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Thread: Lee TL 356-124-2R: as cast diameter?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master

    NuJudge's Avatar
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    Lee TL 356-124-2R: as cast diameter?

    I have one of these molds. The groove diameter for my 9mm Beretta and Walther pistols is about .3575". Can someone take a micrometer and tell me their as-cast OD?

  2. #2
    Boolit Master


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    Mine mikes at .3564.
    Lead Forever!


    The 2nd amendment was never intended to allow private citizens to 'keep and bear arms.' If it had, there would have been wording such as 'the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. -Ken Konecki, July 27, 1992

    John Galt was here.

    "Politics is the art of postponing an answer until it is no longer relevant". (From the movie 'Red Tails')

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy

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    My pistols did great with the standard lube groove 356-124 2R bullet. I was still pan living but started shooting 9mms more frequently so I tried the 6 cavity TL 356-124 2R and tumble lubing.I had lots of tumbling and key holing from this bullet so I just switched to tumble lubing the standard groove bullets.
    I gave up on the TL 356-124 very quickly with out giving it any problem solving. Look back now I think my problem probably was a result of improper belling of the case mouth. Just putting a flare at the case mouth caused the bullet to be swaged down by the case. I recommend prepping a few cases and seating a bullet then pull the bullet and measure the diameter making sure the case hasn't swage it down. This style bullet would benefit greatly from the use of a Lyman M die swagging the case to accept the bullet.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    9 mm brass is tapered quite a bit internally and it somewhat depends on which brand of brass to be more or less. Some FC brass will swage my bullets all the way down to .351 with a bullet that has a BHN of around 9 - 10 and sized to .356 and of course they don't shoot well. The problem is whether you can expand the cases enough to not swage the bullet down without making them where they won't chamber. The same problem is with a 32 ACP when shot in a Pardini which is a target gun. The bullets should be around .308 to at the most .310 but we have to size them at .314 and run a case expander that is .314 and install a bullet with a short base 62 grain bullet which in this case is .250 and is how deep the expander goes into the case. The cases do look bulgy but the guns will reliably shoot around 1.5 inches at 50 yards. The same will have to be done with a 9mm with lead depending on the internal barrel size and what will fit in the chamber after they are expanded. I did not spend much time with 9mm but the little bit of checking I did do says that Win brass will be the easiest to expand.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master

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    I wouldn't stress over it. I found, after a number of years, that bullets sized to .3565-.357 are typically much more accurate over a wider range of guns. I size all mine to .357 now and have great results. Guns ranging from the 1930's till present.

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master
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    It's kind of the "luck of the draw" with Lee molds these days.
    Quality has gone way down.
    Sometimes size varies from hole to hole.
    Kind of sad.
    On most of my Lee molds, I lap them out bigger and size to what I need.
    Even now that I am PCing my boolets, I size first, then PC.
    It works for me anyway.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check