9mm and 45 acp molds

[Caesar_Mikey]

Looking to start molding some 9mm and 45s. I have been makeing fishing weighs for years. I have a xd-45 what would be a good mold for this bad boy. Just for targat shooting. same thing with the 9mm.

[putteral]

I like the Lee 452- 200 -SWC for the .45 and the 356-124tl-TC for the 9mm and welcome to the forum. They are not expensive and a good starting mold.

[timkelley]

I like the Truncated Cone 230 Tumble Lube from Lee in my XD. Only problem was the mouth of the case feeding would hook on the case ejecting unless I sized the boolits to .452. I don't know if every XD would act that way but mine does.
My Colt is also happy with that boolit sized that way.

[Matt_G]

I don't own a 9mm but for the .45ACP I would suggest getting a 4 cavity Lyman mould for the 452460.

This is a great bullet for the 45 auto. Most folks get excellent accuracy out of this.
Midsouth has them in stock right now for $69.64.

Or if you really want to get spoiled, take a look in the group buy forum for MiHecs moulds.
It looks like he is going to do a re-run of the H&G 68 soon.
I think you would be very happy with that one.

[Heavy lead]

I don't own a 9mm but for the .45ACP I would suggest getting a 4 cavity Lyman mould for the 452460.

This is a great bullet for the 45 auto. Most folks get excellent accuracy out of this.
Midsouth has them in stock right now for $69.64.

Or if you really want to get spoiled, take a look in the group buy forum for MiHecs moulds.
It looks like he is going to do a re-run of the H&G 68 soon.
I think you would be very happy with that one.

Agree 100% on the Lyman 452460 4 cavity, I can cast as many with this as I can a Lee 6 cavity because of the lower lead temperatures needed and I much prefer iron moulds, mine is a newer one from Midsouth (about a year old) and it casts plenty big unlike some of Lymans other designs, I like the profile better than the H&G 68 myself, but it feeds in my 1911's good, I'm thinking the 68 would be a smoother feeding boolit with the smaller meplat. I only lube the bottom groove with mine and don't do a full clean until I change the buffer at 1000 rounds.

[Dale53]

I have long used the #68 H&G bullet mould. MeHec's #68 is an accurate copy of the original and I have one of his Six Cavity moulds. It is a TREASURE! I can EASILY cast 21 lbs of bullets (from my RCBS 22 lb bottom pour pot) in about an hour (after it is up to heat). That is over 700 bullets an hour and they are MATCH GRADE. They feed well in most 1911 platforms, cut a clean hole, and shoot in a proper platform at NRA Bullseye levels.

That is my present "go to" bullet for both the 1911 platform and my 625's. It is a stellar bullet design and Mehec's aluminum six cavity moulds make it easy to cast BEAUTIFUL bullets.

Dale53

[Caesar_Mikey]

thanks for all the help I think I am going to order the Lyman 452460 4 cavity

[MakeMineA10mm]

For a new caster (of boolits), my recommendation would be to find a good round nose for both. You'll have the least feeding troubles and that will keep you from getting frustrated and losing interest in the work involved in our hobby. As you gain confidence and interest, you can move on to more challenging-styles of noses. That's my $.02

[denul]

I agree with Dale 53 about the MiHec molds, except that I was new to the H&G # 68 design; it and its copies always looked like they wouldn't feed, but so far so good in some picky old 45 autos and revolvers.

[MtGun44]

The H&G 68 will feed in any commercially throated 1911. The old original mil bbls will need
throating, but commercial bbls have been throated for a very long time.

Bill

[fredj338]

I like the Lee 452- 200 -SWC for the .45 and the 356-124tl-TC for the 9mm and welcome to the forum. They are not expensive and a good starting mold.

The XD is a great pistol, I love mine but like the Glock 30, it will NOT reliably feed LSWC. SOme have played around w/ sizes & seating depths, but few have been able to get them to feed 100%. When it does jamb, the extracting case hits the shoulder of the next round in the mag & you get a stove pipe or other sim. jamb. Each jamp pushes the round back against the rear of the mag & after 7-8 times, you get a nice dimple there that only makes the jambing worse. Stick w/ a TCFP, RN or RNFP & save youyrself headaches & some money if you buy the wrong mold.

