Whats your favorite 9mm bullet mold?

[Glockadopoulos]

I'm finally getting into some casting with my dad. We had a nice day of casting some 350 grain 45/70 bullets from a 1 cavity Saeco mold with 4 to 1 wheel weight/ linotype mix. I really want to get into casting for my glock (using a lonewolf barrel). Slugged that barrel at .352, maybe .353. Looks like we'll need to order a .355 sizing die, right now only have a .358 and .357.

I'm mostly going to be plinking at 7 to 15 yards. I'm drawn to the pleasantness of shooting 147, and the low velocity (less leading with straight wheel weight?) that comes with that. At the same time, Lee has a 6 cavity 125 grain aluminum mold, really nice round profile and would crank out the kinda volume I want to shoot easily. What mold(s) do ya'll use to cast 9mm?

 

[noylj]

Saeco #924 124gn L-SWC
Lee 358-140-SWC
Lee 358-105-SWC

Leading is mostly related to fit and NOT to alloy or velocity until you get over 1500fps.
I find that a 0.357-0.358" lead bullet is almost always better than a "standard" 0.356" bullet, even IF the barrel groove diameter is actually 0.355".
In fact, I don't even size my cast bullets. Today, I cast and tumble in LLA or Xlox or 45/45/10.

 

[1006]

Of course, only you can be sure, but I would slug the barrel again. It should not measure less than .355.

If I were casting my own, i would get a round nose profile bullet just to make sure it would feed in other guns. My 1911 9mm guns will not feed the flat nosed bullets. My Glock will shoot almost anything.

I used to shoot a cast 158 grain, round nose, 38 Super bullet in my 9's. It shot well and was sized at 355. I was using 1.8 grains of Bullseye for my pistol and 3.3 Unique for my rifle. They could be sized for 9mm or .357.

 

[jaybees]

Of course, only you can be sure, but I would slug the barrel again. It should not measure less than .355.

If I were casting my own, i would get a round nose profile bullet just to make sure it would feed in other guns. My 1911 9mm guns will not feed the flat nosed bullets. My Glock will shoot almost anything.

I used to shoot a cast 158 grain, round nose, 38 Super bullet in my 9's. It shot well and was sized at 355. I was using 1.8 grains of Bullseye for my pistol and 3.3 Unique for my rifle. They could be sized for 9mm or .357.

I have to agree. I would definitely try for diameter measurements again. .353 sounds awfully small for 9mm. Especially considering you want to miss on the high side with cast lead. Also, go with anything round nose. Saves you the hassle of feeding issues in different guns.

 

[noylj]

9mm barrels can have groove diameters of 0.354". They shouldn't, but they do. Per SAAMI, they can go as high as 0.359", but some go even higher.
All my 9mm guns are quite happy with SWC bullets. Flat nose are not a problem either. Just need to find the COL where they feed and chamber.

 

[EMC45]

I like the Lee 120 gr. Truncated bullet with standard lube groove. I sized them to .358 and they do great in my BHP. I loaded some for a Glock 19 and sized them to .356 and they shot like garbage and tumbled. I reloaded some more with bullets sized to .358 with some 700X. They shot great in my brother's G19 3rd Gen. Both of these were with factory Glock barrels. There are people who will tell you you can't shoot cast in Glock factory barrels. That is BUNK!! The problem with aftermarket Glock barrels is most have match chambers which will prevent you from running "fat" bullets. By the time you size to groove diameter for barrel they may not chamber in your non factory barrel. I shoot a 230gr Lee truncated in my G36 sized to .452 and they do great. After shooting 100 rounds of my cast hand loads in my brother's new G19 I wiped the bore with a dry paper towel and it shined like a mirror. My best advice is size the bullets to .358 and use the factory barrel and see how they do. Heck PM me you address and I'll send you some of the Lee 120s @ .358.

 

[reloader7.62]

I shoot the Lee 125 gr. RNFP designed for 38 calibers sized to .358. My old 9mm has very shallow grooves and like a fat bullet as well as my Ruger 357/9mm convertible. Both shoot standard plated or jacketed bullets just fine

 

[watchingtrace]

whatever you decide. VENTILATE where you are casting. I don't think a lot of people realize just how bad that is on your body. when your heating that stuff liquid hot those vapors are going into your lungs, that's never a good thing. I have a friend of a friend whos payin the price

 

[reloader7.62]

whatever you decide. VENTILATE where you are casting. I don't think a lot of people realize just how bad that is on your body. when your heating that stuff liquid hot those vapor's are going into your lungs, that's never a good thing. I have a friend of a friend who's paying the price

Sorry to hear about your friends friend hope they get better they do have treatment but it take a long time to remove the lead from the body.

With that said lets now talk so truths about lead. Lead is toxic and can kill you and make you very sick if not treated with respect. There are only two way to get Lead poisoning you either ingest it or your breath it in you can't absorb it through your skin just by touching it.

The ingestion part is pretty simple you get lead dust or particles on your hands and you put your hands in or around your mouth. If your a bullet caster or load lead bullet of any kind and don't wear Nitrile gloves or wash your hands after handling lead or lead based product and touch your food or smoke or put your hands to your mouth your going to ingest lead,wear gloves and wash your hand thoroughly with hot soapy water when you done before doing any of the above.

As far as breathing in lead there are two way that possible,one if you work in a lead recycling plant where lead can be vaporized but lead has to reach it's boiling point for that to occur which is at 3180 degrees F. there are no home caster that have equipment that can cause lead to reach it's boiling point.

You average Lyman,RCBS or Lee pot will just barely reach 1100+ degrees any vapor that comes from those pot is residue left over from the ingot making process smelting down nasty wheel weight or other lead based alloys or from the wax,grease or sawdust you use to flux your metal. Good ventilation is important for that purpose not to remove any lead vapor because there simply is none.

The other way a person can ingest or breath in lead vapor or partials is when they shoot in enclosed areas with poor ventilation. Aside for the fact that cast lead bullets or open base bullet do put small particles of lead in the air even if you shoot fully enclosed jacketed or coated bullet your still exposed to lead an that's because the primer compound that ignites your powder contain lead and it goes into the air around you an leaves residue on your firearm so take precaution to shoot in well ventilated areas like indoor gun ranges they should have a good air flow and wash your hands before eating or smoking or touching areas around your mouth after cleaning your firearm.

Take the proper precautions,use good hygiene when handling lead or shooting and cleaning firearms in general and lead want be a problem.

 

[watchingtrace]

ventilate/wash hands more