This might sound stupid but I'll ask anyway

[ThinkOutsideTheBox]

I recently cast a box's worth of hard-cast 9mm that I'm intending to shoot with a subsonic load (tables say it should travel at around 900 feet per second, so that's relatively slow as far as modern 9mm handguns go, I'm guessing). I heard that if it's slow enough, lube might not be completely necessary. How much truth is there to this, and if it is true, is this slow enough for that to apply? For reference it's these 124 grain projectiles from a typical Lee mold.

289042

[Winger Ed.]

I'd really encourage lubing with something.
Think of it as a piston going up & down in a engine cylinder without oil on it compared to being oiled.

At 900 fps, it will lead foul your barrel a little bit slower, and not quite as much as it would at say,,, 1,000fps.
But it will indeed foul it.

[Land Owner]

Lead bullets for 22LR ammo are tumble lubed, which is a very easy way to go, and gives great results. Like shake and bake, but without the bake...

[Tar Heel]

Lube it.

[NC_JEFF]

Yes, lube it.

[mozeppa]

also....i'm assuming that this is an "auto pistol"?

less speed = less power.

less power = potentially leads to failure to move the slide fully rearward and not ejecting the empty case

or

it may eject the empty but still not move the slide back enough to strip a new round out of the magazine and load it.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

you should Lube, and even if you lube...
As I look into my crystal ball, I see lead fouling in your future.

First, the Lee tumble lube boolit is notorious for lead fouling, even if you do everything correct.

Second, Hard cast alloy and low pressure is one of the biggest reasons why Lead fouling happens.

Good Luck.

[RogerDat]

Softer lead may yield better low power results than a hard alloy. Tumble lube by squirting a line of alox in a hundred bullets in a zip lock baggie. Roll the baggie around to tumble the bullets and spread the lube. Dump to dry. Done. Not hard. No big effort or time spent. Less leading and easier to clean barrel.

Low power in an auto loader will I think involve some experimentation. Which will also need you to vary one thing at a time to assess the difference a different alloy or lube makes.

You could try your hard, no lube bullets. Scape the leading out. Try with alox lube. Clean the barrel. Try with wax lube in a lube-sizer. Clean the barrel. Try with powder coat & bake. Then of course you can adjust loads too for each of those lube approaches. Then too different powder might provide a better result at low power. Some really work better loaded low than others.

Try a different alloy & repeat. Report back here what you find. All any of us can do is guess what your firearm will do with your alloy from your mold. I would say guessing that it will lead the barrel is a good bet but... Only take you making some to find out for sure one way or the other. That and a trip to the range. More fun than the internet research as a rule :-)

Myself I would start with tumble lube. Bullet is designed for it and I have had decent results as far as barrel goes in a mild 32 acp load with that style and tumble lube, so if it was me that is the route I would follow to start.

[lar45]

I'd use a light coat of 45-45-10 on them, unless you like scrubbing lead.

[slim1836]

Powder coat them using the shake and bake method.

Slim

[Rcmaveric]

I have seen test of guys on here doing soft bullets with bo lube. Its tricky from my understanding and i wouldnt do it. Between tumble lubing or PC its quick and easy. Its a safe way for easy fuss free shooting.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[farmbif]

putting lube on bullets before reloading your ammo is much easier than trying to scrub lead out of a barrel.
there are no stupid questions when you want to learn. lots of great folks here that know what they are talking about.
I learn new stuff here all the time and I cast my first bullet almost 50 years ago.

[JSnover]

You can (maybe) shoot them dry without leading - I've done it - but it's not worth it. The fit has to be perfect, your bore needs to be Like New, and your velocity needs to be slow; like maybe too slow to cycle your pistol.

[Tom Trevor]

the only stupid questions are the ones not asked. And we all wish we had asked one time or another.

[ThinkOutsideTheBox]

Yeah after reading everything here I decided to lube it the way I have with every other bullet I've done in the past, which was by shaking it with liquid alox in a pie baking pan. I've been traumatized enough times with lead in the barrel to know it's better not to chance it. I didn't use any special alloy for this, just ordinary wheel weight lead. Seems like it doesn't lead with tumble lubing, so maybe it was a good thing I chickened out. I do want to look into powder coating since it SEEMS like those are less greasy to handle than tumble lubed bullets. Maybe the results will be similar.

[megasupermagnum]

I don't think velocity plays that much of a part. Even a 9 mm at 900 fps is probably north of 20,000 psi. The are some instances I've gotten away with no lube. Shotgun slugs is one, which are normally less than 10,000 psi. Really light 45 acp, probably only around 6,000 psi. Muzzleloaders as well have minimal or no leading, even with no lube. Heavy loads can get up there, but a normal muzzleloader charge of blackpowder is less than 10,000 psi, sometimes way less. Airguns is another one, and they only run 2,000 to 3,000 psi.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

A harder alloy is not a bad thing in an auto loader. Keeps the boolit from deforming on the feed ramp and helps reliability. I've shot many thousands of commercial hard cast through a 1911 without any leading problems. But these boolits were hard and lubed. I powder coat my 9mm and it works nicely.

[Harter66]

An FB demigod explained to me that hard cast means the alloy is anything other than lead and tin ..... It is an absolute and an excellent defining term .

I ask stupid questions like "you know that Keith used 1-16 tin lead and that air cooled 50/50 WW/lead is softer right . Which would make his soft cast 44 mags harder than my hard cast 45 Colts right ?" Crickets . You know ?

I shot a lot of the TCTL bullets , 356-124 , in 9mm with no leading after I got all of the copper out . There was a ton of fouling I didn't put in there in the barrel . It was also the only one that did played "solder fouling" of lead bonding or sticking hard to copper fouling . I even took a chance with a high speed cast load in a rifle that had almost a wash the full length of the barrel . Of course I was smarter a year ago than when I first started casting too . That may have influenced the outcome a little .

Definitely get as much of the copper fouling out as you can in pistols . Don't mistake antimony wash , slick and hard , for leading , gobs and goobers . As a rule if the bulk of it comes with a brass brush dry in a couple passes it's not leading it's powder and antimony .

Greasy is the curse of lubed bullets . 45-45-10 or Bens Liquid Lube (BLL) , there is a new formula for the loss of Johnson's liquid floor wax , are said to be dry to the touch and capable unassisted up to 1200 fps . I don't know I'm a Darrs guy which with a little tweek I've run up past 2600 fps MV . I probably have lube fliers but I hunt with the tools I don't shoot scores so if I have an 8-10th shot wandering bullet that blows a 1 MOA out to 3 odds are still against Wile E Coyote and the Prince of the woods .

[Soundguy]

lee micro grooves? just tumble or dip lube in alox or similar.. rooster jacket.. etc...

[GregLaROCHE]

As everyone else has said, lube them and look into powder coating. You can melt lube and pour into a pan around your boolits or even put it on by hand in the beginning, but not recommended if you will be shooting a lot, like most people with 9mms. Use the search engine on this site to find out about the different types of lube and how to lube as well as powder coating.
Good luck and enjoy casting!

[JoeJames]

That is a Lee tumble lube type bullet with the micro grooves. Therefore I would use a 50/50 mix of Lee Liquid Alox and mineral spirits. What I use on all my Lee T/L bullets - 32's, 38's, and 44"s. I shoot them all at moderate velocities and have yet to have any leading problems.

[GregLaROCHE]

Tumble lube is definitely an option too and doesn’t cost much to get started.