lee Mold TL356-124-TC

[Jim22]

The Lee shallow groove 9mm boolit mould was available at Mid South so I ordereed it. I haven't cast for the 9mm cartridge yet. This mould is designed to produce a 124 gr. nominal flat point boolit. I have never used anything with grooves this shallow before.



I have questions:

1. I expect since this is a Lee design it is made to be tumble lubed with Lee Alox. Correct?
2. Would I be best off powder coating it?
3. Should it be cast hard, medium, or soft?

Jim

[Hick]

Jim

I use the same mold. It works and feeds nicely in my Taurus PT-92 and my Walther P1. As you guessed, the grooves are for tumble lube, but I PC mine with Smoke's clear and they work very well that way. I use a medium hardness alloy (about 9 or 10 BHN). They drop at about 0.356 but are slightly over 0.358 after PC. I size mine to 0.358 after PC-- but what works for you will likely depend on your firearms. I had to play with cartridge overall length a little to get them to feed right (The Taurus seems to like something slightly longer than the Walther, 1.125 versus 1.085). Good Luck!

Hick

[mdi]

I have used the Lee "T/L" bullets many times. I have pan lubed and dip lubed successfully (I didn't like the look of alox on the bullet noses from tumbling in alox so I dip them in thinned alox or more often 45-45-100). I have driven some TL430-SWCs to upper-mid magnum velocities with little to no leading in my 44 Magnum guns. I have sized mot of the TL bullets to the same diameter as I would any style bullet...

[gwpercle]

1. Lee TL 356-124-TC ... TL stands for Tumble Lube , correct the many shallow grooves are intended for Lee Alox but there are other formula's of tumle lube .
TC nose profile is Truncated Cone technically ... but some of Lee's TC look like what they call some SWC profiles ...just saying .
2. If you already powder coat try it ... if not , try tumble lubing and see how it works .
Some have reported erratic accuracy in some makes of 9mm's with the tumble lubed design ...lots of little bearing bands not the actual lube .
3. I cast my 9mm with a mix of wheel weights and scrap lead in a 50/50 mix. I've not tested this mix but have read it's about bhn 8 ...you don't need a "hard" boolit be it semi-auto or revolver , softer boolits that fit the bore are best .
Hard undersisized boolits will leave lead deposits in a barrel like all get out ...
Remember size trumps hardness ... fit is king.
I size all my 9mm boolits to .357" ... no leading in 4 different 9mm's .
Gary

[Jim22]

Thanks, all. I really appreciate the input. Certified Cajun learned me a couple things about Lee's nomenclature. I am looking for a practice boolit. I normally use 115GRJ's for carry but cannot find a mould in that weight. 124 is as close as I have been able to get so far. The gun i will be loading for is an up-close gun so there should be little worry or difference at practice.

[Kylongrifle32]

I tried the Lee TL 356-120 -RN in my handguns. I had trouble with them tumbling and key holing. Went back to the standard live groove 356-120-RN and the 356-124-TC my favorite 9mm boolit.
As I said I gave up on the Tumble lube version to soon with out trying to diagnoses the problem. I believe my problem may have been that I was not properly flaring the case mouth. This may have caused my case to swag the boolits under size. Just something to consider if you run into problems with shotgun like groups.

[jim147]

I have that mold. I don't care that my boolits have light brown on them. I could wipe it off if I did care. Have worked great in all my nines except the Tok. That thing only likes fmj.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I have questions:

1. I expect since this is a Lee design it is made to be tumble lubed with Lee Alox. Correct?
2. Would I be best off powder coating it?
3. Should it be cast hard, medium, or soft?

>>>SNIP

1. yes
2. no
3. I would choose a alloy for the expected pressure you intend to load to. Read through the page linked to below.

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

I'd like to add one thing, and I realize the current mold scarcity in current times makes it difficult for starting casting a new caliber...You will likely find one boolit style works better in some guns, and not necessarily in others. Now that I've stated the obvious, which most of us have learned over the years, and maybe you have read about it also, The Lee tumble lube designs are one that seems troublesome in many guns (accuracy and lead fouling), especially in 9mm...but some have had success with them. Just don't be too discouraged if your gun doesn't like the Lee TL356-124-TC.

[Garyshome]

Try the tumble lube first see if it works for you before pc'ing. Alox smokes, but is real easy to apply.

[mdi]

One of my favorite "small" bullet molds is the Lee 358-125-RF, mostly in my 11 BHN alloy. I have used Lyman #2 in some 357s and 9mms which also works well. I use it in my 9mm pistols (4), 38 Specials (2), and my 357 Magnum (1), just size to fit the gun. Normally I use Speed Green or Carnauba Red and have PCed several hundred. Casts easy and works well in all my handguns of that caliber...

[wmitty]

I tried this design in a browning h p tumble lubed as cast and had keyholes at 20 feet; maybe powder coating them would solve the problem.

[MT Gianni]

It was the first new mold I ever bought and one I really wanted to work for me. I was very happy when I got rid of it. Powder coating might work as I tried it in the early 90's.

[gwpercle]

If you want some light or target / tin can shooting loads , see if you can snag the Lee mould
#358-105-SWC , this is a light boolit and makes nice light shooting loads .
I have a WWII Walther P-38 9mm and the old war horse just loves this boolit , shoots to it's sights and doesn't batter it with heavy boolits and recoil . Size to .357" , and it feeds like a champ .
The reason I mention this is so you can make a list of good boolits and grab one when they pop up .
Another winner is # 356-120-TC ( another favorite of mine ) Don't be afraid to buy a mould ...sometimes you think it wont work ... but they fool you and work great .
I had no idea the 358-105-SWC would shoot to the P-38's fixed(almost) sights ... I bought it for 38 special loads !
Gary

[Kraschenbirn]

+1 on what Hick said. My only change from what he does is to size .357 for my SIG 365XL. 100% flawless function and accuracy as good as I can hold with a compact carry piece. Haven't tried it in my High Power but, loaded in .38 Spl cases, it's a pretty good plinker/practice boolit in my Ruger revolvers.

Bill