Need help please!!!!!

[glock19stang]

Hello everyone I am a new member. I've spent many days reading most of the threads here and I finally decided to buy the equipment needed for casting. I am currently casting only for 9mm (Glock 19 though it is not recommended haha) and will eventually cast for other loads once I full understand casting.

Now on to the important stuff. I have pure lead that is .088 on my lee hardness kit. I want to harden it enough for range ammo. And I would like to avoid as much leading as possible even though I clean my gun extremly good!! :-P I don't plan on making this my self defense ammo. I have the lee mold 124 gr flat nose. I cannot seem to find wheel weights. I am water quenching. As I said this is strictly range ammo for my glock 19. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance guys!!:lovebooli

[DukeInFlorida]

Pure lead isn't going to benefit from water quenching at all. You need to add some antimony to increase hardness. However, I suggest that you do some testing with your polygonal rifling. You may find that softer lead is better than harder lead. Sizing also makes a BIG difference. You didn't specify, but I presume that the mold you are getting is for the micro-grooves (tumble lubing). You might still need to size those bullets, but testing will tell.

Let us know how that goes, but for now, stop wasting your trouble with the water dropping for the pure lead.

[glock19stang]

Oh yes sorry I do have the micro-grooves and I am sizing the bullets with the .356 lee sizer.

Just curious here..... why is it that I am wasting my time with water dropping? (just trying to learn)

What do you mean softer lead is better then harder lead? do you mean I would be OK with how hard they are now? (i will do some testing but if I can avoid some serious leading that would be great....haha)

Thanks DukeinMaine for your quick response.

[fryboy]

water dropping ( or quenching ) seems to work best with antimony and arsenic in the mix some tin is permissible but it tends to offset the hardening , i never cared for the glock [shrugz] it's possible that ur bore could be bigger or smaller ,i would cast a few pure lead boolits and use a few of these to slug ur bore ! ( type it in the search feature ! ) that would let u know if ur sizing to the correct dia. or if u need to go bigger/smaller . one of our link partners/sponsor??'s link is at the top , they have most the best alloys available as well as the stuff to add to what u got to make it better , rotometals , other than places like that it really would be where u find it but ya mite have to look hard in some area's ,if there's a bunch of caster's living close they mite of beat u too it or perhaps they also mite share
umm with my lee dinger dead soft lead seems to be over .100 ( not alot but i cant tell how much lolz) .088 IMHO isnt much of an alloy but it does have something barely noticeable
all that aside welcome to castboolits !

[wistlepig1]

About leading, you are going to here this said many ways for many people. The size of YOUR barrel and the size of YOUR bullits has a lot to do with leading. Slug your barrel so you know that number, then size .001- .002 OVER the barrel number, them shoot the bullits from the lead you have. Check for leading after 10 rounds,20,30, 40 and so on. If you get leading, then look at other things and ask more about speed and alloy, don't make this harder than you have to.

If you don't know How to slug the barrel, just ask or read the stickys about it. We can help with that to, its not rocket science but it sure is worth doing.

Like others here, I run 357 mag. at 1320fps with cast bullits, with NO leading with my gun and my bullits sized right. 50ww/50%lead, with a good lube.:holysheep

[glock19stang]

Thanks a lot guys you have all been awesome. I guess I'll have to load up about 50-100 rounds and see how that goes. I'll keep you guys updated so all can guide me in the right direction.

One more question.... say i wanted to load my bullets at .088 like it is now. would it be safe to use titegroup/231/or wfs? I have winchester brass and primers, should i just continue on the winchester path and get their powder? thanks a lot guys.

[David2011]

Glock19stang,

"Glock 19 though it is not recommended haha"

You seem pretty enthusiastic doing something considered unsafe by many. Please do a little research on Glock Kabooms or Glock kbs. The idea is that lead boolits leave deposits in the factory barrel which causes more leading. The bore becomes restricted which raises the pressure to an ultimately unsafe level where the case blows out destructively. I have a 19 but have no experience it blowing it up. I use j-word bullets in it. If I decide I have to shoot cast boolits in it, I WILL change the barrel.

Please think long and hard about this! Putting lead through it can damage your hands, your eyes or worse.

David

[glock19stang]

Thanks David2011 I failed to add I have a wolf barrel for it to shoot cast lead. I just still said it is not recommended because the lonewolf barrels also say that cast boolits will void the warranty. I would never shoot cast boolits thru a stock barrel, even though many have been successful, I just prefer to play it safe. Thanks once again for the reminder.

[johnlaw484]

Keep the lead,dump the Glock.
I just attended a Glock Armours school. I have never like Glocks and made it known going into the classroom.
When I completed the course I was asked, did I now like the Glock?
I told them "No, but at least now, I know why"

[glock19stang]

haha thank's for the tip johnlaw484 but I actually like the glock. Don't let me mislead you, I love GUNS not just glocks. how was your overall experience with the glock armour school? i was looking into taking the class..... even though you still did not like glock was it at least VERY informative?

