I bought a Glock, now to make the Lone Wolf barrel work out

[c1skout]

I found a good deal on a used G19, the same shop had a used Lone Wolf barrel to fit so I made a package deal and got both. This is my first 9mm but I did have dies and some suitable molds so I made up some test loads with the Lee 102rn and 125rf and starting charges of Bullseye. Realized the aftermarket barrel has a very short throat, I need to seat them awfully deep to pass the "plunk test".
The factory barrel with store bought ammo worked fine, easy shooting gun with visible factory sights. No problems there. However I ran into trouble with my handloads and the aftermarket barrel. With the 102 bullet I had a cartridge go just enough into battery to close the action, say 90%, but not far enough to reset the trigger. I ended up having to take the slide off and pry the case back out of the barrel from the bottom with a screwdriver inserted into the extractor groove. No fault of the Glock there either.
I've got some Lee 124 RN-TL loaded up to try now, they chamber well but I'm not anticipating having any luck with them. I tried to make this boolit run in my 38super but never found a powder combo to eliminate the occasional bullet landing sideways. (I also loaded them for my brother and nephew in 9mm with the same problem) I loaded these with a starting charge of Accurate #2, as that's the only powder I have on hand that I hadn't tried yet.
All in all no complaint on the factory gun yet, but so far the jury's still out on the aftermarket barrel.

[Hickok]

The Lee 358 125 RF works great in 9mm.

[Boogieman]

I load the Lee 102gr. & Lyman 356242 125gr. RN in wife's Ruger Lc9s using Bullseye . She gets 1 1/2-2" groups at 7 yds. just learning a new gun. I've had problems with Lee tumble lube boolits in .357mag. & 45acp, hitting sideways. I THOUGHT tumble lub meant the way you were supposed to coat them, not the way they shot.Guess I misunderstood

[FergusonTO35]

You ought to politely ask Lone Wolf if they would open up the throat for you. Storm Lake did it for both my barrels at no charge. Also, what are you sizing your slugs at? .357 or .358 may be too much. I find that both my Storm Lake and original Glock barrels like .356.

[Love Life]

2 options:

A) Have it throated
B) Use the mighty fine factory barrel that came with it.

[c1skout]

Update:
I got out this afternoon and ran 20 of the Lee 124 2R TL boolits through the Lone Wolf barrel. That starting load of Accurate #2 was a real powderpuff, but the gun functioned fine and only made 1 slightly oblong hole in the target at 50ft, the rest were clean looking holes. I'll make some more up the same way and another batch with a touch more powder and watch for more tumbling.

I also shot 10 of the Lee 125RF with the starting load of Accurate #7 and the bullet seated with the crimp groove hidden inside the case, they also functioned fine and showed no ugly signs on the brass so that one looks like a good start too.

I'll see about getting it throated if I can't get something working well enough, but things are looking promising to me so far.

I left the TL boolits unsized and they drop .357ish from my range scrap, the others were sized at .358 because that's what I had sitting ready to load. I haven't slugged this barrel yet but will probably do that one evening this week. What I've shot so far cleaned right out with a patch, but that hasn't been much of a sample run. I'll report back with more updates.

[FergusonTO35]

Accurate #2 is a great, very underrated powder for 9mm. You ought to bump up the charge and see if that improves it. As I remember (check published data first) 4.0 grains was the sweet spot for me with this boolit. #2 has been extinct here for a long time, sadly.

[dkf]

Lone Wolf charges to get the throats opened up their barrels. They advertise that they are nuts for cast bullets but are not throated well at all for cast bullets. Buy a KKM.

[FergusonTO35]

Eeew, that's a deal breaker right there. Glad I went with Storm Lake.

[DougGuy]

Send me the Lone Wolf barrel and be over and done with it's short throat issues..

[Sgtonory]

Send me the Lone Wolf barrel and be over and done with it's short throat issues..

I second this. I need to send you mine.

