Lee 356-120-TC Ogive is into the rifling. COL seems to Short @ 1.030"

[243winxb]

The ogive is in contact with the lands, when COL is 1.030" So bullet is seated deeper than i like, but seems ok loading 700X- 3.2 grs in 9MM Luger.

Bullets drop from the mold at .358" using WW & a bit of Linotype.

Question- do the lands contact the ogive when you use this Lee 356-120-TC mold?

The as cast diameter would be smaller, if no antimony was use, just Lead & Tin.

Will size to .356" when Lyman H&I dies become available again. But this will not help with the ogive diameter.

[onelight]

Sorry I don't understand the question .
It looks like those bullets were driven partially into the bore and then back out.
When you chamber a loaded round does the bullet stick in the rifling and make it hard to pull the slide back to extract the the case with the bullet ?

[JeffG]

If you are sizing to .001-.002 over groove diameter, this is going to happen. Is this a problem somehow? I load that bullet to 1.070 and it runs in 6 different 9mm without issue. All of them have just enough free bore they will just press into chamber when sized .357. With 4.4 grains Unique, it works.

[243winxb]

Longer then 1.030" COL and the loaded round sticks in the chamber. The ogive is not sized in the Lyman 357 H&I die.

Will try a .356" die when available.

Guns are Taurus G3C 9mm Luger.

[JeffG]

I size mine in an H&I, adjusted so the tip of the bullet is flush with the top of the die. Mine get sized to .357 adjacent to the ogive with that adjustment. As long as it’s a light press fit in the chamber, I don’t sweat it too much and it probably helps the accuracy some. One of my 9’s is the Taurus PT111 G2, which I think is basically the same gun. Does yours have a small amount of free bore before the rifling?

[243winxb]

Placed a bullet into the chamber and gave it a couple taps. The.3575" bullet, from 357 die is too large for the .3568" throat. I need a .356 H & I Die.

Very small amount of free bore in the throat.

[Forrest r]

This is why I like to use rn/2r/fmj's in bbl's that are not throated.

[pmer]

If it bothers you enough it might be best to send it out for throat work.

[243winxb]

New die got here.

Lee .356" sizing die.
its producing sized bullets at .3568" Same diameter as the throat/leade. Can now run a COL of 1.045"

Will test fire reloads if it ever gets above freezing & winds below 10 mph.

[chickenpot]

I ran into this issue, but only with my aftermarket glock barrel. have to seat them basically ogive on the case mouth with a lighter charge of unique or universal. sized in h&l .357. they chamber just fine with longer oal in the kimber and the beretta. i have powdercoated and sized .356 in a lee push through. haven't had a chance to shoot those yet, but i will this coming sunday.

[Old School Big Bore]

My 356402s and the Lee clone TC have run great in about a dozen 9mm pistols and ARs, except for a S&W PPC9. I had to seat them shorter than the Lyman manual OAL to work in that chamber, but only by a couple thousandths.
(Short rant: you would think the vaunted Lee manual would include data on THEIR OWN CAST BOOLITS, wouldn't you?)
Ed <><

[Dusty Bannister]

Through the years I have shot a lot of the Saeco #377 (356" 122 GR TCBB)
Lee 356-120-TC (357" 120 TC slight BB and have considered the Lyman 356402
(356" 120 TC).

I always thought the Lyman bullet had a longer nose than the Saeco or Lee bullet. Maybe that is just due to the smaller meplat on the Lyman. That could explain the difference in seating depth.

[marek313]

Just like Jeff I have Taurus PT111 G2 which looks like the previous version of your gun and this guns chamber wasnt cut for lead if you ask me. The reason your having to seat those so short is because it has short tight throat and no leade cut before rifling starts. Thats the reason you have to seat those so short or they jam again the rifling. Its not a problem with the bullet type and 356-120-TC isnt even as fat as 356-125-2R which is what i prefer in 9mm. This is a problem with the chamber. My guess is that even if you manage to seat this bullet short enough to chamber freely it will not shoot accurately. The only real way to fix that would be to ream the chamber. I dont shoot lead in my taurus pt111 but I'm not a big fan of this gun so I dont shoot it much. If I was going to I would send my barrel to Doug here on the forum and have him ream it. That was the only thing that fixed my Canik TP9 SFX and now it shoots my PCed 125-2Rs great.

