9mm cast boolit loads

[myFRAGisFUBAR]

Greetings again everyone. Today i traded a local guy for some 9mm boolits. I got 500 of them for brass that I didn't plan on loading so this worked out for both of us. Anyway these are around 125 grains each and are sized to .355-.356. I will be shooting them from a s&w m&p 9c. My question is do these look right? I loaded them with 5.3 grains of HS-6 and the OAL is 1.065 according to the lyman 49th. If anyone has a better load, or any other info I will be all ears. These fit into a case gauge no problems. I guess to where I am used to FMJ/plated these look off. Am I right,or is this normal for cast boolits. This is my first time loading cast rounds.



Beside one of my usual X-treme 124 grain plated rounds.

 

[beeenbag]

They look short.

I load my 124g lrn at 1.125. Do you have a pic of just the bullet?

Also, a .355 lead bullet will likely cause leading in 9mm.

 

[grubbylabs]

Not all weights and profiles are created equal. You should use multiple sources to develop your loading.

I would load them at max length that chambers and feeds reliably in your gun.

I usually start at or just below the minimum loading I can find for the given cast bullet I am loading for. If I can't find data for that specific bullet I look for the closest offering in both weight and profile.

 

[armoredman]

Hmm

 

[GLOOB]

Notice the huge bulge on the case on the right. If your expander plug made that bulge before you seated the bullet, then good. If the case was straight before you seated the bullet, you might run into lead fouling and poor accuracy, esp considering those bullets are on the small side, already. Easiest way to check if the bullets are being damaged is to pull a few and put calipers on the base. \

Some reloaders use lyman M dies or other specialized expander plugs for 9mm cast reloads.

 

[myFRAGisFUBAR]

Bullets beside a finished round.

 

[LiveLife]

That bullet nose profile has "step" from the bullet base/bearing surface. I would use the barrel drop test to determine the max OAL/COL. Then feed/chamber from the magazine to determine the working OAL/COL.

I have not used that particular bullet but typically load stepped 125 gr RN at 1.125" OAL/COL with bullet base/shoulder slightly above the case mouth.

 

[tyeo098]

I load to the first lube groove and put a slight taper crimp on the round so itll pass the plunk test.

Also, the lack of sufficient lubricant on those bullets concerns me.

Here is my sweetheart CZ75 after 'lightly' tumble lubing 125gr RN's like yours.



Make yourself some 45-45-10 and relube those...

Here's a proper one:



And a 120gr TC with enough lube to not cause the above (again!)

 

[myFRAGisFUBAR]

Wow Teyo, thanks for that info. I am not sure what the 45-45-10 is because I traded for these and have yet to cast my own. I plan to when funding allows to buy equipment and plan on powder coating the boolits. Anyway I also looked in the bag of boolits and most of them are lubed better. I managed to pick a "dry" one. Below is another loaded round with and OAL of 1.120 which chambered in my gun no problem.

Beside the previous rounds...

 

[Walkalong]

Much better.

 

[tyeo098]

Yeah that last one looks WAY better.

45-45-10 is a combination of Johnson's floor paste wax (45%), Liquid Alox (45%, comes with every lee sizer) and 10% mineral spirits for flavor.

Its a tumble style lube that had to be heated first (my 4.99 harbor freight heat gun does nicely) but drys, well... dry! Just using liquid alox ('mule snot' as its nickname) might not dry all the way if put on too thick, causing a 'tacky' kind of feeling to it.

Then there's always powder coat... but eh. You have to learn the basics first!

 

[dickttx]

You can also buy it ( Delux Liquid-Xlox)ready to use from: www.lsstuff.com.

 

[bjdiaz1]

After several tests I settled for 5.9gr HS-6 with 125 gr LRN bullets from snscasting.com for target shooting in both my Glocks with Lone Wolf barrels. Thanks for the pics on the proper seating.

 

[tyeo098]

Well?

Where's the target pictures?

 

[myFRAGisFUBAR]

Sorry about that. It was so bad I didnt bother. I just gotnmy own casting equipment and will melt these down. I was getting lead in my barrel after a few mags so I plan to do my own at .357 in powder coat. Will post pictures tonight of my success/failure