help with 9mm please

[sdelam]

I know I have seen somewhere a discussion on how the Lee 9mm dies are for jacketed bullets and there was something that needed to be done to make them work for cast but I cant find it now.

I find the boolets drop at .356-.357, however when I load them and pull them back out with a kenetic puller, they come out at .351-.352. I havent tried to shoot any yet but surly being this undersized is going to lead to leading issues.

I have tried backing the seating die out some but they wont chamber unless sized back down to .380 outside deminsions. I cant figure a way to make this work. Maybe a harder alloy? Any suggestions?

[RobS]

Give us a bit more information such as: What alloy you are using and then how long did you wait prior to loading the bullets (I'm looking at age hardening). Are you using the Lee 3 die set or the 4 die set with the Lee factory crimp die? What firearms are you shooting and with what barrel in the case that someone else has a similar setup?

[chris in va]

FWIW I use a Lee 358-125-RF mold for my 9mm's and they work fine with the Lee die set. They come out of the mold at .361 so I size them at .358. These are water dropped WW by the way.

[sdelam]

It's range scape that seems fairly hard, I have been using it with 45 for sometime. I dont have a tester but I do have some pure to compare it to. They were cast maybe a month ago and I am not using a FCD.

I've been playing with a Glock 19, I wanted to make sure I could get them to work before I sprung the 200 bucks on a KKM barrel


These are 120g Trunicated from a 356-120-TC 6 cav.

[9.3X62AL]

That would be an ABNORMALLY tight 9mm chamber, in my experience. Especially in a Glock. Are you positive that the chambering is being halted by the case mouth area of the cartridge, and not an unsized portion of the case base/web area? The 9mm is a tapered casing, and the same deeper sizing or taper crimping that reduces case mouth diameters may actually be reducing overlarge case base areas, and allowing the feed cycle to complete. And squeezing down boolit diameter in the process. Glocks do "blevy" brass case bases a bit, even the later-generation examples. I would use a Magic Marker on those "too fat" reloads and see EXACTLY where they are hanging up during the feed cycle.

Mic your expander spud. These are often .352" in most die sets, and if your boolits are .357" a .355"-.356" expander will hold them in place under feedramp contact very well. Don't forget about "brass spring-back".

You need to figure out the chamber issue BEFORE getting that aftermarket barrel. If the reloads are clogging a Glock OEM chamber, they will REALLY choke an aftermarket barrel's chamber.

[RobS]

FWIW I use a Lee 358-125-RF mold for my 9mm's and they work fine with the Lee die set. They come out of the mold at .361 so I size them at .358. These are water dropped WW by the way.

I'm assuming you are using the 4 die set???? Also with the factory crimp die in place and a water quenched WW boolit it is entirely possible for this setup to work as the harder boolit springs back even if using the FCD. Another reason for many saying the FCD works and others say it doesn't. "Spring back" happens all the time when sizing boolits as the same sizing die will size a pure lead boolit smaller than one that is 20 + BHN. Also, the reason behind slugging a barrel with dead soft lead (pure lead) as it doesn’t spring back giving skewed measurements.

sdelam:

It's hard to say what you have for range scrap as some places shoot a good mix and others shoot a lot of jacketed and 22's. With that your alloy could be quite soft and possibly 8 BHN or as hard as what some range scrap comes in at 10-11 ish BHN. Your boolits are aged well at being a month since cast so they are as hard as they are going to be. An 8 BHN boolit is much harder than plain lead (5BHN) with it being almost twice as hard. A lot of variables and you may take that range scrap and try water quenching some and then retesting by seating and pulling to see if there is any notable changes.

Being a standard glock barrel, which are typically a bit "loose", 9.3X62AL's point on the chamber specs I will agree with. It has been stated here many times that even the Lee 3 die set's seating/crimping die can also swage down on a boolit

[sdelam]

Alright I started from scratch, I set up the sizing die ensuring it was touching the shell holder. I set up the seating die so it sized the case back down to .381. I covered the case in dry erase marker and put it in the chamber. The only part that had the marker rubbed off was around the case mouth. I pulled the boolit and it measured .354.

[9.3X62AL]

Well, CRUD.

What is your case make? Remingtons tend to run thinner at the case mouth than W-W, and I use Rems exclusively.

[RobS]

To see what is going on with the seating die do the same thing with the dry erase marker. Size the case, prime it, flare and then pull the case and color it with the dry erase marker. Seat and crimp a boolit and let us know where the marker comes off.

This should give us an idea if just the case mouth is being crimped or if the case underneath the crimp is also being squeezed down by the die thus swaging down your boolit.

If the marker only comes off at the mouth of the case where the crimp is then I would say the alloy is too soft for the pressure the case is putting on the boolit. A case expander plug can take care of this as 9.3X62AL suggested or a harder alloy can work too. Another option which in your situation won't work since your mold cast out at what it does, but a larger diameter boolit could be used in anticipation of the case swaging down the boolit.

[sdelam]

The marker only comes off at the case mouth.

[RobS]

Well it sounds like the alloy is too soft for the brass tension. The least expensive route would be to try a harder boolit and water quenching from the mold may just do it. It's worth a try that won't set you back any extra $$$. If you are after using your present alloy and mold then a different expander plug is the next avenue. As I mentioned a larger diameter mold may work as well with the current alloy.

[Fireball 57]

Gentlemen, I understand the factory barrel rifling in the Glock pistols have shallow, polygonal rifling and shooting cast bullets are not recommended. But...some individuals on the GlockTalk.com website shoot cast through 'em. Others buy a Barsto replacement barrel. Good luck!

[sdelam]

Gentlemen, I understand the factory barrel rifling in the Glock pistols have shallow, polygonal rifling and shooting cast bullets are not recommended. But...some individuals on the GlockTalk.com website shoot cast through 'em. Others buy a Barsto replacement barrel. Good luck!

I understand, plan on buying another barrel if I get this figured out.