Recommend a new 9mm mold

[Bashby]

New to casting, my only mold is a 358-110 swc Lee. (Edit:its 105 gr)I want to make some boolits that function and shoot well. Just shooting paper and steel, might get into some sort of steel competition. I will be powder coating so lube groove is optional. I was looking at the group buy thread for an MP 359-135 and those look promising, but I don't know how long the wait will be... Months maybe? My barrel slugs at .3555.

[jaysouth]

Before you buy another mold, drop some bullets from your .38 110 SWC. Size them to .357 and load some up in 9mm. If they work OK, you have an excuse to buy a 6 banger.

The .38 125 RF Lee sized to .357 works very well in all my 9mms.

[oldhenry]

I have 3 9mm molds & they all produce good boolits that function well in my SR1911 OM: all sized to .357
1. MP 359-130
2. MP 359-115 BB
3. Lee 356-125 R2

[Jniedbalski]

All my lees work good. I really like the lee .356 120 tc or the lee .358 125rf

[KVO]

That MP 359-135 in 8 cavity is all I use for 9mm and I've been through more than a few molds. Not magic, just what I settled on that works in all my guns of that caliber and produces better than average accuracy. It's a rerun so he already has the cherry. In reality many of the standard 120 to 130 gr RNFP and TC designs work about equally well for typical 9mm service pistol type shooting. I started with the Lee SWC you describe and found it is finicky about feeding in some guns, and may or may not shoot to the sights which are likely regulated for heavier bullets. Since you have it give it a try. It might work perfectly for your needs. We reloaders and casters have a habit of spending thousands to save hundreds.

[sigep1764]

The Accurate 358-120B is a perfect copy of the Lyman 356402 boolit but it drops bigger and 5 at a time. The truncated cone will feed in just about anything. Beautiful mold and rains boolits. I also use the Elco boolit from NOE. It has a tapered nose to feed in tight throats or short leades.

[Bashby]

What about the ones with a tapered base? Any effect on performance? Sure would make it easier starting them into the case.

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm not a fan of bevel base molds. With the proper expander you don't need a bevel base and the flat base bullets work better if you're using a lubersizer. If you're tumble lubing or powder coating, the bevel base doesn't matter as much.

As for the bullet itself, the truncated cone [TC] designs work very well in most 9mm pistols. Keep the weight in the 115-125 grain range.

The Lee 120-TC works very well in most 9mm pistols.

The 9mm Luger is one of the more difficult cartridges to load cast bullets for. I find a lot of variation between pistols, particularly groove diameter. My experience has been that you pretty much have to cast, size & load for one particular gun when dealing with the 9mm Luger.

[ioon44]

I have a Accurate 35-130 C 5 cavity which is easy to use and produces great bullets, when I buy another mold it will be from Accurate.

[lightman]

I have a Accurate 35-130 C 5 cavity which is easy to use and produces great bullets, when I buy another mold it will be from Accurate.

I just received the same mold this week except mine is a 4 cavity. I have not had the time to use it yet but I expect it will work fine.

[gwpercle]

Here are the ones my guns favor...I've also tried others that didn't work very well but no use listing them . For use in 9mm Luger I size them all .357 .
Lee 358-105-SWC ( this boolit is surprisingly good)
Lee 356-120-TC ( also a good one)
Lee 356-125-2R (OK if you like round nose... I like TC)
The best - NOE 358-124-TC-GC .

The NOE is my favorite , 124 gr. weight , drops from mould @ .358 dia. easily sizes to .357 dia. , Truncated Cone profile and the gas check makes seating without base distortion easy , can use a softer alloy and sized .358 can be used in 357 magnum and 38 special loads ... Like having 3 moulds in one !
Experience no leading at velocities up to 1300 fps.
Gary

[Hanzy4200]

I started out on a couple Lee offerings, but have settled on the Lyman #356637 147 gr. flat nose. It runs great in all my pistols. Only issue I've had are with a couple older military pistols like the Walther P38. The flat nose can cause feeding issues unless a longer than normal OAL is used. They make great subsonic loads for suppressed shooting as well.

[Phlier]

What about the ones with a tapered base? Any effect on performance? Sure would make it easier starting them into the case.

Since you are going to be PC'ing, I'd recommend a bevel base, for exactly the reason you stated.. much easier to start them into the case. IMO, starting them into the case as squarely as you can is more important than a lot of guy realize.

[toallmy]

The lee 356-120 tc 6 cavity after a little work , made me put my other 9mm molds on the shelf gathering dust .

[Petrol & Powder]

The lee 356-120 tc 6 cavity after a little work , made me put my other 9mm molds on the shelf gathering dust .

That is a very good 9mm bullet.

