any variances at all at the factory will produce a few longer than normal brass...and a few shorter than normal.

check every thing ...make 100% sure of everything.