4-6 cavity mould for 9mm & 38 Special

[RegisG]

Pretty hard to search here for caliber specific moulds. Looking for a suggestion for a mould suitable to load in both 9mm and 38 Special. I think that would be in the neighborhood of 140-145gr. I do prefer 4-6 cavity rather than the 1 or 2. My current .356 124grTC doesn't really feed great in my M&P so I want to upgrade it anyways. I do have 158gr .357 for 38's.

I won't order something custom because I just don't know enough about bullet design and I'm pretty sure people are already doing this.

Appreciate any tips/suggestions.

Regis

[rsrocket1]

Interesting, the Lee 356-120-TC's feed perfectly in my M&P Full Size 9 and Shield 9. I also started casting with the Lee TL356-124-2R powder coated and sized to 0.356. That's the max diameter that my M&P barrels will allow if any part of the 0.356" sized bullet sits above the rim. Any fatter and the slide will meet resistance when the bullet enters the throat and I wind up with periodic slide closure failures and light off-center primer strikes.

The TL356-124-2R bullets drop at 0.357" and after powder coating, the diameter is 0.360". For shooting in my Ruger Service Six, I load them unsized and put a medium roll crimp on the first TL groove when loading them in 38 special cases. For 357 magnum cases, you have to load the bullets so that the roll crimp goes over the top of the driving band. If you try to load them to the first TL groove, the cartridges will be too long and will lock up the cylinder. Guess how I know :? With 10 grains Power Pistol, I can get 1200 fps and a nice muzzle blast. In a 30 special case, 4 grains Red Dot will be a nice mild load, drop it to 3 grains and you are going into rimfire recoil territory. No need to crimp with the light loads.

[Handloader109]

If you really want that heavy of a bullet, I'd suggest the new NOE mold. Elco type. 147gr hp, little bit more solid. (listed at 155) 4 cavities available.... Good mold

[RegisG]

I have the lee 356-124-TC. The short throat on my Shield and Full size M&P 9 are shorter than many other guns. When I dropped the OAL to under 1.1, guns functioned well. I loaded 5gr of Power Pistol. My mold drops at .357 and PC at .358. I size to .356 because my full size slugged at .356. My 38s are SP101


10gr of Power Pistol, WOW, hang on! LOL

Regis

[rsrocket1]

The throats are not very short on my M&P barrels, the problem is that they are narrow. My 40 S&W barrel is 0.401" and the 9's are 0.356". That coupled with fairly narrow chambers means that I need pretty narrow bullets and cartridges to pass the plunk test in these guns. If you look into your barrel from the chamber side, you'll see that there is a decent length before the rifling starts, it's just that it's a narrow passage.

[RegisG]

Interesting. Never measured, it just won't plunk. I use the plunk test on every new load......don't ask how hard is it to eject that live round and the entire batch you have at the range is the same....
Regis


The throats are not very short on my M&P barrels, the problem is that they are narrow. My 40 S&W barrel is 0.401" and the 9's are 0.356". That coupled with fairly narrow chambers means that I need pretty narrow bullets and cartridges to pass the plunk test in these guns. If you look into your barrel from the chamber side, you'll see that there is a decent length before the rifling starts, it's just that it's a narrow passage.

[rsrocket1]

You might also take one of your plunk "failures" (or an exact duplicate dummy round) and color it completely including the boolit with a magic marker to see where it hangs up. You might find out that it is on the rim. If that's the case, you simply need to dial in a little more taper crimp. If it is on the projectile, then a properly sized boolit is the answer. If it is near the base, a full length sizing is needed. Unless there are rifling grooves on the boolit, the problem is not a short throat and long cartridge.

[tazman]

If you really want that heavy of a bullet, I'd suggest the new NOE mold. Elco type. 147gr hp, little bit more solid. (listed at 155) 4 cavities available.... Good mold

I agree with this recommendation. I have this mold in a RG version and have been using it in it's hollow point configuration. It feeds and shoots splendidly in both my 9mm and 38 Special guns. It drops from my mold at .359. I size it to .358 for both 9mm and 38. I see no problem sizing it a couple of thousandths smaller if needed.
While it doesn't have a crimp groove, taper crimping at the leading edge of the front driving band works for me.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?278539-Elco-tc-hp/page3 Follow this link to post #55 to see how it works for me.

[RegisG]

Thanks for all the tips and thoughts. I'll work on these to find the real problem.

Regis

[zomby woof]

The 356-125-2R works in both my 9mm M&P full size and compact. This works in 38 spl as well

[captaint]

NOE also makes a spiffy 5 cav mold I use in my 9. Would work well in 38spl also. Its a 135 gr. RNFP. Very nice mold & boolit.

[toallmy]

I looked at the 135 rnfp beautiful mold and bullet.

[bangerjim]

I use a 138gn NLG mold from MiHec and a 130-ish gn HP brass mold from him also in both 9 and 38. I PC them all so I do not worry about the drop size. PC adds 0.002 to the diameter just fine.

The lee molds mentioned above also work well.

banger

[gwpercle]

RegisG, I have used the Lee 358-105-SWC for both 9mm Luger and 38 special loads, it works well.
Also for the 9mm the Lee's 356-120-TC and 356-125-2R work well in four different guns : a Walther P-38, a Baretta FS 92, a Springfield Armory and a Ruger.
Don't give up on the TL356-124-TC just yet, the 9mm is a little temperamental as to seating depth etc. I had to play around quite a bit to get seating depth and die adjustment right and you just haven't hit on the right setting. There is no reason that boolit should not work in your gun, If I can get the stubby 105-SWC to work you can get the 124-TC to work. Don't worry about exact measurements, if it doesn't feed usually the bullet is sticking out too far. I was afraid about deep seating, but it's not a big deal, seating a little deeper into the case is not going to blow up your gun.
All those custom moulds are nice but sometimes you just have to use what you already have or what you can afford. The Lee moulds and boolits do work, so just keep trying .
I've been reloading since 1967 and the 9mm is the only one that I was ready to give up reloading ...it's a little stinker..but I got it right after a while.
Gary

[bangerjim]

I was afraid about deep seating, but it's not a big deal, seating a little deeper into the case is not going to blow up your gun.Gary

Just watch out for compressed loads in those teeny weeny small cases!!!!! Deep seating can cause compressed loads and "lots-o-fun" in a 9 and similar "micro" case.

bnagerjim

[rintinglen]

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/images/N.O.E._Bullet_Moulds_358_135Gr._RF.JpgThis would be my preference, were I limited to just one for all my mid bore shooting. I bought this in the RG-4 to make Hollow Points, but the plain jane RF will work just as well. He doesn't have any in stock right now, but Swede listens and just let him know what you want. As soon as he gets 10 people asking, the molds go on the list to get made. His stuff is definitely first cabin. I have something like 8 of his molds, may be more, and the quality of worksmanship is excellent. And should you have a problem, as unlikely as it seems, an e-mail to him will get a prompt response, and he will make it right.