[onelight]

For practice ammo in a 3 to 4" barrel I don't care what OAL I wind up at , if it is safe , cycles and is accurate at the ranges I want to practice . The reasons our bullets don't fit is we load over size bullets.
I don't carry my cast reloads for defense so it just does not matter to me to get maximum power or bullseye accuracy although I see groups under 4" often at 25 yards and occasionally under 3" this is about as good as I can do with , bad eyes , iron sights and barrels 3 to 4" off the bench. There is nothing wrong with wanting better if that's where someone wants to go but not worth the work and expense to me.

[243winxb]

I am thinking less lead shaving on firing ? Shooting a cast .3575" diameter bullet, into a .3568" hole just doesnt seem right to me.

If shaved lead is vaporized by the hot gases on firing, there will be leading? At least in my way of thinking.

[blue32]

276370
Sized to .358. Loaded to 1.035. Glock 17 gen5. Doesn't stick but leads due to expansion die too small.

[canyon-ghost]

If your leading issue remains, it could be due to copper fouling from jacketed rounds. I had to clean a revolver 4 times to stop it. It would seem the harder fouling rips into cast bullets a little.

[AndyC]

If it bothers you enough it might be best to send it out for throat work.
Second this. I have a CZ75 barrel with a short throat that won't chamber my cast handloads that my other guns will, so I sent it off to DougGuy here on the forum last week to get it reamed longer. I'm not going to accept one barrel being finicky.

[onelight]

New die got here.

Lee .356" sizing die.
its producing sized bullets at .3568" Same diameter as the throat/leade. Can now run a COL of 1.045"

Will test fire reloads if it ever gets above freezing & winds below 10 mph.
That sounds like a good way to go to me I look at the simple solutions first and it does not bother me to add a sizing die to my tool box.
I hope they work for you.

[marek313]

I am thinking less lead shaving on firing ? Shooting a cast .3575" diameter bullet, into a .3568" hole just doesnt seem right to me.

If shaved lead is vaporized by the hot gases on firing, there will be leading? At least in my way of thinking.

There shouldnt be any lead shaving they should basically be swaged by burning gases down to whatever size your barrel is. Lead is soft enough so size is not the problem. Most leading issues are caused by bullets that are too small not too big. If you think thats a large size difference then consider the picture of the 30AAC shot in 5.56 upper and that didnt blow up. As long as chamber is cut properly nothing should be getting shaved.

276795

[gotone]

The ogive is in contact with the lands, when COL is 1.030" So bullet is seated deeper than i like, but seems ok loading 700X- 3.2 grs in 9MM Luger.

Bullets drop from the mold at .358" using WW & a bit of Linotype.

Question- do the lands contact the ogive when you use this Lee 356-120-TC mold?

The as cast diameter would be smaller, if no antimony was use, just Lead & Tin.

Will size to .356" when Lyman H&I dies become available again. But this will not help with the ogive diameter. V wawhv

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[gpidaho]

243winxb: I'd send the barrel to Doug guy and have it throated. A lot of pistols these days just aren't built to shoot cast bullets. I had a Ruger 45ACP that would choke on cast bullets no matter the size. Doug throated it and polished the ramp and now it feeds cast at the proper C.O.L without a hitch. Gp

[charlie b]

I agree. My HK has no throat either. Hates cast bullets. If I was going to keep it I'd send the barrel to Doug to get throated.

[243winxb]

Both Taurus G3c 9s are running perfectly, as they came from the facfory. Thank you for the help everyone.

[Taterhead]

I load for a couple of guns that require the same bullet (Lee 356-120-TC) to be seated to 1.03". No biggie at that length. I just had my chronie handy and worked up loads until I had the desired velocity.

Glad that you're getting it worked out.

[John Guedry]

I logged in this morning to talk about this same thing. I have this same mold and gun combination. Mold drops.0 .357 I'm thinking of running them thru my .358 die just to lube them (no reduction in size). What do you folks think?

[toallmy]

I logged in this morning to talk about this same thing. I have this same mold and gun combination. Mold drops.0 .357 I'm thinking of running them thru my .358 die just to lube them (no reduction in size). What do you folks think?

That's what I do to my lee tc boolits .

[gpidaho]

The Lee 356-120-TC is one of my favorite 9mm bullets. All of my nines like them powder coated and sized .356 or .357. Gp

[John Guedry]

Thanks to all. Although I started reloading and casting about 25 yrs ago I had no experience whatever with 9mm.