[Lagamor]

I have a few 9 mm MP molds with hollow points and they are great, but making them work in all my pistols got to be a pain. I don’t like going “off book” with boiling recipes.
I don’t have as much experience as some of the folks on this board and I like to err on the conservative side.
That being said I recently bought Accurate’s 35-135Z mold. Has the bevel base and no lube grooves. Some people don’t like the bevel base, but I’m really liking it.
Always hated scraping the side of a bullet and it never happens with the bevel base mold.

[Bashby]

I have a few 9 mm MP molds with hollow points and they are great, but making them work in all my pistols got to be a pain. I don’t like going “off book” with boiling recipes.
I don’t have as much experience as some of the folks on this board and I like to err on the conservative side.
That being said I recently bought Accurate’s 35-135Z mold. Has the bevel base and no lube grooves. Some people don’t like the bevel base, but I’m really liking it.
Always hated scraping the side of a bullet and it never happens with the bevel base mold.

Dang it! I had almost settled on the Lee, but was thinking a bevel base might be better, now I see this one. I like the no lube groove as it is less likely to swage when seating and crimping, also probably less damage to the PC when seating.

[MT Gianni]

Look for a Lyman 358242 RN 121 gr. I have found it to be very accurate.

[Cary Gunn]

I'll echo the recommendation of a few other forum members responding to this thread.

Try the Lee 358-125-RF. It's really intended as a "cowboy action" bullet for .38/357 revolvers, but it does just fine in my Kahr CM9. Size to .357," and load to a C.O.A.L. your pistol likes.

It's a very versatile bullet.

Happy trails,

-- Cary Gunn --

[Dvdmacdaddy]

I feed all my 9mm’s a steady diet of the NOE ELCO mold (147gr HP).

I’ve tried the Lee 356-102-1r, TL356-124-2r, 356-125-2r just didn’t get the results I wanted. The 356-125-2r was the better one of the bunch.

I’m in the group buy for the MP 359-135-FP in a no lube groove design.

I also would like to try some of the lighter TC designs available like the Lyman 356402, Lee 356-129-TC, Lee 358-105-SWC.

[Bashby]

I have a few 9 mm MP molds with hollow points and they are great, but making them work in all my pistols got to be a pain. I don’t like going “off book” with boiling recipes.
I don’t have as much experience as some of the folks on this board and I like to err on the conservative side.
That being said I recently bought Accurate’s 35-135Z mold. Has the bevel base and no lube grooves. Some people don’t like the bevel base, but I’m really liking it.
Always hated scraping the side of a bullet and it never happens with the bevel base mold.


Looking into this one a little more. The only thing I didnt like was the 135 weight, im leaning more towards 120-125 range. I got to looking at the accurate catalog and found the choices there are near endless. The 35-125H is a nlg, tc bevel base and the 35-125PZ is a RN version. Im thinking one of those would fit my application. Any reason one would be better than the other or are both good/ bad? With all the options Im assuming they are made to order. Is there a long lead time when ordering from them?

[Conditor22]

356-125-2r gives me a 7/8" group over a light charge of BE

[Phlier]

356-125-2r gives me a 7/8" group over a light charge of BE
You know that you and I are like the only two people on this board that actually *like* that mold, right GRMPS? ;)

I've worked through nearly a full ton of lead, throwing it out of that mold six boolits at a time, for the last four years. I'm feeding it through three 9mm's now, as my son picked up his second 9mm for his 18th birthday last month. All three of 'em eat that boolit like candy, and are darn accurate while doing it.

I'm not saying that there aren't other fine 9mm molds, as there sure as heck are; I'm drooling over several of them right now. But that much maligned Lee boolit is well loved in my house.

[sureYnot]

You know that you and I are like the only two people on this board that actually *like* that mold, right GRMPS? ;)

I've worked through nearly a full ton of lead, throwing it out of that mold six boolits at a time, for the last four years. I'm feeding it through three 9mm's now, as my son picked up his second 9mm for his 18th birthday last month. All three of 'em eat that boolit like candy, and are darn accurate while doing it.

I'm not saying that there aren't other fine 9mm molds, as there sure as heck are; I'm drooling over several of them right now. But that much maligned Lee boolit is well loved in my house.I used to use it for my 9. Worked fine. But lead is cheaper than powder. I use those in .380 now and Lee 358-150-1R in my 9.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[PNW_Steve]

I have a bunch of .356 120gr TC that shoot well. I would like to cast my own and am having trouble finding a 120-TC mold that doesn't have lube grooves.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

S

[toallmy]

I have a bunch of .356 120gr TC that shoot well. I would like to cast my own and am having trouble finding a 120-TC mold that doesn't have lube grooves.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

S

Why not just use the mold with regular lube grove ?

[Hanzy4200]

I love the Lyman 147 gr RNFP bullet. I run it is 9 different handguns ranging from a 1943 P-38, to modern Glocks. It is a excellent bullet that all 9MM's seem to like. Runs great in my sub gun as well.

