My First mold

[twally]

I am going to buy my first mold, I choose A lee to start with because of price.
Also this will be .40cal. to be used in a springfield XDm. I want the 175 tc, but they offer two molds one with micro groves they claim doesn't need to be sized if you use their liquid alox lube, and they have a 175tc with a lube groove.
I'm not sure which way to go, if I go with the regular mold with a lube groove will I need to buy the sizer die kit they offer.
Does this liquid alox lube worh well, should I pan lube?

Any help or suggestions ??

Thank you Wally

[HeavyMetal]

One of the guys at work has an XD in 40. we talked about making ammo and I set him up with some gear to do his loading and bought a mold for his 40.

I also bought a Lee mold for this caliber but I bought the 150 grain SWC that looks like the H&G 68 for the 45 auto.

Loadded ammo was a complete success! Not only did they function perfectly but also shot to point of aim! The 175 and 200 grain stuff he had been buying was shooting low right!

I don't get the heavy boolit concept in a 40. I can get the 150 to do 1000 to 1100 with ease, it lowers the recoil, which increases control, and I'm still shooting a boolit heavier than than the famed 125 grain 357 load at about the same speed and bigger in diameter.

Think about it before you buy that 175 grain mold!

[OutHuntn84]

I own the micro grove mold and it shoots good and yes no mater what Lee says I run them through the sizer. My uncle has the lube grove one and he just sizes and tumble lubes his and they shoot good. Neither of these bullets caused hardly any leading in any of the guns we shot them through. Results were out of a Glock, Walther and a Beretta. IMHO alox is great I've even read that some folks dilute it down with mineral oil.

[dromia]

LA can be used on non micro groove boolits with success.

Lars sells the cheapest LA around under the Xlox name, link at the bottom of the page.

Cut your Xlox 50/50 with white spirit, less is more. The boolits should have golden hue to them when coated rather than a thick brown covering.

You really only need to size if your boolit is way oversize.

How do you know this?

Well you need to slug your barrel and compare its groove diameter to actual diameter of your cast boolits. Ideally they should be 1-2 thou over groove diameter, more and you can size down.

If your boolit is undersized then you may have a problem and the mould could need beagling.

You'll only ever know what works in your gun by trying.

[Grifter]

I have the single groove Lee 40 in 175gr, I make them for a buddy's 40cal XD. they work great pan lubed. I have a micro groove 9mm mold from Lee that I am not so fond of right now. I think I need more tinker time with it.
For the 40 cal, I just shot them as dropped. They sealed up the bore nicely and left very little leading behind. (I think my alloy was a tad soft)

[cabezaverde]

I have both styles of Lee truncated cone molds in 9mm. From the photos, it appears that the bullet is the same in the nose - my examples (both very recent) are not. The traditional lube mold has a slightly shorter nose and bigger meplat.

By the way, they both shoot fine but I prefer the traditional lube mold.

[sqlbullet]

Load up a few and see if they will properly chamber in your gun. If so, don't bother with sizing. If they don't, size them.

I have to size them to get them to properly chamber in my 10mm's. Wish I didn't.

As far as Liquid Alox, I have cast and lubed thousands of bullets and have yet to get through the three bottles I got with my three size kits (401, 358, 429). I use it on the 175 gr TL 401, as well as a 158 gr RFN for 357/38 special, and on a 240 gr SWC GC for 44 mag. All of them shoot well without leading.

As has been said, two thin coats is just as good as a heavy coat. Doesn't take much. Cut it with mineral spririts.