Casting for Glocks

[ccjcc81]

Hello guys,

I’m new to casting, and I’ve got a few questions, mainly regarding shooting cast powder coated bullets through 9mm Glock factory barrels. I’ve been reading and researching for weeks now, and I’ve found a wealth of valuable information, but there are some specific things that I can’t find answers to.

1: What BNH do I need to cast to shoot a properly coated cast bullet through a factory 9mm Glock polygonal barrel? Can I get away with Antimonial Lead, pure lead with 5% antimony at BNH 13? I really hope so, because I have a virtually endless supply of 5% Antimony lead on tap, and if I can avoid changing that alloy, I want to. If 5% is too soft, would quenching get me where I need to be?

2: Hollowpoint casts. I see a 124 gr hollowpoint mold that Lyman puts out, and I wonder if I can make it work with a Glock with the alloy I mentioned above. From what I’ve read, 5% Antimony is a soft alloy, but will the powder coat provide enough structural rigidity to help soft cast hollowpoints run through a semi-auto pistol or CZ Scorpion without beating the hollowpoint up too badly?

3: Bullet sizing. I have read that .357 is an optimal size for 9mm. I have a Lee .356 sizing die. Do you think this will be big enough for a polygonal 9mm Glock barrel? Should I cast then powder coat, then use the .356 die, or should I cast, then resize to .356, then powder coat? Or do I need to go ahead and buy a .357 sizer and use it after powder coating?

I have a little bit of experience casting. My uncles used to make me cast bullets with them, I think I’ve thrown maybe 2000 rounds. Not a lot by any means, but I did learn a little. I’ve been pouring through this forum looking for info, and have learned a lot about what I can expect, and about safety and moisture when casting. I must say, I’m quite excited to begin the process. The only reloading I’ve done has been under the instruction and supervision of my uncles, and to meet their specs, and they cast hard for everything. I’m only just venturing out to load my own.

Also, I know that many of you will recommend replacing my factory barrel with an aftermarket one. I’m more interested in keeping the original barrel, and using the $250 I’d spend to buy a KKM or Bar-Sto barrel for more reloading supplies. I really want to keep the factory barrel in my Glock. I understand that powder coating should make this a non-issue.

Any other advice you guys want to share is welcome. I know you guys probably get sick of answering the same old questions, but we appreciate it.

Thanks guys.

[Lloyd Smale]

never shot coated bullets so I really cant answer it other then it should work. Ive shot a ton of bullets through glocks at about the same hardness conventionally lubed and if sized to the right size for the gun they work fine with minimum to no leading.

[Houndog]

I only owned a Glock for a short while but I shot 124 Lee TC conventional lube groove boolets in the stock barrel. I used an alloy of COWW + 3& lead free solder, heat treated them at 450 degrees for 1 hour before dumping them in ice water, sized them to .357 and lubed them with White Label BAC lube. I didn't have any leading issues at all.

[ioon44]

I have shot cast out of Glock 9 mm & .40 cal factory barrels with no problems, just watch for any leading and clean the barrels often.

I have always used 6-2-92 alloy witch is around 15 BHN. I use Hi-Tek coating with the boolits sized .001" to .002" over bore size.
I have used powder coating but like Hi-Tek much better.

The biggest thing about loading for 9 mm is to make sure your loading equipment is not swagging the loaded boolits down to bore size or smaller, always pull and measure some loaded boolits.

[twc1964]

I use 10.5 bhn lead in all my pistols. 9'S, 38's and .45's. I pc all and then size em. No leading even when pushed hard. Your alloy should be fine.

[sqlbullet]

I don't have a Glock 9, but I have two Glock 10's. Nominal groove diameter for 10mm is .400". Both my Glocks, a 3rd Gen 20 and a 2nd gen 29 slug at a bit over .402".

I run lead successfully in them, but I don't size the bullets. I shot them as they fall from the mold.

The issue I see many having is keeping the bullet large enough and still having ammo that is in spec enough to function. You start stuffing boolits that are .002-.003" over nominal into cases and either the case mouth has to get bigger or the boolit smaller.

As far as hollow points from your alloy, they will cast fine. You may find that they fragment instead of expand. Antimony tends to make the alloy more brittle. However, try it out and see.

[Love Life]

I have cast for, and had success in many Glock pistols chambered in 9mm with the factory barrels. Water quenched wheel weight alloy, a soft lube, sized .357.

[ccjcc81]

Thanks guys. Does my alloy have too much Antimony? Is it going to be hard to get good mold fill with so much Antimony and no Tin?

[twc1964]

2% tin is usually what you shoot for.

[dragon813gt]

For best results you want antimony and tin to be balanced. But you aren't hunting w/ a 9mm so it really doesn't matter. You may or may not need to add tin for proper mold fill out.

Their is no overall optimal size. Size it for your barrel. .357 may work just fine. But you may find you need to go larger.

[RobS]

I use 10.5 bhn lead in all my pistols. 9'S, 38's and .45's. I pc all and then size em. No leading even when pushed hard. Your alloy should be fine.

Are you shooting a Glock?

[rototerrier]

I've shot a couple thousands cast rounds through a glock 19. Just ran 100 through it yesterday.

My current boolits of choice are the .357 MP 4 cavity 125 HP or 130 FP. I've also served it a healthy diet of the LEE 125 2R.

I cast a mix of COWW, Stick ons and some range pickup. Hardness ranges from 11 to 13 BHN. I normally air dry.

I Dry Tumble powder coat with smokes silver or PBTP SDWB.

All are sized one time after the PC Bake @ .357. I've tried sizing at .356 for a while and .357 is more accurate. .357 was also more consistent on the chrono. I also tried sizing, then PC, then sizing again and that was a big waste of time. Thought we might see slightly better results on the chrono and that didn't happen. Was a fun experiment but now I'm down to pure production with what I now know works best for me.

I started out using typical W231/HP38 loads. 4.3-4.9gr and dabbled with some tightgroup and unique loads. I've since moved to HS6 and the things are absolutely SMOK'N

HS6 behind the 125HP and 130FP boolits is really snappy and hits the steel HARD.

Glock will eat them up with zero leading.

If I want to shoot straight lube sized lead, I swap over to my lone wold barrel. I noticed a bit of leading in the stock barrel and just bought a lone wolf to eliminate the cleanup issues. Straight lead with my methods, loads, etc just didn't work out for me in the stock barrel.

[twc1964]

I am shooting a glock 19 and 21. I used to use the stock bbl with same boolits but in order to seat out further i went with throated aftermarket bbl's. They shoot good no matter which bbl i used with the softer alloy sized to .358.

[McFred]

While I have not done so extensively, I have loaded 12bhn, lubed, bevel bottomed 158RNFPs (weigh 162gr at .358") and they ran fine in a factory G31. No leading. It was a 920fps plinker load for 357sig (chronyed) and I did not test the limits. The factory chamber was generous enough I didn't have to downsize the .358" bullets. The same loads would not chamber in a Barstow cut-rifled barrel which was too tight for oversized loaded case necks.

Run the bullets slow, the alloy can be soft and you likely won't have to powdercoat, just apply Ben's Liquid Lube and be done with it.