Lee TL356-124-TC

[Pirate69]

I need to start casting some 9MM boolits. For the most part, they will be used in a Beretta 92FS. I am currently looking at the Lee TL356-124-TC mold to get started. Can anyone related their experiences with this mold? What diameter bullet does it drops? How have you found accuracy, leading, etc.?

Just before I discovered all the pleasures of casting and started to purchase my equipment, I bought 3,000 rounds of 9MM cast bullets (123 grain). Loaded a few this week but I have not tried them yet. My barrel slugs at 0.355-0.356" and the bullets seem to want to measure at 0.354". I am going to have to measure a few more examples to make sure but it does not look good for the Home Team. I am going to start with 5.0 grains of Unique and hope the bullets will obturate. We shall see. Anyone have any words of wisdom?:veryconfu

[sargenv]

Um.. I have this mold.. but um.. I have yet to shot any boolits for their intended purposes... since I use these to fill 9 mm cases backwards and I mash them into 40 caliber 190 gr+ hollow points ;)

I will have to go home and measure what diam they are coming out as. With this mold, I simply took it out of the box, didn't bother with any degreasing, and started casting. I did apply the Bull plate sprue lube to it though. I cast about 1200 boolits with it last week. The Alloy I am using is 65% 8-10 BHN range lead and 35% WW lead. They were coming out anywhere from 129-131 gr. I sorted them by weight so that any boolit that weighed 129.0-129.9 went into the 129 pile, same with the 130 and 131 piles.. anything under 129.0 or over 132.0 were put in a small pile that will go back into the pot. I think out of 1200, I got about 30 that were either under or over weight. I'll also have to get back to you what my BHN is.. these were air cooled since I intend to mash them, so I didn't want them to get over hard.

[Harter66]

I have used that mould. For me it drops at about 132 grns and .357. That over a CCI small pistol with 4 grs of Unique or 3 grs of Red Dot shoot well in my Hi-Power clone. I had some commercial cast 125RN sized at .355 that did shoot ok but leaded badly. My bore about .356 I'm away from my books just now. I shoot the LEEs as cast.

[OBXPilgrim]

I tried the Lyman 356402 (120gr) and the 356637 (147gr) sized to .358" in my Glock 9mm & my dad's Beretta 92 SS. Could not get them to not tumble no matter how fast or hard I pushed them.

I didn't have any problem with the Lee 356-124-TC. I don't have the TL version. I did get the 356637 to shoot in my HandiRifle in a subsonic 360 Dan Wesson load. Who'd a guessed.

[fredj338]

Some guys complain about the TL version leading. I'm sure it's a lube issue, but that is what I keep seeing so I have opted for std grease groove designs.

[sargenv]

Ok, just measured them.. they ranged in size from .357 to .358.. I have not sized them at all since they are to be used as is as cores.. but they are about perfect, I could use them as a nice RN for my 38 super 627 as is.. if they were water quenched anyway.. I have a yet to use 120 gr 9mm 6 cav from Lee out in the shed also..

[mooman76]

I have the mould in a 6x I got in a bundle package of 6 moulds but didn't really need it but can use it. I know I had some cast but couldn't find them but I also have not shot them. I know not much help there. I do believe the dropped at 358 but I know for sure it was at least 357.
#00 bullets is allot of bullets to waste especially commercial cast with the cost and all. If they don't shoot good you could try swagging them up a few thous. to fit your gun or maybe someone could use them in a swap or something.

[Pirate69]

mooman76,
Want to get rid of the 6x, give me a PM.

As I had hoped, my digital micometer was having a battery problem or something. Anyway, when using a mechinical micrometer, the bought boolits measures 0.3560-0.3565" Looks like I may have a chance of minimal leading. We shall see on Saurday if the "creek don't rise". It would be nice to not have to figure what to to do with 3,000 mis-sized bullets.:(

Thanks all for your informative posts. I always evaluate the advise given to me.

[MtGun44]

I will bet that your commercial boolits will hit the target sideways or lead like heck
or BOTH. Very common problem with hard cast commercial 9mm boolits.

TL version of the Lee 124 does not have a real good track record, many complain of
leading - minimal lube quantity and marginal lube quality, it would seem.

