Shadow 2 mold?

[chris in va]

Hey all, been a long time since I posted last.

I've had zero issues with a Lee RN powder coated through my P01, but this new Shadow 2 is giving me fits. The leade is definitely shorter. Aside from reaming the chamber, what bullet mold have you all had luck with that chambers reliably?

I was looking at an Arsenal truncated cone powdercoating version but open to any suggestions.

[Recycled bullet]

I am shooting the MP 357125 hollow point through my cz P09 at 1.085 overall length.

Soon I may start testing with an MP 147 grain powder coat hollow point.

[joebaja]

I really like the MP 359-135 SWC Round nose. It feeds in everything I have tried it in, including my older Canik-made CZ clone (T120) that has a super tight chamber.

[sigep1764]

The Elco mold from NOE is the one I champion for short leades, especially in my CZ. You can do solid or hollow points. Accurate makes a nice one called the 358 120B. It’s a truncated cone mold that feeds nicely.

[gwpercle]

The bullet my WWII Walther P-38 likes best , not only for cycling but accuracy ...
The Lee 358-105-SWC ... although it says SWC it is really more of a truncated cone .
Since it is a short boolit it can be deep seated and taper crimped on the top driving band , This boolit is great for anyy 9mm luger with little or no leade / throat .

Another good one is the Lee 356-120-TC , being a short boolit it can also be deep seated for pistols with little or no throat/ leade
NOE 358-124-TC GC is similar in design to the Lee design but 4 grains heavier and with the gas check allow +1000 fps velocity with a softish (8 or 9 bhn) alloy .
It is also available from NOE as plain base and hollow point !
It is a Sweet mould , I use it in 9mm luger , 38 super , 38 special , 38 special +P and 357 magnum loads ! this is one versatile boolit !
Gary

[gwpercle]

Deleted - Duplicate Post

[jsizemore]

Accurate 35-115Y. I got a 5 cavity aluminum. Light weight, and good production rate. I'm using RCBS handles. Truncated cone and no lube groove.

[44Blam]

So - I have a Shadow 2 and have not yet tried cast through it. One reason is I did slug the barrel and it was between .356 and .3565. Not quite to .357 but enough that I know it is gonna be problematic with the 9mm cases. My biggest sizing die in that range is .357 and I know it is gonna bulge and the brass is likely to size my boolits down a bit when seating...

My first thoughts are that it is going to be a problematic gun to shoot cast in but it is on my TODO list.

[sigep1764]

Well, you've already identified your two choke points! You need a 358 sizer and bigger expander plug for the brass! Easy peasey

[44Blam]

Well, you've already identified your two choke points! You need a 358 sizer and bigger expander plug for the brass! Easy peasey

Yessir - and I need to cast a bunch of boolits.

[sigep1764]

Don't wr all! Never seem to have enough!

[Michael J. Spangler]

https://www.mp-molds.com/product/mp-359-125-hp-pb-4-cav/

Works like a dream in my P-01. It has the typical non existent CZ throat.

[nueces5]

Good morning, I don't shoot with a cz, but I use a tanfoglio/EEA stock II also with the chamber reamed.
There are two molds that are seen very often among those of us who do IPSC.
RNFP and TC. The one that works best in my pistol and in most that I have tried is the RCBS 124 cn, unfortunately it comes in mould of two cavities
Since I shoot a lot, it's much easier to make my boolits with 6-cavity moulds, so even though the mp rnfp 359 135 grain isn't as accurate as the rcbs, for practicality I end up using that boolit design for training, and the rcbs to compete

[ElGuapo]

I've had good luck with the NOE HTC356-135-RF-AH2. It's designed for HTC or powder coating and I've done both with the bullet. OAL for my Shadow 2 is 1.115". If you have a Shadow 2 there's a chance you are also into the shooting sports. I've settled on 3.6gr of N320 which gives me an average velocity of 958fps, or a power factor of 129.

[chris in va]

As an update I'm still having problem, even with a very nice 357 Arsenal mold. It's a 125gr truncated cone and I've tried everything I can think of with powders, sizing dies, pre/post sizing at either 356 or 358. I also played around with lead hardness, not getting below 15bhn.

I'd say one in five either goes in sideways or gets thrown way off target, making a weird sound when it fires.

I remember years ago having the same issue with a Lee TC in my 75bd, half went in sideways so I switched to a LRN design. I'm at my wits end though, neither design work in this gun.

Oh a side note I'm having to seat these at 1.04" so the bullet shoulder doesn't jam into the chamber, locking it up. I literally do a plunk test on every single round to make sure it'll chamber. I have zero problems with Hornady HAP and they are very accurate.

[44Blam]

I ended up getting the MP mold:
356/359-125 Flat Round Nose, Flat Base, 8 Cavity AL No Lube Groove Mold - .358
Caliber (As cast):.358

I have cast about 800 of them, PC'd and BLL'd. Need to resize I've got a die to .358. Then I got an expander die from NOE that should expand my case to .357 (.358 Pistol Powder Through Expander - 35Cal (P) .361 x .357). Then we'll see if it'll chamber and where the boolit needs to sit in the case... Should be interesting.

