If I'm only going to have 1 mold for 9mm to plink with is there a better option?

[Stopsign32v]

I'm preparing for the foreseeable future to not involve ammo off the shelves so I'm trying to be self sufficient. With that said I want a 9mm mold for all my semi auto pistols and something that I can plink with without soaking up a lot of lead and powder per round. I will be powder coating it and sizing it to .357

The mold I am looking at is the MP 125gr no lube groove since I won't need one. Do you guys think there is a better option for me? I wish this was offered in 115gr.

https://www.mp-molds.com/product/357...e-groove-mold/

[Helka]

I'm preparing for the foreseeable future to not involve ammo off the shelves so I'm trying to be self sufficient. With that said I want a 9mm mold for all my semi auto pistols and something that I can plink with without soaking up a lot of lead and powder per round. I will be powder coating it and sizing it to .357

The mold I am looking at is the MP 125gr no lube groove since I won't need one. Do you guys think there is a better option for me? I wish this was offered in 115gr.

https://www.mp-molds.com/product/357...e-groove-mold/

I have the 359-125 HP MP mold and I love it. I’m getting 4” groups at 25 yards with the regular HP pins. I haven’t shot using flat point yet. The penta’s give me about a 6” group

Also using COWW and SOWW with 2% tin my boolits are dropping at 137gn and 140ish flat point

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[DAFzipper]

I have that mould. Casts 135 grains with my alloy. If you are only going to have one mould you might want to consider one of his HP moulds. They have pins to cast solids too. But you loose productivity at only 4 cavities vs 8.

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[RydForLyf]

I'm preparing for the foreseeable future to not involve ammo off the shelves so I'm trying to be self sufficient. With that said I want a 9mm mold for all my semi auto pistols and something that I can plink with without soaking up a lot of lead and powder per round. I will be powder coating it and sizing it to .357

The mold I am looking at is the MP 125gr no lube groove since I won't need one. Do you guys think there is a better option for me? I wish this was offered in 115gr.

https://www.mp-molds.com/product/357...e-groove-mold/

I have that very same mold in .357. Here are two pictures of groups with that bullet and the Lee 356-125-2R mold I had been using up to that point. It’s a great mold. The only difference is that I’m using HiTek and not PC.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...e-Mold-Matters

[Stopsign32v]

I have that mould. Casts 135 grains with my alloy. If you are only going to have one mould you might want to consider one of his HP moulds. They have pins to cast solids too. But you loose productivity at only 4 cavities vs 8.

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Right now I'm looking for NOTHING but something to throw lead through paper or hit steel. HP mold for this would just slow me down and cost more money. (plus heavier)

[358429]

I have the mp359 125 hp lube groove mold. It is excellent. I only powdercoat. I wish it was no lube grooves. It weighs 123-124 grains from my mystery monkey metal.

I was shooting this bullet in my 9x19 cz pistol with the starting charge power pistol and hitting a steel plate repeatedly at 100+ yards. I am also experimenting with 38 special and 357 mag from revolvers and a box magazine fed bolt action rifle.

What types of 35 cal guns can you feed with this bullet?

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[Stopsign32v]

Would you guys go for .358 size and size down to .357 or just go with a .357 sized mold?

[Old Caster]

The mold I am looking at is the MP 125gr no lube groove since I won't need one. Do you guys think there is a better option for me? I wish this was offered in 115gr.

https://www.mp-molds.com/product/357...e-groove-mold/

You could get a 105 Lee 38 and size it down to save lead but it does have a lube groove

[ryanmattes]

Would you guys go for .358 size and size down to .357 or just go with a .357 sized mold?

I would go .358 or .359 and size down, but that's just my opinion. I'm going to run them through the sizer after coating anyway, better to make sure they're all consistently concentric and smooth on the driving bands. And you never know when you'll pick up something new that likes a wider bullet. Or you might want to try them in .38 spc or something. Maximum compatibility is my motto.

Also, if all you're doing is throwing lead at paper, there are less expensive options that are just as effective. I got a Lee 356-120-TC for around $45 that drops about .3575-.3580 right at 125+/-0.25 gr with my alloy, sized to .357, HiTek coated.

They run great in everything I've put them through, the 6-cav mold lets me produce much faster, and it's a much lighter mold, so it doesn't wear out my hands as fast.

I get slightly better groups with Unique, but I like to load them with 3.5gr of Titegroup, because I can get 2k rounds out of a pound of powder. That's a penny-and-a-half per round for powder, and the lead costs about 2 cents. Add a primer and you're still around 7 cents a round. Perfectly serviceable out to 25 yards, if you aren't looking for knock-down power. And even if you need to adjust the charge up a bit, it doesn't change the cost in a noticeable way.

The NLG mold will make the bullets heavier/slower, so I use the one with the lube groove even though I don't need it. If I were going to get that mold in HP, I would get the NLG to make up for the lost weight of the HP, to keep it at 125. As solids, I'd go ahead and get the lube groove, just because there is a ton of varied load data at 125, so I can try all kinds of alternate powders safely, not so much at 137 or whatever.

