Lee TL356-124-TC 9mm Mold

[grumman581]

I finally got around to unboxing the Lee TL356-124-TC mold that I bought awhile back for casting 9mm bullets for my 9mm handguns and for my P229 in .357SIG.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=366607

The alloy I'm using is basically a mix of regular wheel weights, stick on wheel weights, and a bit of #9 shot that I had sitting around from previous use in a SCUBA soft weight belt pouch. I also tossed in about 4" of solder in the 20# Lee bottom pour pot. Yeah, I know -- not exactly a repeatable alloy.

Supposedly, the mold should be throwing bullets at 124 grains. My scale only goes up to 1000 grains, so I took 7 of them in order to average them. 918 grains total, which equals an average of 131.14 grains.

Is this a reasonable value? When they are rating a mold at some particular weight, what alloy are they using? I would have thought that whatever else that might have been in my alloy would have make it lighter than pure lead.

[sagacious]

That is a reasonable and expectable weight. That LEE mold is not calibrated for use with pure lead (it's probably calibrated for Lyman #2 alloy, but maybe someone can quote published info on that). Your lead has less alloy component than LEE used for that mold. If you used a harder alloy, your bullets would weigh less. Lyman #2 or equivalent would give you lighter cast bullets from your mold.

I addition to that, as-cast weight varies a little mold-to-mold, and also varies somewhat with pouring technique.

As regards your current batch of alloy, there is plenty of reloading data for a 9mm 130gr cast bullet in the Lyman Reloading Handbook, some in the LEE book, and you can undoubtedly find other published sources for that weight.

Hope this helps, best of luck.

[grumman581]

I'm not worried about the reloading data since I was already planning on developing the load basically from scratch. I'll look at the various reloading tables to get a rough idea of what I can expect with the powder that I have on hand and then work up from there. I bought an 8# keg of Alliant Promo powder awhile back and I've been meaning to see what all it might be good for. It's supposed to be the same as Red Dot (by weight, not volume). They don't have a recipe for 9mm, so I figure I'll start with the lowest for .38special and work my way up from there.

[putteral]

Mine drops them at 129.65 grains with my alloy mixture. So I would not worry.

[AviatorTroy]

All my Lee molds come out heavy. My .452-230 comes out at about 245gr or so but I'm loading SO far under max data that the difference it makes is insignificant. My Lyman molds come out light. Ive heard the same thing, Lee molds are calibrated for alloys very heavy on linotype, and Lyman molds are calibrated for pure lead? Could have something there, as WW are somewhere in between.

Let me know how that Promo goes, I've been eyeing the same stuff!

[grumman581]

I guess it would be nice if everyone calibrated their molds for the same alloy so that a direct comparison could more easily be made. Personally, I think that they should be calibrated for pure lead since that is the heaviest and as such, you would know that the bullet that you produce would weigh no more than that amount. Or maybe just giving the "water capacity" of the mold in question since you could use that to calculate the weight as long as you had previously determined the density of the alloy that you are using.

[Nate1778]

Its a cool bullet and I think you'll like the holes it punches. I have to seat mine pretty deep to get it to chamber into my aftermarket Glock barrel. I think I am running it at 1.04 or there bout's, any further out and it contacts rifling and won't chamber.

[dualsport]

I read something about Lee using a very high tin content in their alloy.

[grumman581]

The Lee mold that I'm using for my .45 is a 230 gr mold (452-230-TC) ends up averaging 234.075 gr -- basically 1.77% over... This one (TL356-124-TC) ended up being 5.76% over.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=776747

Same alloy with both of them. I would have expected them to be off a similar percentage if it is an issue with my alloy vs what Lee used.

I also cast about 400 of the 358-105-SW Lee mold, but I've already lubed them, so I can't get their as dropped weight. I'm planning on using this one in a .357mag, 9mm, and .357SIG (sizing down as necessary). I'm thinking that I should be able to theoretically get close to 1000 ft-lbs out of this little bullet if I can get my velocity up to around 2072 fps. Probably possible out of a rifle, but I'm not sure that even my .357mag pistol with the longer barrel will be able to do it. Of course, without a gas check, I would have to wonder if I wasn't just spewing molten lead out the end of the barrel at that speed.

[tward]

Grumman, I'm curious as to the diameter of the as cast bullet. I thought about getting this mold for my GP 100. Tim

[grumman581]

Grumman, I'm curious as to the diameter of the as cast bullet. I thought about getting this mold for my GP 100. Tim

Which one? I've mentioned a couple of molds in this thread...

If you're talking about the 358-105-SW Lee mold, I just measured a couple of them and they are around .358 on each of them. Maybe a hair over or under if I press too hard on the calipers or measured one way vs another way. I guess theoretically, there might be some deformation resulting from the tumble lubing process.

[grumman581]

I've noticed on the Midway site for the 358-105-SWC mold that the various reviewers are using them for .38, .357, and 9mm. Are they resizing them for 9mm? I thought that you shouldn't go past .356 on 9mm for lead (and .355 for jacketed).

[Ben]

grumman581 :

What is the " as cast " dia of those bullets ?

I have a Marlin Lever Action 38 Spec. rifle that needs a " flat " on the end of the bullet to be safe in the tubular mag. I've always thought this might be a good plinking bullet for that rifle.

I need .358 - .359 however.

Ben

[Cloudpeak]

I've noticed on the Midway site for the 358-105-SWC mold that the various reviewers are using them for .38, .357, and 9mm. Are they resizing them for 9mm? I thought that you shouldn't go past .356 on 9mm for lead (and .355 for jacketed).

The bore on my STI Trojan measures .356". I run my 124/125 RN and 105gr SWC bullets through a .357+ sizer (I opened it up a bit) and shoot them both in my 9mm and S&W .357. Both bullets are very accurate in both guns. I fired 150 rounds of the 105's through my revolver the other day and had almost zero leading. My STI shows more lead after 200 rounds but accuracy isn't affected.

[grumman581]

grumman581 :

What is the " as cast " dia of those bullets ?

Ben

They're running about .358, maybe .359 if I rotate them a bit, or maybe .357 if I rotate them a bit more... Then again, that's on bullets that have already been tumble lubed, so one could argue that the tumble lubing process could theoretically change the shape of the bullets 1/1000ths of an inch...

[Ben]

grumman581 :

Ummm, I really need .359 to be certain of a good .358 bullet after it has been thru the sizer. Guess I better hold up on buying this one.

Thanks for responding !

Ben

[1911fan]

I am using this mold and mine drop @.356 and weigh 123 to 124 using wheel weights

[grumman581]

Ummm, I really need .359 to be certain of a good .358 bullet after it has been thru the sizer. Guess I better hold up on buying this one.

It will probably depend on the alloy you are using. Also, I'm thinking that the tumble lubing process does slightly distort the bullets enough that I'm getting different measurements depending upon how I rotate the bullet.

[NHlever]

I've noticed on the Midway site for the 358-105-SWC mold that the various reviewers are using them for .38, .357, and 9mm. Are they resizing them for 9mm? I thought that you shouldn't go past .356 on 9mm for lead (and .355 for jacketed).

I was shooting some of those boolits the other day in my Marlin .357 carbine. Sized to .359 (they don't always quite clean up) over 3.5 grains of W-231 they averaged 1 1/4" for five shots at 50 yards. I'm still working on getting them to shoot that well in both my 9mm (sized to .357) and in my .357 revolvers. I was surprised that so far they shoot better out of the carbine than the 38-125 RNFP's do.