Lee 358-125-RF /358125RF for 9mm...?

[iMigraine]

Finally got around to cast some boolits for .357 Mag but I want to use some for 9mm too. Curious about what OAL, powder, & any other info you all experienced with this mold.

Powders and loads should be the same as my Lee 356-125-2R.
Hoping to replace the 3561252R with 358125RF since it could work in all of my pistols.

9mm Feeding:
Glock 34
SA Range Officer
CZ 75 TS

Always welcome feed back, thanks.

[frkelly74]

I just seat them till the crimp groove is covered up by the case and have the taper crimp ease the brass back into unflared condition. For my use in 9mm I size to .358 + at the moment. Sized at .360 will still chamber but there is some drag and the powder coating gets scratched a little.

[wv109323]

For my CZ 75B Omega I found the .356 mold too small( even as cast) for the bore. Bullets would tumble. My bore was close to .356". I stepped up to the .358 mold to get an increase in boolit diameter. I size and lube them at .358. The larger diameter caused reliability problems. The chamber had almost zero leade into the rifling. As the .358 lead bullet was feed into the chamber the bullet would be into the rifling shaving off small particles of lead. After about 40 rounds there would be enough lead deposit at the end of the chamber the slide would not fully close because the round could not headspace on the end of the chamber.
To shoot cast boolits in the CZ 75 I had to have the chamber reamed to allow for the fat boolits to fit.
The pistol shot jacketed bullets fine but cast boolits was difficult. I would slug the bore and inspect the chamber on the CZ. The other pistols may be fine.

[380AUTO]

I load the boolit for a glock 17, marlin camp 9, browning hi power, and a PF9. I size to .357 ran through my old Lyman 45 on top of a light charge of universal powder. Works in all of them

[GhostHawk]

For my Hipoint C9 I had problems with .356 boolits keyholing and it shot shotgun patterns.

Factory was better, but groups still bigger than I liked.

So I sprung for the Lee .358 124 gr for my .357 and loaded some as cast. .359, .3595, and .360.
They might have swaged down a bit in the process.

But the gun decided it liked them. No keyholes, no leading, and groups went from 5" at 20 feet to 2.5 inches. Loaded rounds all plunked, no issues of any kind.

I have run them from mild at 3 grains of Red Dot to warmish at 4.5 grains. (Carbine)
Just a bit too snappy for me in a pistol. Recoil was ok but I am a bit sensitive to muzzle blast.

Just make sure they chamber before you load 300 rounds.

[rintinglen]

That Mold did not work well for me in the 9mm. I had to load the boolit very short, something like 1.06 inches as I recall, to get it to feed and chamber. Otheres here have reported success, but I have gone back to the 356-124 TC for my 9mm needs.

[iMigraine]

Made four dummy cartridges for checking over all length. Seated them at the crimp groove @ 1.035 inches. Ran them manually through my three 9 mils and they look like they would cycle just fine. I have only used powdercoating on my lead boolits which have worked great.

Providing you follow the golden rule; know thy barrel diameter, over sizeith by two thousands or three thousandth of thy known diameter, and load charges ten percent lower than maximum.

Since this type of bullet creates a bigger gap between the bullet head and lands, curious if it creates much of an issue with accuracy? Looking forward to testing this out. Hopefully sooner than later.

[tazman]

I am probably a poor one to comment. I have a Beretta 92fs with a fairly loose chamber that accepts almost anything. My groove diameter is .357 so I need all the size I can get.
I tried that boolit and it worked when loaded to a short OAL. Accuracy was ok but not great.
I get much better accuracy with larger, longer boolits.
I personally get my best with NOE 358-135-FN and NOE 358-155-tc(ELCO). Both of these also work well in 38/357.

[Moonie]

I never had much luck with that mold, I purchased a 120TC 6 cavity but now I'm using the Accurate Molds 35-147Y PC mold.

[yondering]

I just seat them till the crimp groove is covered up by the case and have the taper crimp ease the brass back into unflared condition. For my use in 9mm I size to .358 + at the moment.

I do the same. This bullet does have to be seated very short as others pointed out, so it takes up a lot of case capacity, making it good for light loads but not so good for full power or +P stuff.

I use it for subsonic suppressed loads with good results.

[farmerjim]

I have 2 6 cavity 358-125-RF molds I use both when casting because I use so many of this boolit.
Powder coated and sized .359, I use it in 38 sp, 357 mag and 357 max. PCed and sized .357 I use it in all my 9mm's. It did not chamber in the M&P 9 so I sent it to Doug Guy and had it throated and crowned. It now shoots great.

[MattN]

I use the 358 125 RF in my FS 92 at .358. I powder coat everything. Can't remember coal. Shoots very well. As stated above that gun will feed anything. Had same lead ring issue as above with a cz 75 and Walther ppx. I tried shortening up until wouldn't feed and still had issue. G17 with lone wolf barrel shoots same boolit very well sized to .356. I've been thinking of changing mold to see if that will cure cz and Walther issue but may have to fix barrel. I shoot a ton of that in 38 as well.

[tazman]

A barrel throat for cast needs to be tapered, not sharp where the boolit enters the rifling. If the rifling is scraping off enough lead to leave a ring after a few shots, the barrel needs to be re-throated. A nice slower taper into the rifling instead of a sharp wall works much better. We have a member on this site(Dougguy) who does this and is good at it.