First time casting and powder coating *Pic heavy*

[jacobslagle018]

Hey everyone. Just wanted to run my first casting session by everyone and get opinions and hopefully answer a question or two.

Anyways I am using a Lee 120gr .356 TC mold. Pretty easy once you get the process down.


I then went on to use a harbor freight powder coat gun with black powder to get this.


I was using a .357 sizing die so either it is off or my calipers.


Here is the overall length after sizing, flaring, and seating the bullet. Came out to 1.115. The bullets in the picture are just dummy rounds. No powder or primer.

Nice fit into the case gauge.


Now the questions appear. Below is a picture of the round in my M&P 9c barrel. It clearly doesnt go all the way in on its own. I can push it just a little and it goes no problem. Is this normal for cast rounds or is something wrong here? First picture is a cast round, the second is a FMJ I loaded a little while back. The FMJ drops right in.



I am just wondering if this is to be expected or if I am a complete idiot that should no be casting. I loaded 5 dummy rounds. I loaded them in a mag and racked them. The slide went all the way forward just like a normal FMJ round. I could tell a slight difference when racking the slide though. It felt like the rounds needed a little extra force to get out or something. I was wondering if this is normal as well. I know for a fact that the fmj rounds are .355 where these cast rounds are .356-.357. Anyway thanks for your time and patience with a rookie. Any and all help will be taken.

[w0fms]

It looks like it's a tight fit in your barrel, but being 0.001-0.002" over is desirable in cast, even with powder coating a jacket on it. (It's always better to be a "little big") I'm not as experienced as a lot of the guys here, but it looks pretty good to go to me. Work up your loads as usual, but don't go quite as heavy as you would with the FMJ's..

As long as your gun chambers the dummies fine, you should be GTG...

As for the calipers, those HF digital calipers do have that much uncertainty. I'd recommending on getting a micrometer for your tool kit.. even the cheap HF ones are 0.0001" accuracy...

Looks pretty nice for a first batch...

One other comment, is the OAL of 1.115" what you were using for FMJ? It that correct for that Lee mold? It almost looks like the boolit could be seated in a little deeper, but I'd have to know more about it to say.. in general, and especially for 9mm seating at the max OAL that you can chamber in your barrel is a good thing, tho...

[jacobslagle018]

One other comment, is the OAL of 1.115" what you were using for FMJ? It that correct for that Lee mold? It almost looks like the boolit could be seated in a little deeper, but I'd have to know more about it to say.. in general, and especially for 9mm seating at the max OAL that you can chamber in your barrel is a good thing, tho...

My normal fmj loads are 1.115 as well. The lyman 49th calls for 1.110 for this cast bullet. I figured .005 more to keep my die in the same position would be ok. At that seating depth, the top line of the mold grove is just covered by the case.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Did you taper crimp?

[Jailer]

You're going to have to adjust the seating depth to what works in your gun. As you discovered, just because it fits the guage doesn't mean it will fit your gun.

[jacobslagle018]

Yes, there is a slight taper crimp on the round. I am just wondering if this would be ok to load. I was not sure if this was normal for cast bullets, as this was my first attempt at it.

[sirAIG]

i would load a few dummies with a handful of different OAL's and cycle them through your gun. When I do this, I do not slingshot the slide - I hold the tension of the recoil spring back and slowly let the slide move forward. If there are any hindrances of the round chambering, I have always seen it during this test.

[jacobslagle018]

Here is one of my usual FMJ rounds compared to the new cast.


Here is one that has been racked a few times. You can see that the powder is coming off and it has a slight crimp to it. Im not sure if the PC is wearing off due to ejection or when going into battery.

[sirAIG]

Looks to me it could be happening when it is going into battery. I have never loaded 9mm, but I would seat that boolit so the taper is closer to the case mouth. It also appears in the picture that you could relieve the taper crimp. A severe crimp will/can swage the boolit down as it exits the case.

Just what little knowledge I have!

[jacobslagle018]

Looks to me it could be happening when it is going into battery. I have never loaded 9mm, but I would seat that boolit so the taper is closer to the case mouth. It also appears in the picture that you could relieve the taper crimp. A severe crimp will/can swage the boolit down as it exits the case.

Just what little knowledge I have!

I just backed the crimp up a little and it is just noticeable. I also did what you suggested with a slow controlled rack. It did go into battery. I as slowly as possible ejected it and it seems the coating is scraping off when going into battery as well. I think I am at the right seating depth. maybe it is just the bullet shape giving me worries that I dont need to have. Just nervous with my first casts I guess.

[sirAIG]

In my opinion, reloading manuals are good for a baseline, but my ammo hardly ever meets the OAL specs. I ran into similar problems using the Lee 175TC mold for 40sw. I ended up seating my boolit deeper and the issues stopped. I'm not saying disregard the reloading manual, but I starting learning the most when I start venturing into he unknowns

[popper]

I would try seating a little deeper so the coating doesn't get scraped. If the coating gets thick it may not chamber completely. Don't let the front band go into the bore.

[fcvan]

Same boolit, same PC, HF flat black. I seat mine deeper almost to where the shoulder of the boolit is flush with the case mouth. Oh, and I size to .358 and always have. I really like the way the TC boolits perform in my 9mm and 40 S&W, and am further considering getting a TC mold for my 45 ACP.

[sirAIG]

Same boolit, same PC, HF flat black. I seat mine deeper almost to where the shoulder of the boolit is flush with the case mouth. Oh, and I size to .358 and always have. I really like the way the TC boolits perform in my 9mm and 40 S&W, and am further considering getting a TC mold for my 45 ACP.

This. I load the 230gr Lee TC fpr my dads xd, they shoot great. Same thing, I seat the Boolits much deeper , works perfectly.

[xacex]

When I loaded that boolit I loaded it deeper than that. Almost all the way to the shoulder fit every gun I tried it in. Great job on the coating.

[jonp]

Deeper

[jacobslagle018]

Does this look better? OAL of 1.050. Is that too short?

[xacex]

That works, but I go a tad longer. You will get better accuracy if you have less jump. However,you wont have a problem feeding those.

[captaint]

mFF - OK, now try that plunk test again with your barrel. Bet it drops all the way in. As someone mentioned, you could experiment with seating the boolit out a LITTLE further. Also, unless I missed it, you didn't mention what your specific load was. With the 9mm we need to be aware of boolit seating depth as it relates to available powder space - pressure issues can happen with some powders, most actually. Mike

[stu1ritter]

I would also check that caliper against a micrometer just to make sure you are accurate at the dimension you are measuring. I've found almost all vernier's are off a thou or two against a 10 thou mike.
Stu