Lee lube and size .9mm?
- Thread starter CANNONMAN
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If .3547" is the groove diameter, i would go no smaller than .356", and probably more per my experience. I size 9mm bullets as large as the chamber will take, allowing the barrel to do the final sizing. IMO and experience, it is a lot worse going too small (leading and poor accuracy), rather than bigger. Good luck.
GooseGestapo
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I use .357”
Worst thing you can do with a cast bullet is undersize it, besides not lubricating them.
As long as your rounds plunk and feed, bigger is better.
If using scrap or w/w, get some 95/5% (tin/antimony) lead-free solder to harden and improve mold fill.
I used .356 for nearly 30yrs, but decided to try .357”. Accuracy improvement surprised me.
And, btw, it’s not 0.9mm, it’s just 9mm.
Worst thing you can do with a cast bullet is undersize it, besides not lubricating them.
As long as your rounds plunk and feed, bigger is better.
If using scrap or w/w, get some 95/5% (tin/antimony) lead-free solder to harden and improve mold fill.
I used .356 for nearly 30yrs, but decided to try .357”. Accuracy improvement surprised me.
And, btw, it’s not 0.9mm, it’s just 9mm.
If the throat of the gun is narrow as in 0.355" or less and you go with "as big as possible" and choose 0.358", be sure to plunk test a few loaded cartridges before loading up a big batch. Fat bullets seated too long could cause you gun to fail to go fully into battery. Usually it only results in a locked slide or an off center light primer strike and almost never an out of battery shot (guns should be designed to prevent the striker from working if the cartridge is out of battery).
0.356" is usually good enough for just about every 9mm out there. With wide barreled gun like a lot of Euro guns, you might get leading but it won't be a problem if you powder coat.
0.356" is usually good enough for just about every 9mm out there. With wide barreled gun like a lot of Euro guns, you might get leading but it won't be a problem if you powder coat.
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In response to your other thread about using red dot I would suggest that you start at the .358 sizer if your gun will allow. If you already have some casted see if an unsized bullet will chamber in your gun. If it will mic the size of an unsized bullet and go from there. Most likely you will have an unsized bullet at .356 to .358 depending on the mold.
If you don't have a mold yet, and you plan on tumble lubing, keep in mind that you can tumble lube regular lube style bullets. The tumble lube molds have very narrow driving bands and they easily strip in the rifling you try to push them, especially with red dot powder.
If you don't have a mold yet, and you plan on tumble lubing, keep in mind that you can tumble lube regular lube style bullets. The tumble lube molds have very narrow driving bands and they easily strip in the rifling you try to push them, especially with red dot powder.
I did not slug the barrel cuz I want to reload for several .9's. But this has been an awesome response. I wanna try the .357. That makes a lot of sense to me. It is for lead. It is most crap lead cuz I know I've got over a 1,000#'s of the stuff. I need to ask about how to "stiffen" up the stuff. Here I wonder about the shift in mass. That is, tin makes it harder but lightens the load. So.....
For good shooting of lead bullets it's best to know your gun(s). The easiest way is to slug the barrel (I have three 9mm pistols and slugged all three. I can use .357" bullets in two, quite well, but one older pistol needs a minimum of .358").
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