[Echo]

Mix your Pb with WW's - that should give you a satisfactory alloy that will behave in your gun, as long as you size the boolits correctly!

My advice is, and has been, size the boolits for autoloaders as fat as will reliably chamber. If you can chamber boolits that are sized .360, have at it. If .360 won't reliably chamber, try .359, and so on. The barrel will adjust the boolits to the exactly correct size.

[MtGun44]

Water dropping only works on lead alloys with antimony and/or arsenic as an alloying material.
Pure lead does nothing with water dropping.

For 9mm you will almost certainly need .357 or .358 diameter boolits to avoid leading and
get good accy. Nothing more than air cooled wheelwts alloy is needed for success, WD is
not necessary. Trade your pure lead to a muzzle loader guy for wheelwt metal, you both
will benefit.

Hardness does not stop leading, boolit fit does. Read that one again, please. Most have
to unlearn the wrong "facts" that hard is the solution to leading.

I strongly recommend you start with the Lee 356-124TC NON-tumble lube and size to .357
for a start with air cooled wheel wts. Known good design, feeds well, is accurate and does
not lead in a wide range of 9mm Parabellum pistols. Some 9mms with very shallow rifling
may need harder alloy to grip the rifling, but none of mine have needed it so far, and I have
shot it in a wide range of makers and models. No personal experience with Glocks, but Sig,
KelTec, Browning, Beretta, CZ are fine.

Bill

[myg30]

Keep the lead,dump the Glock.
I just attended a Glock Armours school. I have never like Glocks and made it known going into the classroom.
When I completed the course I was asked, did I now like the Glock?
I told them "No, but at least now, I know why"

So that means you shoot a smith or ruger ?

[glock19stang]

hey guys I've been reading my Lyman 49th edition manual and I'm a little confused.

I have the lee mold TL356-124-TC. The manual does not include data for 124gr.

It does include for the lee mold Lee 120g. Dual Cavity Bullet Mold LEE 90239 which I plan on purchasing in the near future. I want to try the mold I have now. What do you guys recommend?

[a.squibload]

9mm is not my thing, but generally speaking, for a given powder charge you will get more pressure using a heavier boolit.
Start slow, work up carefully.
I guess the difference in boolit weight is about 3%, but I would start with a little less than a "slow" charge.
Other guys here will have better info concerning type of powder, etc.

[glock19stang]

Thanks a lot squilbload.

An additional question if I decide to use load data for either a 120gr. or a 125gr. Which am I better off using? Common sense tells me 120 since it's lighter but I could be wrong.

[sagacious]

... if I decide to use load data for either a 120gr. or a 125gr. Which am I better off using? Common sense tells me 120 since it's lighter but I could be wrong.

What do your bullets actually weigh? The as-cast weight may not equal what is printed on the mold. Use the data for the closest actual weight, or use the next heavier weight data if midway between bullet weights.

Situations like these are why one should always begin with the recommended starting charge weight. That recommendation is intended prevent unintended surprises, and following that practice passes well for common sense. Good luck.

[glock19stang]

Well the weight of each is 108.02 gr. Yet I have a 124gr mold. Is something wrong with my lead? or should I just load to 115 gr data?


These are not a few boolits..... the whole batch weights the same

[sagacious]

Nothing is "wrong" with your lead-- it's just apparently got more alloy content than 1:10 Sn:Pb, which is nominally what LEE molds are cut for. If you want the weights closer to 124grs, then try 1:10 alloy. The more alloy content, the lighter the bullets will be. This is normal.

Your bullets are 7grs short of the 115gr bullet specs, which is only 5% lower in bullet weight. That's not any kind of huge problem at all. Should be perfectly fine to use the 115gr data, just be sure to begin with the recommended published start loads and you'll be safe.

Myself, I'd load/fire/function/accuracy test your bullets with the bullets/alloy you're using and see how it goes. If all is OK, then there's no practical need for change. Good luck.

[Harter66]

I've loaded for several autos . My procedure is roughly ,if I have an odd boolit weight I use the next heavier boolits start and max charges. I start with a minimum charge and generally work up at about 2/10s of a grn at a time and load 5 of each load . Start with the lightest charge ,this load may not even get the case out of the chamber much less to a stove pipe. It might work well . Stop when the action functions all 5 right. I shoot groups ,but I'm a tight wad. Now load 10 of each in 1/10 grn steps , and shoot for real 20-30 yrd groups right around 75% of the load min/max window.

Fit is everything if the bbl slugs at .356 for example size .358 , bell your cases , crimp only enough to remove the bell , I think that's all the high points. Now in my High Power clone I shoot that boolit with no complaints as cast. Many have had leading,tumbling,and 12" groups from it. I have had none of those issues. I shoot Red Dot and Unique over CCI small pistol primers.

I hope this helps with out over whelming you or getting me pounced

[2wheelsoff]

excellent thread for a new caster/reloader as myself.

Harter66 - Nice method of incremental increases in charge, I will try this out till groups look good...first i have to have my first good castings tho.

-this board is amazing. I have been reading it not stop in the late hours...the wife is getting jealous.