[paul h]

I load the Lee 102gr. & Lyman 356242 125gr. RN in wife's Ruger Lc9s using Bullseye . She gets 1 1/2-2" groups at 7 yds. just learning a new gun. I've had problems with Lee tumble lube boolits in .357mag. & 45acp, hitting sideways. I THOUGHT tumble lub meant the way you were supposed to coat them, not the way they shot.Guess I misunderstood

The thing with Lee molds is some are undersize, some are oversize, some are even the right size. The 200 gr swc tl's work great in my 45's. Haven't tried the 356-95 rf's in a 9 yet but will soon. They were disappointing in 38 sp, but considering they mike 0.3565" no surprise.

[c1skout]

Update 2:

Went out last evening and got some more ammo run through this gun. I shot a whole box of the Lee 124TL-RN over the starting charge of Accurate #2. I checked all the boolit holes and only had 2 that were slightly ovaled.

The Lee 102RN was shot with a starting load of Bullseye (4.6gn from the Lyman cast bullet handbook) and also worked fine.

I had a definite problem with the Lee 125RF. I had a box loaded up with the starting load of Bullseye (4.4gn from the Lee book for 125gn lead) , but I had to seat the crimp groove into the brass to get them to chamber. They were working fine up until one blew the case apart at the unsupported area of the feed ramp. THAT got my attention. No damage to me or the gun, it just blew the magazine out. I had 13 loaded cases left from that batch that I pulled apart when I got home. I won't be loading that boolit with that much Bullseye anymore!

After all that I had lead buildup in the barrel from about the halfway point to the muzzle. Not the worst I've seen but it took me 5-10 minutes to scrub it out with a copper chor-boy slug.


Dougguy when I pry my hands away from my Blackhawk cylinder long enough to send it to you I'll throw this barrel in the box too.

[FergusonTO35]

Sounds to me like you were seating that boolit very deep and with a stout charge behind it. I would bet your OAL was right at an inch which is way too short. I usually seat it to 1.045, which leaves most of the lube filled crimp groove exposed and use 3.7 grains Bullseye or HP-38. Do send your barrel to Dougguy for safety's sake.

[c1skout]

Another update:
I'm making some progress. I'm sticking with the starting load of Accurate #2 powering the Lee 124TL boolit unsized and cast from my range scrap mystery alloy. My Lone Wolf barrel slugs at 3565 and these boolits run 357ish as cast, unfortunately they are not round. The last batch I tested I sized then primed the brass, then ran them with my Lee turret press set up with a 357 Lyman M die in the first hole, followed by the powder drop, bullet seat, then a light taper crimp to remove the belling. They plunk easily into the chamber. I assembled then pulled and measured 4 dummy rounds to be sure that the boolit is not being undersized. I fired 20 loaded this way and the barrel cleaned right up with a wet patch followed by a few passes of a bronze brush and another patch. I've got a whole box loaded now to try on my next range trip.

I've put about 400 rounds total through this gun so far, both factory ammo with the Glock barrel and my reloads in the Lone Wolf. I'm not as good a shot with it yet as I am with my 38 snub, but I think that will change with more range time. I like that the factory sights seem to be regulated for 25yds. I also like that the starting load with the 124gn boolit hits to the same poa as the factory loaded 115gn jacketed. The trigger pull doesn't bother me, but I'm used to the trigger on my Kel-Tec P3at.

Thanks to all you guys who put together the starting cast in 9mm thread. It's been helpful to me. I've been reloading for almost 25 years and this 9 is the most trouble I've had. I started with 45acp, then moved on to 44's, 380, 357&38, rifle rounds in both bottleneck and straight-wall, then 38 super. If I had started with 9mm I might have been buying factory ammo for the last 20 years:bigsmyl2:.

[Lloyd Smale]

I bought one for my 20. My 401 sized bullets wouldn't feed in it. I had to size to .400 and to be honest the factory barrel outshot it so I sent it down the road.

[FergusonTO35]

From what I can tell the newer (last ten years or so) Glock barrels usually do well with cast. The older ones are very hit and miss, no pun intended. I think Glock accepts the fact that a lot of folks are going to use reloads no matter what they say and have made subtle changes accordingly. It has been shown that the feed ramp doesn't intrude into the chamber nearly as much as it used to. All my pistols have sufficient throating for every boolit I've ever tried.