Lee 125

[MR CHEN]

I'm looking for load data for the Lee .356-125-2R. What are you using?

I'm most interested in seating depth and of course powder charges.

I will also be powder coating.
Thanks

[tazman]

I am assuming this is for 9mm.
Seating depth will be dependent on your particular firearm. When you size your boolits after powder coating, you can see where the sizing die sized the boolit driving band. Where the rub marks end is where you want the case mouth to be, assuming that length will fit your magazine.
Make a couple of dummies up like that and see how they feed in your pistol. Remember, they need to fall completely into the chamber without stopping. You don't want the slide to have to force the round into the chamber. This will cause the boolit nose to jam into the rifling. It will eventually cause rounds to jam before the slide closes.
If there is an issue in this regard, you will need to seat the boolit deeper until it does drop in easily.
That will give you your working OAL. There is plenty of data out there for 125 grain round nose boolits in 9mm. If the OAL you need to use is shorter than the one listed for the data, you will need to drop your powder charge slightly to start with. In any case, start with starting loads and work up to where you want to be as far as speed and accuracy with reliability.
A chronograph is your friend.

[Evoken]

I cannot comment on length, but I have the lee 356-120. My alloy is casting at 125gr. I have great results with both hp-38 and more so with 700-x. I am.using 700-x at near minimum loads listed in the lyman cast vol. 4, great accuracy and 700x is a very fluffy powder. No chance of a double charge and very little room left in case for boolit setback.

[John McCorkle]

As mentioned, seating depth is highly dependent on barrel...many 9mm barrels have generous throats, some have very tight/short throats.

My glock lets me seat these out a bit my faxon barrel requires me to seat them so deep i actually don't use it in that barrel.

Powder coating also requires deeper seating on a radiused profile like that so just be aware any data you get needs to be tested for 'plunk test' in your barrel

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

[fcvan]

The first pistol I bought on my own was a S&W 459 in 1985. Grew up casting and bought the Lee 356-125 2R mold. I had purchased a box of factory FMJ with the pistol but ordered dies and mold that week. I set my dies to the Remington FMJ, no problems. My mold drops at .358 and I shot as cast. Load was/is 5 grains of Unique.

I have owned many 9mm pistols and several carbines, and they all digested that load. Heck, I still have a dummy round I made to check my dies from back then. I have used Win 231/HP38, Bullseye, and even tightgroup, but mostly Unique. The mold has cast over 750K over the years and is my plinker load for 38 SPL as well.

The mold has been rebuilt twice, once because of abuse by a friend learning to cast when it was new. The second time was when I needed to re tapp and thread a new sprue plate screw and a set screw. Both times, I lapped the mold block tops and the underside of the sprue plate.

When I outfitted both houses with casting and reloading gear, I doubled up on some molds, possibly even this one but I'm not sure. I just know that a baseball game on the radio, regular breaks, and before I know it I've filled a coffee can with boolits. Now, I try to pace myself differently by casting, powder coating and baking 250, and back to casting. The following morning, I would load 500 or so and then set up for casting again. My wife picked up 15K of once fired 9mm and it took a while to load them all . . . and then the 38 SPL . . . and the 40 S&W . . . and then the .223 . . . and then 300 BO, had to make/form those cases for my Wife, my Brother, and my rifles and AR 15 pistols. Once I did that I started stacking in primers, 8lb jugs of powder, and casting alloy.

This latest 'drought' of components was planned for 5 years ago. I even stacked in supplies for my Brother's reloading endeavors, but can't get him to the range other than working on perishable skills. His Grand Son however is keen on practice and has moved in due to the virus stuff. He wants to reload :)

[AndyC]

For that bullet, I use 5.0gr CFE Pistol powder.

[MR CHEN]

I am assuming this is for 9mm.
Seating depth will be dependent on your particular firearm. When you size your boolits after powder coating, you can see where the sizing die sized the boolit driving band. Where the rub marks end is where you want the case mouth to be, assuming that length will fit your magazine.
Make a couple of dummies up like that and see how they feed in your pistol. Remember, they need to fall completely into the chamber without stopping. You don't want the slide to have to force the round into the chamber. This will cause the boolit nose to jam into the rifling. It will eventually cause rounds to jam before the slide closes.
If there is an issue in this regard, you will need to seat the boolit deeper until it does drop in easily.
That will give you your working OAL. There is plenty of data out there for 125 grain round nose boolits in 9mm. If the OAL you need to use is shorter than the one listed for the data, you will need to drop your powder charge slightly to start with. In any case, start with starting loads and work up to where you want to be as far as speed and accuracy with reliability.
A chronograph is your friend.

Yes 9mm, and it's a revolver.
I seated a bullet to the point you suggested and got an aol of 1.090. Does that sound right?

[tazman]

Yes 9mm, and it's a revolver.
I seated a bullet to the point you suggested and got an aol of 1.090. Does that sound right?

May be correct for a powder coated boolit.
The gun being a revolver, makes a difference. You can seat the boolit as long as the cylinder length depending on which revolver it is. Since the cartridge is loaded into a cylinder, there is no concern about running into the rifling.
The instructions I gave previously were intended for a semi-auto pistol. Things change when using a revolver. More options and different things to look out for.
You need to be careful that the boolit will not move forward under recoil and bind up your gun. Usually, revolver cartridges use a roll crimp where a semi-auto pistol uses a taper crimp. A good, tight taper crimp will usually hold the boolit in place without a problem. With a S&W 929, that usually isn't a problem because the cylinder is somewhat longer than the cartridge would be in any case.
You can also use very light powder charges for practice loads since you don't need the cartridge energy to work the action.
Which revolver are you loading for?

