Keyholing won't stop!

[KeyholeBoolit]

Hey everyone out there

I am new to the art of boolit casting. I went out and bought myself a Lee melting pot and 2 Lee molds - a 9mm 124 round nose mold and a 9mm 124 cone mold

At first it seemed really easy - the heads came out of the mold in the expected shape and I went out to the range to test them. The boolits went though the target sideways. Always enthusiastic, I went back home and did a whole lot of Googling and reading. I figured out that my lead was too soft - it was coming out at 9BHP (using the pencil test). I bought more lead and I ended up with a batch that was around 24BHP. I loaded up 10 of them went to the range, shot them, and none of them keyholed. I had solved the problem!

I went and loaded another 20 heads from the same batch (exact same load, primer and shells). All but 4 keyholed spectacularly. I don't know if it the 10 that shot correctly where a statistical abnormality,but I seem to have a consistent 80% keyholing rate.

So far I have done the following:
- made sure that I heated the mold and the lead so that there are no ripples in the heads, nor are there discolourations from overheating
- resized some of the heads to make sure that there was not an uneven diameter causing issues. From the same batch, 80% of the unresized and resized heads all keyholed.
- powder coated some of the heads which were resized and some of the heads that were not resized. Still have 80% tumbling. Tried a different powder coating with roughly the same result.
- varied the crimp on the bullet.
- bought a 147 9mm mold from a different supplier. Tried all the combinations above with the same results.
- checked the mold to make sure that the two halves are fitting together correctly (no light shows between them when I have a light source behind them). One of the Lee molds did not sit flush so I eliminated it from my reloading. I am now using the 124grain 9mm Lee cone head mold, and a 147grain 9mm locally produced mold.
- I have established that the base of my bullet is flat (although all three molds are slightly smaller right at the base. This is a 'feature' of the mold and not the bullet deforming when it leaves the mold.

Each time I have shot my boolits, I have loaded boolit heads that I have bought with the exact same powder, crimp. primer and case as my own boolits. I have never had a problem with the heads that I have bought.

I am close to the point of giving up on the whole casting thing. Can anyone give me any insight on what I am doing wrong, because no matter what I change, I'm getting around 80% of my boolits that keyhole.

Any advice is much appreciated!!

[HATCH]

What are you using to size them and what size are you sizing them to???

[Castaway]

How fast are they going? Without a crony, what does the book say? What does your brass look like after firing? Have you shot a lot of lead from that pistol? If so, maybe the barrel is leaded excessively. Also, what pistol are you shooting?

[metricmonkeywrench]

With the others, more info needed.

At first guess you are shooting them as cast without sizing and then powder coating if I read right?

Are the moulds marked TL for Tumble Lube or are they traditional Lube Groove type (Lee sells both)

Did you try any without powder coating? (which contrary to current internet lore is not the only way to go)

Are you by chance using jacketed bullet load data or trying to load "hot" rounds from the get go?

Are the bullets being over crimped in the case when seating the bullet?

Many Many possibilities to go over before throwing in the towel. Plenty of 9mm cast shot here using range scrap lead (10-12bhn) with no issues.

PS you can talk plain here- Bullets (or Boolits) is ok, no need for the "heads" code talk to avoid offending anyone

[TurnipEaterDown]

What die(s) are you using to size cases prior to bullet seating?
Normal jacketed bullet dies leave something to be desired when loading some cartridges, and the short autoloaders are in that group. There are dies specifically made to seat cast bullets (larger in dia than jacketed) straight in these cases. It can be a challenge w/ short bearing surface bullets to get them to seat straight. If they are not seated straight, they will go into the barrel w/ a lack of alignment between bullet axis and barrel axis, and your bullet stability will greatly suffer.

[405grain]

What firearm are you using?

[waksupi]

Sounds like undersize bullets to me.

[Sig]

By chance are you using a Lee factory crimp die?

[KeyholeBoolit]

What are you using to size them and what size are you sizing them to???