[nueces5]

Good morning, I don't shoot with a cz, but I use a tanfoglio/EEA stock II also with the chamber reamed.
There are two molds that are seen very often among those of us who do IPSC.
RNFP and TC. The one that works best in my pistol and in most that I have tried is the RCBS 124 cn, unfortunately it comes in mould of two cavities
Since I shoot a lot, it's much easier to make my boolits with 6-cavity moulds, so even though the mp rnfp 359 135 grain isn't as accurate as the rcbs, for practicality I end up using that boolit design for training, and the rcbs to compete

Update, a friend bought a cz shadow 2, without doing anything to the barrel, the boolit mp 135 grains rnfp worked very well.

[Bird]

I have a cz 75bd, and managed to sort my issues out. Here is what I found.
.358'' bullets will not fit the chamber, and .356'' bullets will lead up the bore. With my alloy, and after sizing, the bullets are at .3574, which eliminates the fore mentioned problems.
If you are trying to run .358'' bullets which have to be seated at 1.04'' to avoid shoulder jam, and are sure its not nose jam, then the bullets are getting damaged as they pass through the shoulder area of the chamber when fired.
I use a MP 124 grain rn mold, lead hardness does not seem to matter. I expand case necks to 0.356'' to prevent additional sizing of the bullets. Its all very exacting, but everything works as it should do.
Try bullets sized to .357.

[wv109323]

I have 2 CZ's and 2 Caniks. The "European " chamber has little leade in it. I can not get any cast boolit to shoot accurate in them. I did have the throat reamed in the CZ 75 so it would shoot cast but the tolerances are so loose that it is fairly inaccurate. My best groups were around 2 1/4" at 20 yards out of a Ransom Rest. The best powder I found was AA No. 7 at 6.5 grains. The boolit was the Lee 124 TC that I powder coated. Much faster and accuracy fell off. Good Luck. After 3 molds, 3 sizing dies, powder coating and a Dillon aftermarket powder funnel, I have resorted to shooting jacketed bullets in my Canik guns.
My problem was when I got the bullet big enough for the CZ bore, The chamber was scrapping off lead/powder coating and after about 10 rounds the pistol would not return to full battery.

[chris in va]

That's very interesting, I didn't think about the chamber face scraping off the PC. I did pull some of my rounds that have a mild crimp, the case has scraped off the coating where it was crimped so I will try no crimp with 357 and see how that goes. Now would it be better for me to cast, size 357, PC and resize 357 or cast, PC and size 357? The coating measures .002" thick, the bullets drop at 358.

I also noticed the pulled bullets measure .355 up to the scraped part so looks like they are getting sweged down a bit when seating.

It's frustrating, it shoots jacketed like a laser.

[Bird]

chris,
I don't do the PC coating, but bullet sizing should be the final step. I have sizing dies, .356, 357, 358, and depending on alloy hardness/mix, and thus bullet spring back, I select the appropriate die that gives me .357''. Also the length of time after casting will change bullet hardness and spring back.
.355'' at the bullet base is too small. You will need to expand the case neck, but be careful of running the expander in too deep as to affect the chambering of the brass.
Assemble a dummy round, and seat the bullet out to an oal of 1.160'' and see if it will pass the plunk test. Use a magic marker all over the bullet. If it will not plunk, keep repeating a few times and then look and see where the bullet contact is. This will show you what size bullet you need and how deep to seat it. Do this with the LRN bullets, as the have a larger bearing surface.
I made a mistake in my earlier post my mold is mp 125 rn.

[44Blam]

That's very interesting, I didn't think about the chamber face scraping off the PC. I did pull some of my rounds that have a mild crimp, the case has scraped off the coating where it was crimped so I will try no crimp with 357 and see how that goes. Now would it be better for me to cast, size 357, PC and resize 357 or cast, PC and size 357? The coating measures .002" thick, the bullets drop at 358.

I also noticed the pulled bullets measure .355 up to the scraped part so looks like they are getting sweged down a bit when seating.

It's frustrating, it shoots jacketed like a laser.

This is why you need the NOE pass through expander - it expands the inside of the case by a few thousandths and bells the neck.

[chris in va]

I don't know if it's the same thing but I do have a LEE case mouth expander, I mainly use it for 7.62x39 cast bullets. I see NOE sells expander plugs, which one would you recommend?

Last night I sized a few to 356 and was able to plunk at 1.09. The 358's plunk at 1.04 which is stupid short and they were making contact with the chamber lip, so I suspect the powdercoating was getting scraped off. I will try to fire

[Bird]

you need an expander plug and die .001 to .002'' smaller than your measured bullet diameter. If you are going to try your 356 diameter bullets then get expander plugs .354 and .355. If you need to go up to a 357 bullet diameter, then you can use the .355 expander plug.
Have you actually measured your sized bullets? Just because the sizing die says 356 or 358, your bullets will not be that diameter.
Two plugs listed below. The first is not for auto pistol. Give them a call, and tell them what you are doing.
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop/bullet-casting-reloading/expanders/expander-plug-pistol/358-x-354-p-exp-plug/

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop/bullet-casting-reloading/expanders/expander-plug-pistol/359-x-355-p-ap-exp-plug/

The above plugs are used with this die which you will need if you dont have one already https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop/bullet-casting-reloading/expanders/expander-plug-rifle/lee-universal-case-exp-die/

[chris in va]

UPDATE!

You guys are awesome, turns out the sizing was the issue as you suggested. When it was at 357 the chamber face was scraping off the powdercoating, sending the bullets tumbling. Once I sized to 355, I could seat to 1.09" which snugs the bullet into the rifling.

I made several different loads wth the .355 and none keyholed. I did try a few .357 and a couple went in sideways so now I know!