Ruger LC9s and Lee TL356-124-2R

[smkummer]

Anyone out there loading for this combination? It will be a first time for me and its a friends gun. My lee .357 sizer sizes at about .3565. I have 700X (of which I load 4.2 grains for the B92FS, so I could drop that to 3.9). What I am wanting to do since its a small gun and a new female shooter is a load with that will cycle the gun but with least recoil, so just above a starting load. I also have 231, bullseye, unique, herco and PB. thanks ahead of time.

[BruceB]

This is a timely question for me.

Several months ago, I bought an LC9 with laser sight, being an old guy living alone in a ground-floor apartment.

I had some left-over Lyman 356634 bullets from before my divorce, although the mould had gone to someone else. These worked fine in the Ruger.

I ordered a LEE 6-cavity mould from Midway.... whether I made a mistake or they did, the mould that arrived was for the tumble-lube 124 and NOT the conventional-style single-lube-groove bullet I intended to buy.

Whatever.

I cast a bunch of the bullets and sized-lubed them in a Lyman 450, diameter .358".

I'm running low on pistol powder but had a full can of 700X. I loaded some light trial loads using this powder, running just 3.0 grains behind the LEE 124s in 9mm, (and also a bunch of .38 Specials with the same charge and 358156 bullets.)

The 9mm/3.0 700X load works my LC9 perfectly, even locking it open on the empty mag. It's obviously a very soft-shooting load at that charge level, but I haven't chronographed it yet. It would be a great load for a rookie shooter, IF there's enough resistance to recoil to help the gun work. I'm about 160 pounds and shooting from a wheelchair, so a free-standing lady might need a touch more powder to ensure reliable function.

After almost fifty years of casting, this is my FIRST Lee six-cavity mould, and it will most likely be my last. I was completely unimpressed on the initial casting session with it.

I think a Lyman 356402 will be coming to my door pretty soon.

Anyway, the LC9 DOES work reliably with this bullet design. I must stress that this mould casts a tumble-lube truncated-cone bullet, and after re-reading your post, yours may be a roundnose design. I had previously borrowed a 124 round-nose 9mm Lee six-cavity mould from ammohead, and those bullets also work fine in the LC9 (and an S&W M39, as well).

[smkummer]

That is good to know. Right now I am thinking about 3.6 grains of 700X

[BruceB]

Yes, I think somewhere in the 3.5-3.6 area should work. Bullseye charges of similar weight were pretty common in my earlier days, and they worked well in Browning HPs, Lugers and P-38s with bullets in the same weight range.

Don't load a whole bunch of them until you have your lady try them in her own hands. Guns in the hands of lighter-weight people often need a bit more-energetic loads to make the guns work.

When my ex and I were shooting a lot of Bullseye competition, a light charge that worked for me in BOTH our guns sometimes would NOT work for her.... also, in both our guns. A tetch more powder always resolved that problem.

I out-weighed her by at least fifty pounds..... can we say, "inertia"?

[smkummer]

OK, 3.6 grains 700X function flawless in the LC9s. Recoil is manageable for me but I can feel it in the little gun. So it would be magnified for her. She enjoyed shooting low cost ammo so even if the gun might have had a little sting, I don't think she would say so. I am probably going to stay with this loading so when she qualifies for CCW class with required factory ammo, it should feel about the same.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I load for the LC9 have for almost 3 years now bought my first Lc9 in January 2012 by febuary I was casting and loading for it

I use the Lee 356-120tc standard lube groove but I tumble lube them with alox

over 4.5gr power pistol and they work very well , my son is 11 he had been shooting this load since he was 9 almost 10 (always single load for new pistol shooters especially kids)

the pinkie extension on the mag really helps keep a grip and shoot well they shoot better than their little size would have you think

have loaded and shot many hundreds of these lost track but more than a brick of primers worth

I like the Lee 6 cavity mold have several of them , 9, 40 , 44,44 ,.490rb I wish they offered more bullet designs in them especially 30cal rifle , but , you have to preheat it and run it hot , I clean and smoke the cavities , I run 2 stroke oil applied with a qtip to the top of the block and screw , the first several you start pouring 1 and cut then 1 ,1 ,1 ,the do 2 then 3 then 4 then 5 then 6 as cutting the sprue gets easier all these get dumped in the sprue pile till they start coming out nice then , when it is running right all 6 cut very esy and flop of into the pile then turn over and dump and 6 fall with almost one thud wish I had a bigger pot about that time i have a really good rythem going I am running low on lead

then again I only own lee molds so I may just not know any better , but I like making several hundred in a sitting and having them on hand


unique and power pistol are similar , had played with light loads and 3.6 of power pistol is the least I could get to reliably cycle the slide