A Lee resizer, am resizing it to 356

[KeyholeBoolit]

A Tanfoglio stock 1 mostly, but I've run them through my Shadow 2 with the same results

[KeyholeBoolit]

I am using a Dillon crimp

[KeyholeBoolit]

Sounds like undersize bullets to me.

I thought so too, but I've saved two or three bullets from each batch and I've pulled the heads to check that I haven't been overcrimping. They size at 356 after resizing, and are 355.5 to 356 after I've pulled them. I was overcrimping them badly at the beginning so I've been checking each batch

[KeyholeBoolit]

With the others, more info needed.

At first guess you are shooting them as cast without sizing and then powder coating if I read right?

Are the moulds marked TL for Tumble Lube or are they traditional Lube Groove type (Lee sells both)

Did you try any without powder coating? (which contrary to current internet lore is not the only way to go)

Are you by chance using jacketed bullet load data or trying to load "hot" rounds from the get go?

Are the bullets being over crimped in the case when seating the bullet?

Many Many possibilities to go over before throwing in the towel. Plenty of 9mm cast shot here using range scrap lead (10-12bhn) with no issues.

PS you can talk plain here- Bullets (or Boolits) is ok, no need for the "heads" code talk to avoid offending anyone

Are the moulds marked TL for Tumble Lube or are they traditional Lube Groove type (Lee sells both)
The Lee molds are grooved, and the 147 is not
Did you try any without powder coating? (which contrary to current internet lore is not the only way to go)
I have tried without powder coating, and with 2 different powder coats
Are you by chance using jacketed bullet load data or trying to load "hot" rounds from the get go?
I am using the load data for powder coated bullets (I normally used commercial powder coated bullets of the same weight)
Are the bullets being over crimped in the case when seating the bullet?
I keep a few to pull to test for this after I have shot a batch. I was over-crimping badly at first, but I've since adjusted that

[dverna]

First check for leading of the barrel.

If that is not the issue, then size to .357". IIRC those barrels are .355" and .002" over should work.

Just a pet peeve of mine...plus do not call bullets "heads". Calling them bullets will not solve your keyholing problem, but you will at sound a bit more professional. BTW "pills" is just as bad.

Good luck.

[KeyholeBoolit]

How fast are they going? Without a crony, what does the book say? What does your brass look like after firing? Have you shot a lot of lead from that pistol? If so, maybe the barrel is leaded excessively. Also, what pistol are you shooting?

They are shooting around 900f/s through a crony. The brass looks normal - it isn't black or marked in any other way that I've noticed - have just checked my last batch that I shot today. I don't normally shoot lead, so I've been obsessive in keeping the barrel clean (it's quite a mission!). I'm shooting them mostly though my Tanfoglio Stock 1 and some through my Shadow 2 to check if there is any variation from the results with the Tanfoglio

[KeyholeBoolit]

First check for leading of the barrel.

If that is not the issue, then size to .357". IIRC those barrels are .355" and .002" over should work.

Just a pet peeve of mine...plus do not call bullets "heads". Calling them bullets will not solve your keyholing problem, but you will at sound a bit more professional. BTW "pills" is just as bad.

Good luck.

Thanks Don, I'll try with a bigger size.

[brstevns]

First thing I would do is size that barrel. Sounds as if you are trying to shoot under size bullets.
Have you shot any factory loads to compare to?

[mdi]

Just a couple thoughts;
Clean barrel.
I would slug the barrel and size bullets .002" over groove diameter.
I would soften up the alloy to no harder than 15 or so BHN.
Just deflare, no crimp (if possible use a standard taper crimp die to just deflare enough to pass plunk test.).
Do another load work up starting with manual starting loads...

Go slow. Double check everything. Most important, have fun.

[725]

I'm with everybody above. Your cast should be larger than the bore.

[Sasquatch-1]

I may have missed it, but I still did not see what type firearm you are shooting these through. If it has polygonal rifling you may be pushing the too fast for the rifling to grip.

If you think it is leading, try getting some 100% copper scrubbing pads that you use on pots and pans. Use an old cleaning brush with a patch and wrap a couple of strands from the pad around the patch and run through the bore and inspect for lead slivers.