Still working my way through this bucket-o-gold. I think I have 1200-1400 left.



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[dbosman]

Lyman 356402 is the original "classic" 9mm mold.
My personal preference, because I don't do much with 9mm, is the Lee 359125RF. Simply because I can use it in 9mm and .38. If I did enough 9mm shooting to matter, I'd go with a clone of one of the group buy models - because those were crafted with a lot of input.

[tazman]

Either the Lyman 356402 or the Lee 356-120-tc will do what you want quite well.
I use both interchangeably.
My favorite boolit is the NOE 358-135-FP. It makes a great all around boolit. I think it has a different designation now.

[Stopsign32v]

I would go .358 or .359 and size down, but that's just my opinion. I'm going to run them through the sizer after coating anyway, better to make sure they're all consistently concentric and smooth on the driving bands. And you never know when you'll pick up something new that likes a wider bullet. Or you might want to try them in .38 spc or something. Maximum compatibility is my motto.

Also, if all you're doing is throwing lead at paper, there are less expensive options that are just as effective. I got a Lee 356-120-TC for around $45 that drops about .3575-.3580 right at 125+/-0.25 gr with my alloy, sized to .357, HiTek coated.

They run great in everything I've put them through, the 6-cav mold lets me produce much faster, and it's a much lighter mold, so it doesn't wear out my hands as fast.

I get slightly better groups with Unique, but I like to load them with 3.5gr of Titegroup, because I can get 2k rounds out of a pound of powder. That's a penny-and-a-half per round for powder, and the lead costs about 2 cents. Add a primer and you're still around 7 cents a round. Perfectly serviceable out to 25 yards, if you aren't looking for knock-down power. And even if you need to adjust the charge up a bit, it doesn't change the cost in a noticeable way.

The NLG mold will make the bullets heavier/slower, so I use the one with the lube groove even though I don't need it. If I were going to get that mold in HP, I would get the NLG to make up for the lost weight of the HP, to keep it at 125. As solids, I'd go ahead and get the lube groove, just because there is a ton of varied load data at 125, so I can try all kinds of alternate powders safely, not so much at 137 or whatever.

Still working my way through this bucket-o-gold. I think I have 1200-1400 left.



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Do you have any pictures of them in a 9mm casing?

[ryanmattes]

Just loaded these a couple days ago.



For 9mm I highly recommend getting a M-die to expand the case mouth. In larger, straight-walled calibers it's not as important, but to seat lead in 9mm it makes a huge difference. Without it, I went from scraping off lead during seating, to splitting case mouths from over expansion. The M-die mostly fixed that. You're still stretching the case mouth quite a bit, so you'll still get occasional split mouths, but it's one out of every 100-200 cases. That's the risk with trying to seat non-jacketed ammo in a tapered case.

[Huskerguy]

I agree with those who say get a bullet that drops a bit larger. I use a NOE 358-124 that drops at .0395. I size it down .0385 for 38 and .0357 for 9mm. You can decide what profile you want and if you want HP or no lube grooves.

[GregLaROCHE]

If you’re trying to save money, try to get a mold that drops the size boolit you need, so you don’t have to invest in sizing tools.

[Bigslug]

Lots of good options on this page of the Accurate Molds catalog: http://accuratemolds.com/catalog.php...catalog-anchor

I'd be leaning toward heavier with a wider meplat myself - like the 35-135D with the lube grooves omitted - for better ability to move bowling pins, make steel plates fall, or just penetrate a lot of meat if I needed it to, but different strokes and all that. Tom can tweak an existing blueprint to better suit your needs, so if you want grooves removed or diameter adjusted for your metal or powder coating, he can do it.

You're adding some diameter with your powder coat, so maybe request .3575" or .358 out of the mold?

[sukivel]

Lee 358-125-RF works great and is/was an inexpensive mold. The 6 cavity is easy to use and drops alot of bullets. I size to .357.




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[Cosmic_Charlie]

With powder coating you can size you boolit close to groove diameter which solves a lot of headaches loading 9mm. Also use your barrel to set the crimp die. Crimp just enough for reliable chambering. I use a Lee Classic Turret with an Auto Disk Pro powder measure and it goes fast when I feed it sized and primed cases. Their powder through expander works just fine for 9mm. I use a 2/2/96 alloy for a bhn of about 11 but many guys use straight wheel weights and some tin. Start out by sizing a magazine worth to .357 and see how they do.

[Stopsign32v]

Lee 358-125-RF works great and is/was an inexpensive mold. The 6 cavity is easy to use and drops alot of bullets. I size to .357.




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I was looking at this mold but for the life of me cannot find one in 6 cavity.

[AndyC]

The mold I am looking at is the MP 125gr no lube groove since I won't need one. Do you guys think there is a better option for me? I wish this was offered in 115gr.

I have this 115gr RN mold from MP: https://www.mp-molds.com/product/356...aluminum-mold/

The presence of the lube-groove in that mold doesn't make a bit of difference to me.

Edit: Here's a 115-grainer with no lube-groove: https://www.mp-molds.com/product/356...o-lube-groove/