Truncated Cone in Semi-Auto?

[Stephen2]

I want to start casting. Does anyone know if a truncated cone bullet will work properly in a semi-auto?

Specifically i have a Firestar. Thanks.

I am a newb. Duh. A truncated cone (http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=340779&t=11082005) is the same as a semi-wadcutter, correct? I wanted to punch some clean holes. My buddy said that it wont work as i need a round nose to guide its way into the chamber.

[EDK]

If your Firestar is a 9 mm, the LYMAN 356402 (or it's LEE equivalent) should work well. I used that boolit in a 9 mm BROWNING HP a long time ago...wish I still had that 14 shooter!

A truncuated cone is not the same as a semi-wadcutter. Someone makes a 9 mm version of the famous HENSLEY & GIBBS 68 45 ACP boolit, which has a shoulder like the semi wadcutter and makes nice sharp holes in the target....and still feeds well.

I'd stay with the truncuated cone for better feeding unless your pistol has been modified to feed something other than round nose ammo. Getting ammo that functions in a semi auto can sometimes require some tinkering.

:Fire::cbpour::redneck:

[Poygan]

The Lyman 356402 is almost a pointed boolit and should feed well. I have a Lee TC in 45 acp that will feed in some 45s (Llama and Sig P220) but wouldn't feed well in a Kimber. I have sized down a 155 grain semi wadcutter and it fed well in a Browning High Power. Give the 356402 a try - the experimenting is the fun part of the process.

[NSP64]

Stephen2, Welcome to the addiction:drinks:
If you ask on the swappin/sellin section of the site, Some of the nice people who go there might mail you a few samples to try in you gun before you commit to buying a mold. I would, but I don't cast for 9mm.

[trickyasafox]

welcome! Pm'd you.

[billyb]

I want to start casting. Does anyone know if a truncated cone bullet will work properly in a semi-auto?

Specifically i have a Firestar. Thanks.

I am a newb. Duh. A truncated cone (http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=340779&t=11082005) is the same as a semi-wadcutter, correct? I wanted to punch some clean holes. My buddy said that it wont work as i need a round nose to guide its way into the chamber.

I use rcbs mold # 09-124-cn in all my 9mm, glock with replacement barrel,s&w,beretta with 6 grains of aa#5. they feed and shoot as fast as you can pull the triger. have no experience with the firestar.also use tc cast in my 40 s&w.Bill

[Ricochet]

That Lyman #356402 or Lee TL356-124-TC (or 356-125-TC) shape is an old, possibly the original, style bullet for the 9mm Parabellum. I have a very old 9mm cartridge with that shape in a copper-nickel jacketed bullet.

[robertbank]

The Lyman bullet mentioned above goes through all my 9MM guns like butter. Bullet is very accurate. Have yet to have any problems and I go through four thousand rds a year with them easily.

Take Care

Bob

[johniv]

I dont have a firestar 9 , but have the 45 version, and that little peestol feeds anything that I cast . Lyman 452460, 452488,452374 (natch), and any factory hp's that I have tried have fed flawlessly. FWIW
John

[dahermit]

Truncated cone 9mm bullets were designed to work through 9mm autos and they do that very well.

The big HOWEVER is that it takes very nimble fingers to pick them up and put them into the case top...it drives me nuts and I have small fingers. The tapered nose likes to slip from my fingers because of the taper is hard to get a hold of. I have switched to round nose bullets because of this. Round nose bullets will feed just as well through all autos.

Follow the advice, and see if they are hard for you to handle.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I never picked up a boolit by the nose when reloading, never occured to me to do it that way I suppose. I've only had three 9mms, a CZ75, Glock26 and currently a Beretta 92FS (and I suppose you could count the Colt1911 38 Super as a virtual 9mm). I have never had any trouble feeding any style of boolit throug them, however yours may be different.

I'd try and get a sample of commercial cast boolits and maybe cadge a few samples off other shooters/casters in different shapes and see what works. You will probably only need 20 or so of each. Easier to find the boolit that suits the gun than modifying the gun to feed the boolit I always said.

I had Jim Allison of CBE build me a mould many years ago (I actually had it made for 38 Specials, bt it works fine in 9mms). It is a 'truncated cone' SWC design with a small shoulder, but the sides of the truncated cone have a slight curve on them to assist feeding into the chambers of a sixgun using jet loaders, the pure SWCs occasionally got hung up on the shoulder/case rim. This mould is in 125gn. It is a sweet little boolit and hardly saw any service in my 586 for Service Pistol (Aussie PPC style match) as they introduced a power factor the day the mould arrived. :( It has seen plenty of use in 9mms since though. I also have shot thousands and thousands of commercially cast 125gn conicals when I couldn't get to the casting bench.

Welcome to the casting world, one of the true dark arts, you will probably spend a lot of money saving money, but you either love casting your own or can't figure out what the fuss is all about.

Mick.

PS, if its a 45ACP, 200Gn SWCs always worked for me! Bigggggggggg clean holes in the target and accururate to boot!