[MR CHEN]

The 929.
I have some Zero 115 grn. FMJ HP that I load at 1.090 with out problems. I just wasn't sure about that seating depth with a 125 grn. bullet. I guess I'll have to start long and work down from there.

[tazman]

I get excellent accuracy with my 929. Roughly the same as I get from my K38 Target masterpiece with wadcutters.
Due to the way the chamber is cut in the cylinder, you can seat a boolit much longer than you can in a semi-auto pistol.
I have loaded practice loads down to as low as 700fps. They are a lot of fun to shoot.

I would suggest you slug the cylinder throat and size your boolits to match that. You can run any size boolits that will fit in the chamber but the throat will size then to it's own diameter on the way through.

The 929 will let you shoot loads with an OAL that will not fit in a pistol magazine.

[gwpercle]

Seating Depth ... it has to pass the plunk test in your pistols chamber.
It has to fit into and feed smoothly from your pistols magazine into chamber .
That will give you the proper OAL for that one gun ... 9mm Lugers and cast boolits are stinkers .
Coating them can make the process harder because the boolit gets bigger .
Good Luck and Load Safe,
Gary

[GBertolet]

I like 3.9 gr of Bullseye in the 9mm. I get just under 1100 fps in a 5" 1911.

[tazman]

Seating Depth ... it has to pass the plunk test in your pistols chamber.
It has to fit into and feed smoothly from your pistols magazine into chamber .
That will give you the proper OAL for that one gun ... 9mm Lugers and cast boolits are stinkers .
Coating them can make the process harder because the boolit gets bigger .
Good Luck and Load Safe,
Gary

The OP is loading for a S&W 929 which is an N frame 8 shot revolver. There is no magazine and no rifling in the cylinder throat to contend with. This revolver headspaces by using moon clips. There is no chamber headspace ring cut into the cylinder, at least in mine. The chambers taper from where the case ends to the front of the cylinder without and edge to stop the case from falling further into the cylinder without a moon clip in use.
Most of the difficulties associated with semi-auto pistols do not occur with the 929.


The 929.
I have some Zero 115 grn. FMJ HP that I load at 1.090 with out problems. I just wasn't sure about that seating depth with a 125 grn. bullet. I guess I'll have to start long and work down from there.

I don't know what powders you have available so I can't make a recommendation. For an OAL, I would suggest 1.150. There is a lot of data out there for loads at that length and that dimension should fit into your cylinder with no issues.

[MR CHEN]

1.150? I'll give that a look, thanks.
For powder, I'm mostly using Tite Group.

[tazman]

The Hodgdon data site recommends 4.0 grains of Titegroup for a 125 grain boolit loaded to an OAL of 1.125 as a max loading.

[MR CHEN]

I seen that when I was looking for seating depth references. What I was unsure of was that it's a conical shape and I've got the RN. I'm going start with 3.5gr Titegroup and seat to 1.125. I tried the 1.150 but it was barley past the lube grove. Not much bullet in the case

[tazman]

That should be a good load for the 929. If you have a chronograph available, pleaserun it over that and report. I am curious to see what it does.

[BamaNapper]

I use Titegroup in my 9mm's almost exclusively. I started about 3.5gr if I remember correctly, and settled on 3.8gr under the 125-RN. I seat them for an OAL of 1.115, but have seen a friend go as low as 1.060 to get them to chamber in a Taurus G2S. Saw one thread here where someone went down to 1.030 before they cycled. That's the benefit of Titegroup. A small volume of powder leaves you room in the case, and it's not position sensitive.

You're reminding me why I like revolvers.

[tankgunner59]

I seat mine to 1.090" and I've used 3.6 gains of IMR 700X and 4.0 grains of Winchester 231.

[MR CHEN]

That should be a good load for the 929. If you have a chronograph available, pleaserun it over that and report. I am curious to see what it does.

I have access to a Lab Radar. I'll post the results. It may be a few days, it's crappy here now. Next week is supposed to be better.

I'm sending you a PM.

[Conditor22]

I seat & size for each particular gun, from .356 to .359

W231/HP-38..... 3.9 grns.... 1/2" group.....125 RN.....sized .358 .....COWW....@ 35'

[tazman]

I have access to a Lab Radar. I'll post the results. It may be a few days, it's crappy here now. Next week is supposed to be better.

I'm sending you a PM.

I certainly understand about the weather. We just got several inches last night with more coming next week and more a couple of days later.
Lots of things I would like to work on outside but the weather won't allow it. That and I'm too old to force the issue.

[MR CHEN]

I got a chance to get out and test a load form the Lee 9mm, 125 RN.

125gr RN. PCd. and sized to .357. 3.5gr Tite Group, oal of 1.110. 15 shot avg. velocity 951 fps. I was very happy with the performance. This is a pic of a five shot group from a rest at 20yds shooting at an 2" dot using a red dot sight.
I had shot two similar groups but taped them before I remembered to take a the picture.
276530

[AndyC]

I reckon that'll do nicely :)

[MR CHEN]

I reckon that'll do nicely :)

Thanks Andy.. Wish I could do that offhand...

[tazman]

Excellent work. Looks like you found your load. The accuracy doesn't get any better than that.
If you need more power for whatever reason, you can bump the powder charge up a little.
You seem to be running very close to predicted velocities from the Hodgdon data site.