I have had very good results with the conventional Lee 356-120 TC bevel based
boolit in my Beretta 92 and several other 9mms. Just cast up over 500 last weekend.
Sized to .357 and lubed with NRA formula 50-50 lube in a Star to
keep the bb clean.

Bill

[Pirate69]

Bill,
I hope I can tell you that you were wrong; but sometimes you can't discount experience. For what it is worth, the bullet looks like a the Lee 356-120 TC . They were sold as "These are made from virgin lead alloy 92% lead, 6% antimony, 2% lead (Must mean tin). Triple lubed, sized .356" and ready to load" for Wideners. Looks like I will have a lot of rounds to search for the "perfect solution". Wonder if I can make split sinkers out of them?[smilie=b:

[MtGun44]

I hope that I am wrong, too! I would not wish hardship on anyone. However, MANY
9mms do poorly with .355 or .356 boolits. Some have small enough bores to make it work,
many do not. Best of luck, I was predicting based on past experience - NOT hoping! ;-)

Good luck with 'triple lubed' - kinda says where they think Lee mule snot is if you think about
it. I only single lube all my std boolits in a Star, Lyman or RCBS lubrisizer. :-)

They melt down just fine. I still have 4-5 thousand .356 147 gr RN commerial boolits that
I have been melting down for years to harden up extremely soft range lead just a bit. The
went sideways from my .38 Super. I add just enough to bring the hardness up to about
11 or 12, roughly the same as wheelwts still fairly soft. My 9mms and .38 super do great
with .357, poorly with .355 or .356. I do have one HiPower that likes .356 diameter, but
it does fine with my std 9mm load which is .357, not going to make special loads if I can
help it!

Bill

[Pirate69]

The commercial bullets are leading at the cone with 5.0 grains of Unique. The end of the barrel looks OK but the accuracy dropped off after 15-20 rounds. Mooman76 stated: "If they don't shoot good you could try swagging them up a few thous. to fit your gun". Can someone please explain how this is done?

[OBXPilgrim]

Using a Lyman 450 type lubrisizer, you put a little pressure on the handle after the bullet is down in the sizer to "squish" it a little - works better if you use an oversized die & size smaller in another step.

Won't work if you're using a Lee push through, although you might try a small steel plate against the bottom of the sizer, but I think you would get very inconsistant results - you'd have a hard time controlling the "squish".

[Pirate69]

Thanks OBX.

[DLCTEX]

If the boolits are hard you'd better watch how much pressure you put on the 450 lubesizer unless it's built a lot stronger than my Lyman 45. I've bumped some boolits in my RCBS sizer and broke the spot welds loose that hold the handle.

[chris in va]

I had that mold. Couldn't get it to shoot straight out of my HIPoint carbine, Kahr K9 or CZ 75bd. Half of them keyholed, the other half sprayed buckshot patterns. Might work for you, didn't for me.

I just bought the 358 RNFP 125gr mold in hopes of better accuracy. Its meant for the 38 special/357 but I'm hoping .003"+ will grab the shallow rifling better.

[Colorado4wheel]

I tried the Lee 124gr TL RN in 6 Cavity and the 125 Gr RN single lube groove in 6 cavity. My 124 gr TL mold cast bullets @118grs while the 125gr mold cast them at 130gr. Same lead, same day. I could not get the 124 TL to work well. I did get the 125 gr to work OK but decided for me I was just not a aluminum mold guy. I was always fighting some sort of issue. Finnning, poor pin allignment, out of round bullets, etc. I gave up on them and went back to a Lyman 147gr mold. It's not as fast as the Lee but it works much better. My gun really liked the 130gr bullets out of the Lee mold when it worked right and I got rid of the bad ones. I know it seems Lyman and other molds are expensive but it's a lifetime purchase. Buy it from midway USA and they will take it back if you have problems in the first 90 days. I also did not like TL at all. Sticky, lubed bullets, hitting the ground, getting all incrusted with dirt was more then I could take. I started cheap, Lee molds, TL etc. I quickly returned the Lee stuff and got a Lyman mold and Star Sizer. I kept the Lee 20lb pot. It works fine.