First cast session

[DrDucati]

154948
After reading and reading books and websites and acquiring reloading and casting equipment and gathering wheel weights then reloading some factory bullet rounds and casting some ingots, I finally cast a batch of 9mm today.

Using Lee 356 TL 124 round nose mold, initially were flawed because mold want hot enough. Fixed that and they came out absolutely flawless! These are 100% WW. Mic'd out exactly 0.356"

Now just to figure out how they run in my s&w shield and decide whether to add .001" with powder coat.

People finding 0.356 WW is the right size?

[Silverboolit]

Good Job!!! My first weren't that pretty. Did you slug your barrel?? I really like the powder coat.

[DrDucati]

I'm going to slug it tomorrow after I cast the rest of the wheel weight alloy sitting in my pot.

If a slightly larger diameter is needed, what do people usually do? Can size down easier than sizing up. Get a custom size mold?

[osteodoc08]

That's a tumble lube design. Tumble lube with your choice, load and shoot

[roberts1]

Nice job on those. It looks like your casting is running as smooth as a desmo v twin. The easiest way to go up a bit in size is with pc. Another method some use is beagling ( a quick search will yield you more info than you ever wanted!) but basically holding the mold halves open a bit with foil tape. I hear 9mm can be a bit tricky so dont get discouraged if you dont have instant success. Whenever i get over my wheel gun obsession i plan on giving it a try.

[Yodogsandman]

Welcome to the site! You're over the hump! You had to do a lot of things right to get those good looking boolits!

Another method is to lap the mold to a slightly larger diameter.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?257858-Expanding-a-boolit-mould-the-quot-WEET-quot-method-(In-parts)

[DrDucati]

Awesome idea! Once I get these worked out I would like to cast for my 50-70 trapdoor and my .69 smooth bore

[RED333]

So you posted a pic of the good looking ones, I want to see the ugly ones!!!:bigsmyl2:
Congrats and powder coat them.

[bedbugbilly]

Congrats - they look good!

Casting is like anything else a person get's in to . . . you have a tendency to "over think" it as you don't want to make mistakes, etc. In casting, you can go "high tech" . . . for some, it's a whole faction of the hobby to get in to. I have cast for 50 + years and am very "low tech". A propane hot plate, a pot and a Lyman dipper. I can well remember doing a lot of reading when I was a kid and worrying about doing it "right". But in the end . . . it's all about just diving in and getting your feet wet and learning along the way. I'd say you did an excellent job and should be proud of what you accomplished!

And about that "Shield" . . . I've always been pretty much a "revolver" guy shooting those 50 some years. I recently got a 9mm Shield - all I've shot out of mine is cast and I have to tell you, I absolutely love mine. It eats whatever cast I feed it and I have no complaints at all . . an excellent semi!

Good luck and enjoy!

[DrDucati]

That's reassuring :)

[DrDucati]

So, this evening a slugged my SW M&P shield 9mm, even though I get the impression from what people say that it's probably unnecessary. And that's when I learned about the S&W 5 groove system LoL. While rotating the bullet I manipulated the caliper and seems to read 0.350 until I hit the right spot and then it consistently mics at 0.354. I read that standard for most American grooves is 4 thou. Would it be a good guess that my groove diam is 0.358 then?

Assuming so, I would try for a cast bullet size of 0.358 or 9? Maybe if there are no diametrically opposed grooves, the bullet doesn't need to be 001 above "groove" diameter but only above bore-and-one-groove...or 0.355/6

[toallmy]

All the research is paying off . Nice looking bullets , bet you can't stop now. Your going to run a 1000 rounds through your 9 to get it right, and it is going to be a blast. Have you read the stickie on setting up the 9mm for cast bullets,very helpful. You better order more primers in advance.

[DrDucati]

All the research is paying off . Nice looking bullets , bet you can't stop now. Your going to run a 1000 rounds through your 9 to get it right, and it is going to be a blast. Have you read the stickie on setting up the 9mm for cast bullets,very helpful. You better order more primers in advance.Roger that! I will check that stickie, thanks :)

[JeffG]

When I first get a gun, I will cast 5-6 out of pure lead so I have something that can easily be driven into the barrel. On your S&W, I would expect to see a short leade or free bore between the chamber and the beginning of the rifling. If you drive the slug there and measure, you'll get around the 5 groove measurement problems. Sometimes I will pour one piece of brass mostly full of lead, let it cool them place the soft lead bullet on top and push that into the chamber. You can then pound it from the muzzle end using an appropriately wrapped/protected punch so you don't ding the barrel. The idea is to get it to expand and fill the throat area just before the rifling starts. You may find it to be ~ .356 if like my S&W SD9VE. My TL356-124-TC's cast about .357-.358 so have been sizing them with a Lee .357 push through sizer. With that sizer they are actually coming out around .3565. In any case, they shoot fine in my pistol with no leading. You need them to be bigger than the groove diameter, which you will hear over and over here, or you will be hating life. I generally try for .001 over whatever the measure size is. I also add 3% tin to my COWW's from Rotometals. I went through a period on mine where I thought I was seeing leading when what I was actually experiencing was antimony wash, which will brush out with 3-4 passes of a bronze brush.


So, this evening a slugged my SW M&P shield 9mm, even though I get the impression from what people say that it's probably unnecessary. And that's when I learned about the S&W 5 groove system LoL. While rotating the bullet I manipulated the caliper and seems to read 0.350 until I hit the right spot and then it consistently mics at 0.354. I read that standard for most American grooves is 4 thou. Would it be a good guess that my groove diam is 0.358 then?

Assuming so, I would try for a cast bullet size of 0.358 or 9? Maybe if there are no diametrically opposed grooves, the bullet doesn't need to be 001 above "groove" diameter but only above bore-and-one-groove...or 0.355/6

[DrDucati]

Ok, I will try to slug it again in the magical throat area and see if I can get a grooveless groove diameter. I should chill about being exact though. I have a feeling one learns more from making mistakes and seeing the results as opposed to trying to get it perfect the first go. Frustrating in the winter getting home from work and sunlight is alright on the way out, can't melt until the weekend. Grrr

[pjames32]

Great start, better than my first try. Persist, try to find the magic size (.357+/-) and work up a good load. My wife's 40 Shield and my 40 S&W compact like cast boolits and I've finally found a good load that works for both.
PJ

[JeffG]

To a degree, that's ok too. I would suggest resisting the temptation to load up 100 rounds then find out after the first 2-3 they are keyholing and leading to beat the band. Some up front prep/knowledge goes a long way. .357 in either the 356-120-TC or TL356-124-TC both work great in my SD9VE. When I picked up an LC9 recently, I tapped an unsized bullet into the throat then tapped it back out. It was about .3565. While the bullets shoot fine and are accurate, I am getting leading on this one so am back to playing with what the LC9 wants to be happy. The LC9 barrel is pretty rough compared to the S&W barrel, which I surmise has something to do with it. It is looking like the TL bullet is going to work better than the non TL version as far as leading goes, but I have more tests to do between the different bullets.

Have fun


Ok, I will try to slug it again in the magical throat area and see if I can get a grooveless groove diameter. I should chill about being exact though. I have a feeling one learns more from making mistakes and seeing the results as opposed to trying to get it perfect the first go. Frustrating in the winter getting home from work and sunlight is alright on the way out, can't melt until the weekend. Grrr