CZ 75 Lead

[LAH]

I’ve loaded the 9MM Luger cartridge for a year or so but nothing serious. My efforts have been geared toward providing ammo to learn the semi-auto platform. Most my shooting to this point has been with a CZ 75 Pre B. The Saeco #928 bullet is used with Promo power purchased on the cheap a few years ago along with several sleeves of HMF primers.


With the Saeco #928 and 3.5 grains of Promo the little pistol runs flawlessly so no problem with the load but I’m looking for a bullet with a meplat. Along comes a friend with a Lee 38-125-RNFP mold which I borrow. Man that thing makes a pretty bullet. I sized them .357 & lubed with Carnauba Red.


Today I loaded a few to try once the weather breaks a little. The first 10 were 3.5 grains, next 10 were 3.7 & the final 10 were 3.9. We’ll see how it goes.


The powder.



The primer.



The Lee 38-125-RNFP [center 2 bullets]




3.9 grains of Promo in the little case.



OAL 1.005”



Loaded rounds.



Beside the Hornady XTP 115 HP



I’ll see how they will do in a few days. Hope they feed in the CZ.

[RobS]

Keep us posted

[LAH]

I really want this bullet to work. It comes in just over 130 grains from range lead. I like the Saeco bullet but I can move this one a little faster & the meplat won't hurt if it will feed.

[wv109323]

I hope you have better luck than I did with that set up. My pistol is a CZ 75B Omega bought last fall 2014. I also have the Lee 6 cavity 358 125 RNFP mold. Essentially the pistol and that bullet are incompatible.
I sized my bullets at .3565. Even at that diameter the bullet had to be seated until none of the major diameter of the bullet was exposed above the mouth of the case. The chamber on my pistol was tight and shallow. The chamber would not accept any bullet over .355". Any bullet over that size would hit the rifling. There was about .010 freebore in the chamber.
I had to seat that bullet so deep( well beyond the crimping groove) that my powder charge was compressed and the bullet was so short it was not reliable in feeding through the action.
I hope your chamber is different than mine. Take some of your rounds and see they will pass the plunk test in your chamber. A few of my rounds would function but then I would get a ring of lead shaved from the bullet and the pistol would not go into full battery. Also a round would chamber but the bullet would be lodged into the rifling and you would need to bump the slide against something in order to extract the unfired round.
I discussed this problem on the "original CZ Forum" under Ammo and Handloading. There were two topics about the OAL in a CZ 75.
The consensus of the CZ group was "That bullet will not work in your pistol". I hope you have better luck than I did. I am going to order a Lee 356-120 TC mold. I will seat the shoulder of that bullet even the the mouth of the case.
The irony of the situation is that I have a CZ 75 P-07 Duty. I started with a RCBS 124 TC mold. The RCBS mold could not cast a bullet big enough for the P-07 pistol. Even as cast at .3568 the bullets tumbled out of the P-07. I obtained the .358 mold for the P-07 and traded the RCBS mold off for a 230 RN for my .45 ACP.

[LAH]

Thanks neighbor. This isn't the first bad news I've received about this bullet & pistol combo. I'll try them without much hope though.

[btroj]

It wasn't a good fit in my 75B either. I was hoping it would but it just had to be seated too deep.

[9.3X62AL]

Creeker.......izzat OAL 1.050"? Looks more like 1.005", unless I'm reading your caliper incorrectly.

No experience with the Lee 125 38 RF here. I've used the Lee 120 truncated cone 9mm/conventional lube bullet with great success in several of my 9mm pistols. Seat them with .020" of front drive band exposed ahead of the case mouth, slight taper crimp, and they run like water in all of them. Same deal with my CZ-75B x 40 S&W and the Lee 175 TC.....seat it .020" out, and it runs all day.

[Coyote3]

I've used the Lee 120 truncated cone 9mm/conventional lube bullet with great success in several of my 9mm pistols. Seat them with .020" of front drive band exposed ahead of the case mouth, slight taper crimp, and they run like water in all of them.

Same setup I use, loaded with CFE Pistol. Fantastic load.

[LAH]

Creeker.......izzat OAL 1.050"? Looks more like 1.005", unless I'm reading your caliper incorrectly.

You certainly correct, that is 1.005 & I edited in the post.