[Acronn]

My Springfield xd .45 cycles the Lee 230 grain Tumble Lube boolit fine. The 452-228-IR Lee boolit just gave me problems and I have traced it down to the diameter of the round nose - it is too large and caused it to not go into battery properly. They loaded and seated in the cases properly, but I was surprised that I had this problem when I shot them. For some reason, I may have casted them too large, perhaps a bit of lead on the mold, something like that. Not sure yet but they all came out that way. But the tumble lube TL-452-230-2R has a much smaller profile/diameter at the exposed portion of the seated bollit. In my gun this works much better. Have not shot it enough to comment on accuracy. I wonder if anyone else has had this problem.

[MakeMineA10mm]

Well, don't get me wrong. I love the H&G68 design (naturally, having run a huge GB version, that eventually turned out well, but that's a different story....).

I'm just saying, since he's new to casting boolits, he'll have an easier time getting success if he'd cast round nose designs. The best in the 9mm is the custom Slippery 9mm I did, but it's still available in a lighter (standard) weight (124gr) mould from Saeco (#115), and the best 45 design is the Govt. Profile 230gr I did, but which also is available in a 225gr design from Lyman (#452374). These are both relatively easy to cast, size, and load, and they'll feed in virtually any gun in those calibers you show them too... (Little darlings will nearly leap from your hand, through the magazine and into the chamber... )



As far as the H&G68 feeding, I've had no problems with it feeding in my 5 military (WWII) 1911A1s, a standard (generic) 1911A1 Springfield Armory, my Glock 21, and several other non-throated 45s. The design of that bullet has the correct curvature and location of the meplat/ogive corner so as to hit and bounce through the feeding cycle just like a RN. The key is to seat it with the same settings in your seating die as the Govt. Profile RN, so that the corner hits/bounces on everything just right...

[dogbert41]

XD .45 + SWC =

[StarMetal]

XD .45 + SWC =

XD that bad huh? See some has a Glock 30 what won't feed them. My Glock 21 feeds anything and everything.

I don' think you can tweak the magazines on those either huh?

Joe

[SierraWhiskeyMC]

If your M1911 won't feed a true H&G 68 boolit, there's something wrong with your pistola.

[lawboy]

Plenty of good advise on 45 moulds. On 9mm I use the Lyman 356402 truncated cone 125 grain mould. Feeding is 100 percent in everything I have fed them to and accuracy is quite good also. I have a 2 cavity but a 4 would be even better.

[dogbert41]

The XD .45 is a GREAT pistol. Generally, though I've heard of a few exceptions, it's design prohibits the use of SWC. I never did try altering a magazine follower though. I imagine if it was that easy, there'd be somebody selling XD followers for SWCs???

[c3d4b2]

The XD .45 is a GREAT pistol. Generally, though I've heard of a few exceptions, it's design prohibits the use of SWC.

I had problems with the HG 68 design in the XD. One problem is the ejected shell hits the round in the magazine and creates a burr on the brass that prevents the next round from cambering properly.

After having some difficulties I found the XD Talk forum and the consensus there was that SWC's and XD's do not play well together.

[Cloudpeak]

I've shot thousands of rounds of the Lee 124gr RN TL bullet (6 cavity) through: a M&P, CZ Compact, Kahr CW9 and STI Trojan and all pistols were 100% with this bullet. I run all the bullets through a very reasonably priced Lee push through sizer and size .357-.3575".

I tumble lube with XLOX (http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/index.html) and before that, LLA. The lubes are identical as far as I can tell but the XLOX is supplied by someone on this site and is cheaper.

I'd only buy the Lee 6 cavity molds, not 2 cavity and some "Bullshop Sprue Lube" will help the aluminum mold last a long time.

I have no experience with 45's in the XD but did fire a few thousand rounds through a XDSC .40 using Lee bullets out of a 6 cavity and they fed with no problem.

I had occasional FTF's using the 45 Lee 200gr SWC's in a couple of Springfield 1911's. I switched to a 4 cavity Lyman 453630 (the bevel base version of the Lyman design mentioned above) and it's been 100% in my Springfield's (since sold) and DW CBOB 1911's.