[Hanzy4200]

I have a bunch of .356 120gr TC that shoot well. I would like to cast my own and am having trouble finding a 120-TC mold that doesn't have lube grooves.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

S

Look at Accurate molds. The options there are numerous. Very reasonable prices. Around $110 for 3 cavities. They come in 1-2-3-and 4 cavity.

[PNW_Steve]

I have a bunch of .356 120gr TC that shoot well. I would like to cast my own and am having trouble finding a 120-TC mold that doesn't have lube grooves.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

S

I purchased cast 120 TC's and am really liking them and would like to duplicate them for my first casting attempt.

[MOA]

New to casting, my only mold is a 358-110 swc Lee. (Edit:its 105 gr)I want to make some boolits that function and shoot well. Just shooting paper and steel, might get into some sort of steel competition. I will be powder coating so lube groove is optional. I was looking at the group buy thread for an MP 359-135 and those look promising, but I don't know how long the wait will be... Months maybe? My barrel slugs at .3555.

Have you tried the 115 gr from RCBS. I use it in both my 9mm and my 380.

https://i.postimg.cc/xCqkzZrB/20150117-140824.jpg (https://postimg.cc/ZBtKkV5L)


https://i.postimg.cc/mDrXJCJ7/20150117-140926.jpg (https://postimg.cc/67DfG29Q)

[igolfat8]

The Lee 120 works very well. I also like their 95 grain mold. I seem to shoot more 95’s than any other weight I guess because it makes my lead go further and works very well in all my 9’s. I’ve used Accurate and NOE molds and they work well but I prefer the Lee style molds with a sprue cutting handle instead of whacking a lever to cut the sprue. MP uses the Lee style sprue cutter as well and they make great molds too. I just finished cast 20K MP NLG 95’s and that’s a great boolit too. They actually drop at 103 grains and .359” but easily size down to .357”.

[rodsvet]

I use a saeco #924. It's a GC and can be run pretty hot. Works really well in my 357 Sig. and my G19.

[Landshark9025]

I have a bunch of .356 120gr TC that shoot well. I would like to cast my own and am having trouble finding a 120-TC mold that doesn't have lube grooves.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

S

I picked up this 5 Cavity from Arsenal. Good quality mold. I get an easy 2”-2.5” group at 25 yards from my Canik. I’ve shot thousands of them and it’s my go-to for that gun.

http://arsenalmolds.com/products?product_id=150&limit=100

[mvintx]

I'll add another vote for the Lyman 356402.

https://i.imgur.com/hi0lb5i.jpg

[fcvan]

Wow, great thread! I started casting for 9mm using the Lee 356-125 2R for my first pistol, a S&W 459. The boolit dropped at .358 and shot great pan lubed and unsized. I later bought a Lyman 450 and a .358 die. Then I bought a .357 and the 125s shot fine. Then I started collecting other molds to try, mostly Lee because of the price and they cast good boolits.

356-102 1R because I had a .380 ACP but it shot well through the 9mm. It also cast at .358. I bought the 358-105 SWC to try it in the .380 and 9mm, but also in my.357 revolver. Mostly, I cast the 125 2R because it shot so well in everything. I would cast 2k boolits+ a week, trading some for powder and primers from my shooting/reloading buddies. I taught more than a few how to cast and load.

30+ years later, my first mold has cast an honest 750k boolits. I tried the 356-120 TC and the 358-125 RF which load and shoot well in my pistols and revolvers. I built an AR 15 for 9mm and it prefers the 102 or 125 RN boolits as the feed ramps beat the crap out of the nose. Powder coating helped. The 102 1R shoots well, saves lead, but I still prefer the 125 2R. Heck, I have had to rebuild it twice, mostly re-tapping for a new sprue plate screw. I am considering a heavier boolit, say 145-150 grains, but my EDCs carry factory (except my Glock 40 S&Ws)

Shoot what works for you, more importantly, your gun(s). Everyone has an opinion and a preference. I like what works in many guns and they are generally powder coated black. Well, my nephew did like shooting the zombie green ones. I did make him shoot some Barbie Pink and Barney Purple. He couldn't complain, he didn't buy the ammo components.

[Huskerguy]

I am starting the process of looking for a good 9mm mold so this thread is timely for me
I am down to two different 9s and both are CZ's. They have a history of being a bit finicky. Does anyone out there have experience loading a cast bullet for a CZ? TIA

[John Boy]

CJN Casting - use them in my 9mm
* Excellent casts
* Chamber great
http://www.cjncasting.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=59_61

[John Boy]

CJN Casting - use them in my 9mm
* Excellent casts
* Excellent price
* Chamber great
http://www.cjncasting.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=59_61