Lee 125 grn fp. Sized .358 in Cz75bd, Rock Island 1911, and Sig 365. Why? Accorate and zero leading. No issues in chambering or ejecting. Same boolit in .38 special. Cast up several pounds, lube and size, load in both cartridges. I like simple.
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Lee 125 grn fp. Sized .358 in Cz75bd, Rock Island 1911, and Sig 365. Why? Accorate and zero leading. No issues in chambering or ejecting. Same boolit in .38 special. Cast up several pounds, lube and size, load in both cartridges. I like simple.
I concur slug the barrel to see what you are dealing with. I size as fat as I can to still chamber or fill the throat. I bought a 9mm Luger long ago and I had some RCBS Truncated Cone nose 124 grain bullets sized at .356. Fired them through the Luger and couldn't heat a cardboard box at 25 yards. I slugged the barrel and found the groove to be .358. I have a swage and made a die to swage the bullets up to .359. After the that Luger was one of my most accurate pistols. Same thing happened with my P 38. It's groove was .357. It too was woefully inaccurate. I fed it those swaged up .359 bullet and I was pleasantly surprised how accurate it was for a very rattly loose fitting pistol.
Even when I was shooting undersized bullets I never got any leading.
Before I started casting, I shot IPSC competition and I loaded with store bought cast bullets for 9mm (.356), they were a hard alloy, I'd get lead fouling, no biggie, I just clean it out. I would load for several different 9mm guns.
When I learned how to cast, I also learned how to load so I wouldn't get Lead fouling. Basically, I use a softer alloy (so they obturate) and size to .357 and that works for all of 'em in my safe.
But what is your "softer" alloy. I'm interested in knowing and always looking at different loading techniques.
We all know some of the whys companies that sell cast bullets use very hard alloys. I can tell you this that those hard alloys have a lot of blended with the lead to harden it such as Antimony, Arsenic, and Tin and too much of them, especially the Tin cause leading. Too much Antimoney will give you that grey wash. I also feel that those "hard" bullets rub off the alloy onto your bore as they are harder to engrave.
.357 for my factory Glock barrels. .356 will occasionally keyhole and, even without tumbling, would not group as well as .357. That’s with a 95/3/2 alloy. No leading as I recall, with any alloy or sized diameter using two coats of HiTek. The MP mold drops them around .358.
If your guns need bigger and you want to buy them ready-made, check out 125 grain 38 caliber commercial boolits.
Most of the bigger commercial outfits use molds made to tighter specs, specific to their alloy and final size requirements. Many of their 9mm bullets might not size out fully to 358, even if you wanted to pay more for custom sizing.
I'm lazy .......no I'm cheap .
I load for 6 cartridges in the 35/38/9mm clan I size .358 with a check for the rifle and .357 for the pistols .
2 reasons .
1 that fits 4 cylinders from 3 manufacturers spread over 60 years in basically a variation of it won't drop through but it doesn't need a lot of push to a firm friction fit . It doesn't lead in those and it doesn't lead in those or a companion carbine as long as the barrel doesn't get too hot .
2 . The 5 9s from 5 makers don't lead . 1 of them is .357 with a generous leade and throat and one is at the other end at .354 with a 45° cut to the top of the lands from the case mouth .
This applies to ;
358066
358-95 NOE
358-125
357-124
357....360...nose out 148 WC
358-158
358-200
35-250
That about covers it .
marshall 623 stated on the 1st page that he was getting leading until he removed the bevel base lip from his mold. i don't understand why a bevel base would cause leading. any help on that??
.357 has always worked in all mine. Some work fine with .356 and some work with .358, but all work fine with .357 so they all get .357.
In my experience with CZ and Canik pistols there is no leade in the rifling. Bullets need to be small and short OAL. This appears to be common in European countries where cast boolits are not as plentiful. Apparently the NATO chamber was designed for 124 and 115g. jacketed bullets.
I have a Canik Rival and I had to return the pistol for a barrel replacement. It would not chamber factory jacketed bullets that were .355. They hit the rifling and the pistol would not go into full battery.
My coated 124 Lee TC would not work at .3565. That is my smallest bullet sizing die at the present. Same thing with the CZ 75B until I have the barrel throated.
My experience with loading the 9mm has been an experience.
If bullet diameter is larger then the throat/leade, a shorter COL is needed. Size a tiny bit smaller then the throat.
After sizing check bullet diameter. Different alloys spring back more then others. Harder, more spring back. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.ph...9mm-luger.317/