Lee 358-158-RF 90692 Mold for 9mm ADVISE PLEASE

[oteroman]

I shoot bowling pins with a 9mm semi-auto.
Normally I use extreme 160gr. RN
I would like to switch to cast bullets.
The flat nose is a bonus if I can get it to feed in my CZ.
Plus I can size to .357 which my gun likes..

Any input? The real test is to try, but first I was wondering if some one has tried this already?

THANKS!

[tazman]

I haven't tried that bullet in my 9mm. I do have a 155 grain bullet that works really well. NOE 358-155-tc(elco) was designed for the 9mm from the beginning. It can be cast as a 155 grain TC or as a 147 grain hollow point. It feeds well in my guns and shoots very accurately for me.
The following link will gice a lot of info on the boolit and what it can do.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?278539-Elco-tc-hp

[sigep1764]

I will second the elco. Its the only thing ive shot since i got it from the original run of these molds. I havent cast the flat point, just the hollowpoint. It drops at 150 grains and .359. I load it at 1.125 with 2.8 grains of red dot.

[wlc]

I never could get it to work for 9mm in my Glock. Sized down to .356 it still bulged the brass too much because of the seating depth required to work in my aftermarket barrel. Probably be better to look for a heavyweight mold designed for 9mm. Personally, I use a Mihec 147gr 9mm mold now. Its an aluminum 6 banger and just rains out the bullets. I'd like to try a heavier bullet just for fun, but the 147 does what I need.

[GhostHawk]

I have done it with the Lee .358 158 round nose 1R. I did size mine to .356, but had no issues with bulging side walls.
However, it comes down to specifics, with your gun, exactly what will chamber and what won't?

For me with my buddy's Beretta 92fs I had no problems. Although it was rather a stout load. Your mileage may vary.

[Shiloh]

How deep does this boolit seat??

i use the LEE 125 gr. RF. I backed off the powder to between 4.0 and 4.4 MAX of Unique. This is due to the quite deep seating.
Take it into consideration when working up a load.

Shiloh

[gwpercle]

It's going to depend on your gun and it's chamber. The 358-158-RF grain is a long bullet , it has to be seated deep enough to cover the crimp groove to fit in the magazine and allow a taper crimp. Then there's the matter of the flat point, it may or may not hang up.
Of course the only way to know is give it a try. I experimented with a 158 grain cast SWC ( Lyman 358156) out of a WWII era P-38, It wasn't anything to write home about . 158 grainers are just too much boolit for the 9mm.
But the beauty of a Lee double cavity mould is it's only a $20.00 investment and you will have an excuse to buy a 38special or 357 magnum !
Gary

[Windwalker 45acp]

I've shot them in my S&W M39 with no complaints. I did however have slightly clearance the magazine stop as the boolits were hitting it, but that may not be an issue in yours. No feeding issues other than that.

They shoot well, no leading, fairly accurate.

[rsrocket1]

The 358-158-RF has to be seated 0.355" deep in order for the rim to reach the crimp groove. Of course you won't put a roll crimp on a 9mm unless it's for a revolver so you don't have to seat it that deep. I've heard CZ's have almost no leade/throat or space between the chamber where the rim is supposed to stop and the rifling begins. My M&P and Beretta have at least 0.035 and I still have no way to be able to seat the 358-158-RF in a 9mm case and still have any volume for a reasonable charge.

If you look at the bullet in the Lee bullet mold chart, you'll see how much of that bullet is at or near 0.358". You'll need to keep that under the rim if you want to keep the rifle lands from stopping the bullet going into battery.

[takasaki]

I run a lot of the lee 358-125-rf in all my 9mm pistols, imo this bullet is the best offering as far as lee goes for running a 358 bullet in a 9mm besides beagling a 356 mold.

[Windwalker 45acp]

Pull your barrel and make up a few dummy rounds. Let your barrel tell you what depth to seat to (caveat here is that it still has to fit through your magazine and cycle into the breech).

After worship I will measure one of mine and get back to you, but I can tell you that on mine the crimp groove is visible and proud of the case.

[Windwalker 45acp]

OK, 1.029... basically the crimp groove showing above the mouth of the case. This is a happy medium for MY M39-2's barrel and action, your CZ may be and most probably, will be completely different. It's just something that you are going to have to play around with.
HTH

[oteroman]

Appreciate the feedback everyone...

[chutesnreloads]

Love the Lee 358-158-RF in my .357....really don't expect much for your 9mm though.Have CZ75's in both 9mm and .40.Gave up on cast in the 9mm until I resolved tumbling issues.The .40 seems to be working ok now but ONLY with powder coated boolits.If this continues,I'll try the 9mm again with PC'd boolits.Would advise you to try a different boolit for 9mm.Hope you get better results in your 9mm CZ than me.

[Boolseye]

I have cycled a few Lee TL358-158 SWC through my 9mm, over 3 grains of BE.
Not anything I was particularly enchanted with, but they shot OK. It's doable.