New and need some advice please

[slim1836]

If your oven isn't a convection oven I suggest getting one, you will be glad you did. Also, a basic oven thermometer will work to check temps, 400* for 20 minutes is what I use for baking time.

Try the Lee Expander Die, a lot of us use them and it works. There are better methods but they are caliber specific. You can use a center punch to flair cases also in a pinch.

Welcome aboard and good luck, 9mm is one of the hardest calibers to cast and load so don't get discouraged.

Slim

[wv109323]

It sounds like your lead is pretty soft but you may get around 900 to 1000 fps. You will need to experiment with loads. Load a small number and load only one round in the magazine. If the loads lock the slide back that load should function the gun.
My cheap toaster oven cycles frequently but does the job. My thermostat is way off as to actual temp versus the marked temp on the dial. 250 d is actually 400 degrees. I pre-heat and then 400 degrees for 20 minutes. The brand of PC powder makes a difference. Most people on here order from Smoke4320(IIRC).

[MarkP]

Whisler. Can you perhaps give me the dimensions of that lee expander plug. My friend is a machinist and can make one real quick otherwise i have to buy a whole 38 S&W die set

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Have your friend machine some plugs for LEE Universal expander die. Look on NOE's website to see what they look like. Make the plug about bullet size or 0.001" smaller than your intended bullet diameter. With springback you should get enough neck tension. The plug should have a step to flare the mouth to allow the heal to seat in side the mouth of the case.

[paul edward]

If your bullets are coming out at 129 grains, you might be using pure lead. I also have that mold, bought in 1973, and it drops bullets at about 120 grains cast from a hard alloy.

What diameter are are your bullets measuring right out of the mold?

Previous posts give good advice about neck expanding and case mouth belling.

Suggest you slug the barrel of the pistols in which you intend to shoot these loads. Size your bullets .001 to .002 larger than groove diameter.

After loading one or two, pull the bullets and measure them to make sure that seating them has not reduced their diameter below groove dimensions.

The 9mm can be a challenging cartridge to reload. You will find lots of good information on this website. Wish I had known some of this info back in 1973 when I started loading for the 9mm.

[BJung]

To answer some of your questions: First, wear eye protection because you don't want to accidentally add wet lead into a pot of molten lead and have it spit molten lead onto your eyes. Second, find a fan to push the lead fumes away from you or cast in an area with a breeze and that is in the open. Third, you can find you alloys in range lead and wheel weights. If you can acquire both, I'd suggest casting ingots of one or the other and later mix a 50/50 combination in a pot for casting. Some casters use 50/50 wheel weights and pure lead and then add say 2% tin. Swirl pour your lead than dropping the molten lead into the sprue hole and the bullet weights will be more consistent. That goes the same with pot temperature. Temperature to me varies depending on whether I'm using an aluminum or brass mold. I don't have an iron mold. As for myself, I use a flat hand fryer handle to sift out dirt and place spent bullets from a berm as my range lead. I then let them sit and break the stacks of ingots by hardness using lead pencils. Some casters will take a % of each ingot and add it a pot so the alloy mixture will be about the same. The PC bullets are okay but, if you crimp the bullet too much or crimp the case and reseat the PC bullet, you are apt to scrape off the paint. As mentioned, be sure to flare your cast mouth or else the PC will be scraped off. I also have Imperial Die Wax on my PC bullets from the resizing process. This helps the bullet slide into the case. I also discovered that your vibrator will apply the paint more evenly than by hand.

[engelbrecht.hs]

Will look for some tin
Also gonna build a sieve for range scrap
Slugged my bore today came out at .356 ordered me a bullet sizer of .357. Assuming i read correctly that should be the right size?
Also got a purpouse built powder through flaring stud. A local caoted bullet company makes them.

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