lee Mold TL356-124-TC

[Jim22]

My mould arrived for 9mm boolits. I scrubbed it up today with a toothbrush, dishwashing liquid, and water. Then smoked the cavities with wooden matches. I have my lead pot heating right now with the mould sitting on top warming. Pot is full of COWW alloy. My plan is to cast up a bunch and lube with Lee Liquid Alox to see how they shoot. I have some Accurate #5 to load behind them for the little pocket gun. Looking forward to more practice.

Jim

[Green Frog]

Sounds like a plan. I have the same mould but when I inherited it I also got a box of pre-cast 125 gr RN bullets I’m shooting up first. Keep us informed as you develop your loads (I just hate to reinvent the wheel, don’t you?)

Froggie

[Jim22]

Sounds like a plan. I have the same mould but when I inherited it I also got a box of pre-cast 125 gr RN bullets I’m shooting up first. Keep us informed as you develop your loads (I just hate to reinvent the wheel, don’t you?)

Froggie

Yep, sometimes it's fun - like when you're working with a wildcat. In this case it's my carry pistol. I don't carry with handloads. They are just for practice.

[Jim22]

Interesting... I cast a couple hundred and then took the time to weigh them. As expected some had visible casting flaws like wrinkles in the nose. The result is that this mould makes boolits that weigh 128 grs with COWW. Most, like 70% weigh between 128 and 128.9 grains. Another 10-15% weigh between 127 and 127.9 grains. The 126-126.9 grain pile is a few boolits smaller. Boolits lighter than 126 grains are few and will go back into the pot. Surprisingly, perhaps, about 5-10% weigh more than 129 grains. Does anyone have a suggestion how the bulk of the boolits can be one weight but a significant number are heavier?

[QuackAttack24]

Interesting... I cast a couple hundred and then took the time to weigh them. As expected some had visible casting flaws like wrinkles in the nose. The result is that this mould makes boolits that weigh 128 grs with COWW. Most, like 70% weigh between 128 and 128.9 grains. Another 10-15% weigh between 127 and 127.9 grains. The 126-126.9 grain pile is a few boolits smaller. Boolits lighter than 126 grains are few and will go back into the pot. Surprisingly, perhaps, about 5-10% weigh more than 129 grains. Does anyone have a suggestion how the bulk of the boolits can be one weight but a significant number are heavier?

Differing weights is just a normal part of casting. I separate and load them according to weight as long as the driving bands are completely filled out and there are no obvious defects, I shoot 'em. Only the deformed ones go back into the pot. If you think about it, the difference between 126 and 129 is only about 2%. That's not bad.

[Jim22]

Differing weights is just a normal part of casting. I separate and load them according to weight as long as the driving bands are completely filled out and there are no obvious defects, I shoot 'em. Only the deformed ones go back into the pot. If you think about it, the difference between 126 and 129 is only about 2%. That's not bad.

Two percent is not bad when you look at it that way. The few really light ones did go back in the pot. All the rest are mixed together. I should have practice ammo for a while. I thought about the percent of variation when casting 200 gr. boolits for .357 MAX. A two grain deviation is only one percent. The boolits are fine.