[LAH]

Maybe soon I'll try these. The weather is getting better. Could shoot them indoors I guess but that's not me.

[fa38]

I hope your chamber is different than mine. Take some of your rounds and see they will pass the plunk test in your chamber. A few of my rounds would function but then I would get a ring of lead shaved from the bullet and the pistol would not go into full battery. Also a round would chamber but the bullet would be lodged into the rifling and you would need to bump the slide against something in order to extract the unfired round.

I had the same problem of a lead ring being shaved and the slide not going into battery. My cure was to expand the case so that when seating the bullet nothing was shaved off to build up onto the case mouth. I then used a separate crimping die to crimp the bullet. When seating the bullet the case mouth would scrape the seat die wall. The use of thin brass also helps.

Before I came up with that solution I would seat the bullet very deep into the case so that there was a gap at the case mouth between the bullet and the case mouth. Any shaved lead would go into that gap. You do have to drop the powder charge to keep pressure under control.

[LAH]

Was able to see if the loads would feed in my CZ. I only loaded 10 each of the different powder charges & good thing because as some said, 3.5 grains was enough if not a bit too much. The good news is they fed just fine, zero problems but too early to be certain as 10 rounds doesn't a trial make.

The 2 left hand primers were fired today with the 115 gr. Hornady XTP & 4.5 grain of Promo. The right 5 cases were the 125 grain Lee RNFP with 3.5 grains of the same & appear to be higher pressure than the jacketed loads.

Any way not much of a test but best I could do today. Snow is still pretty deep in the hills around here.

[Ed_Shot]

My CZ 75B really likes the Lee 356-125-2R over Promo 3.8 and the Lee 356-120-TC over Promo 4.0. Both sized .358 and both at COAL 1.055.

I have not used the Lee 125 RN/FP and have not heard good things about it here.

[LAH]

Well Ed our OALs are about the same. I didn't have the chrony set up so I'm not sure where I am pressure-wise but it's hotter than what I've been shooting. BTW mine really likes the Lee 356-125-2R also though I'm using 3.5 promo. They look nice in the mag.

[Combat Diver]

I cast for my CZ75 the Lee 124gr TC under a load of Unique. No issues thru it or a Taurus 92 and G19. Use the same bullet loaded in .38 cases for my Smith 442 Pro.


CD

[Ed_Shot]

The Lee 356-125-2R over Promo 3.8 gr out of my CZ 75B clocks @ 1070 fps. I tested 3.6, 3.8 , and 4.0 gr of Promo with this boolit and 3.8 gr was the clear winner with my weapon.

My goto load for 9MM is the older Lyman 358242 (120 gr) over Blue Dot 6.0 @1075 fps in my 75B. The Lee 356-125-2R is pretty close with Blue Dot 5.8 but to conserve my Blue Dot I found a sweet spot with Promo for the Lee.

[robertbank]

I am stuck on the Lyman 356402 TC bullet. Run likes water through a hose in all my 9MM pistols over 4.1 gr 0f 231. With the powder shortage I have also used Universal, Unique, & PB under it with decent results.

Take Care

Bob

[Ed_Shot]

Bob,

I also use the Lyman 356402 and the Lee 356-120-TC. I have not been able to get the accuracy out of a TC that can match what I can do with a RN in my 9MM pistols. However, in 9MM carbine the 356-120-TC is my best shooter.

Ed

[robertbank]

Bob,

I also use the Lyman 356402 and the Lee 356-120-TC. I have not been able to get the accuracy out of a TC that can match what I can do with a RN in my 9MM pistols. However, in 9MM carbine the 356-120-TC is my best shooter.

Ed

Interesting. Do you size .357 or .356? Accuracy with the TC bullet has always been excellent in my guns. I don't shoot a lot of RN so I cannot say if they are more accurate or not. I don't shoot Bullseye so I generally am not to consumed with finite accuracy. When the weather warms a bit more I may run some bench tests. You have tweaked my interest. Thanks.

Take Care

Bob

[Ed_Shot]

I size all my 9MM and 380 to .358. I must say my appraisal of TC vs RN is subjective based on personal observation of groups fired. I continue to tinker with loads for the TC's while being satisfied with the RN's. It's a happy work in progress. The right load is out there for the TC's I just haven't found it yet.