9mm cast bullets

[liloldhobit]

Hey guys I want to load some cast bullets for my xdm 9mm. most factory bullets are 115 gr fmj. what are some suggestions for lead. I will purchase these not cast myself. if you would give me some of your favs that would be great.

 

[Quoheleth]

These are my favorites: http://www.missouribullet.com/details.php?prodId=51&category=5&secondary=8&keywords=

I load them in mixed brass, (usually) Winchester primers and either AA#5 or Win231. Shoot great, little or no leading, and excellent accuracy.

If you want a 115gr cast lead, MBC can take care of that, too: http://www.missouribullet.com/details.php?prodId=117&category=5&secondary=8&keywords=

You will have to look hard to find a better bullet at a better price than MBC. I don't work for them, just a big fan.

Q

 

[liloldhobit]

is there a better gr weight than 115

 

[LiveLife]

is there a better gr weight than 115

Yes. For me, I prefer the 125 gr 9mm bullet over the lighter 115 gr bullet as I don't need to push the heavier 125 gr bullet as hard/fast to reliably cycle the slide.

As Quoheleth posted, 125 gr RN (SmallBall) bullet is a good choice. It's designed with shorter/rounder nose to increase the length of bearing surface.

The 125 gr CN (9 Cone) bullet was designed to feed smoother/easier.

If you are looking for greater accuracy and more consistent chamber pressures for match shooting, look at the bearing surface length of the 125 gr SWC (9mm SWC) bullet.

 

[Striker Fired]

I use the cone tip and am just trying the swc 125's,the cones shoot excellent.I use several of their bullets in 40 and 45 also and they are great performers.AA#5 seems to be all around my favorite for lead in all my calibers.
Oh ya, I also found my best groups and least fouling has been by running these bullets at the higher velocities, even as much charge as I run with Jacketed bullets.

 

[jack44]

I will be ording the 125gr cones and use power pistol.

 

[BAE984]

I've shot a bunch of the 147gr from MBC. Loaded over Unique, it's a pretty accurate load in my Sig, and seems to mimic the feel of 147gr defense ammo pretty well.

 

[billyjoe]

I use 125gr lead tc bullets in my xdm and they shoot great. I've being using unique but will be switching to power pistol on my next batch.

 

[16in50calNavalRifle]

Striker Fired, I'm about to load up some more MBC 9mm, and I'm thinking of loading towards the max data to see if it will reduce or eliminate the leading I've been getting. The CUP data indicate, for example, that the starting load of HP38/W231 is optimum for the 18 BHN 9mm bullets - but my loads at that level have unacceptable leading in my XD9. I plan to slug the bore for all my handguns, but I'm hoping the XD bores are close to spec and tweaking the loads will be enough.

 

[mgmorden]

Only ones I've tried was a box of 500 125gr RN's from Georgia Arms - was loading atop 4.8gr of Unique. They were accurate and functioned fine, but I didn't like the leading in the barrel. I read online though that Georgia Arms lead bullets tend to lead worse than others, so I may try some others brands before swearing them off. I also casted a bunch (well, about 350) of them myself but haven't ever gotten around to sizing them.

 

[LiveLife]

mgmorden, for me, primary sources of leading are from improper bullet-to-barrel fit and too hard of bullet/not high enough powder charge to deform/bump the bullet base (obturation).

If your barrel's groove diameter slugs out to .355", then .356" diameter bullet should provide proper fit. If your barrel is oversized and .356" diameter bullet is too hard to obturate to the barrel with the powder charge, you are going to have gas cutting/erosion of bullet base and high pressure gas will blow the liquefied lube out the barrel, leaving the bullet naked.

Primary reason why Missouri Bullet is so popular is that instead of 21-24 BHN most commercial casters use, MBC uses softer 18 BHN. The softer bullet will obturate better, even at lighter target loads to minimize/eliminate leading, provided that you have proper bullet-to-barrel fit.

If you haven't yet, do try Missouri Bullet. Out of my .355" Lone Wolf barrels, even with lighter mid-to-high range Bullseye/Promo/Red Dot/Titegroup/Green Dot/W231/HP-38 load data, I do not get leading with 125 gr RN/CN/SWC bullets and accuracy is very good.

If anyone is interested, Glen Fryxell has an extensive information on leading cause/prevention/elimination on Chapter 7 of his new free ebook - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=615067

 

[918v]

I would have Missouri cast them out of their 12 BHN alloy which I think is more appropriate for mild loads, say a 125gr bullet on top of 4grs of 231.

 

[Striker Fired]

16in50> My XDM measures .355,so the .356 bullets work in it ,I also have Beretta 9mm's and they are .357 so I have .358 and .357 for them.I do shoot the .357's in the XDM and it shoot great with very little leading.I did hand lap all my barrels before shooting lead and that definately made the bore really smooth.

The only problem I continue to have with all my XDM's is the throat being so tight that the bullets have to be seated just about perfectly straight and centered or they shave lead when chambering and the slide won't fully lockup.

 

[d'Artagnan]

My experience with 9mm lead bullets thru my Browning High Power was uniformly bad. First I tried Alberts swaged lead 125-gr bullets. Barrel leading was horrible. So bad I had to buy an Outer's Foul Out III system -- then just over $100 -- which usually takes half to two hours to remove the lead. It took 8 and a half hours. Then I was ill-advised enough to try another brand; Meister Bullets 125- and 147-gr bullets. More leading which took 2 and a half hours to remove, and the 147-gr bullets keyholed about half the time. I now stick with jacketed or plated bullets exclusively. But if you ever have to remove the leading from your barrel, I know how.

 

[liloldhobit]

wow lots of info.I think i will try the 125 swc. i need to look into barrel lapping any feeds i should read?

 

[918v]

If you size the bullet to the barrel and the chamber throat, you will not have leading. Most 9mm's like .358" or larger bullets.

 

[LiveLife]

My experience with 9mm lead bullets thru my Browning High Power was uniformly bad. First I tried Alberts swaged lead 125-gr bullets. Barrel leading was horrible. So bad I had to buy an Outer's Foul Out III system -- then just over $100 -- which usually takes half to two hours to remove the lead. It took 8 and a half hours. Then I was ill-advised enough to try another brand; Meister Bullets 125- and 147-gr bullets. More leading which took 2 and a half hours to remove, and the 147-gr bullets keyholed about half the time.

Wow!

I wonder if the leading problem was due to really softer swaged bullets ... but then you got leading with Meister bullets too ... with 147 gr bullets keyholing

We recently concluded a couple of threads with bad keyholing problem combined with leading attributed to oversized barrel. I wonder what the groove diameter of the Hi-Power was?

As to removing leading, I use old copper bore brush wrapped with copper scrubber strands (Chore Boy). Few strokes back and forth and presto, clean barrel.

I think i will try the 125 swc. i need to look into barrel lapping any feeds i should read?

There's an excellent comprehensive and detailed resource online in the way of a free ebook from Glen Fryxell (bless his heart, instead of publishing the book, he gifted the book for us reloaders for free!). Chapter 7 covers all things from what is leading to cause, prevention and removal. If you shoot lead bullets, it is a must read - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=615067

liloldhobit, I would first slug the barrel to determine the groove diameter. If the barrel is .355", .356" diameter bullets will work well (provided they will feed/chamber well in your XDM). If the barrel is oversized (.356"-.357"+), you may experience gas cutting/bullet base erosion/liquefied lube blown off the bullet surface out the barrel etc. that will all result in leading and may cause keyholing if the bullet can't grip the rifling and fails to rotate to stabilize in flight.

If your barrel is oversized as Striker Fired posted, you'll need larger sized bullets and/or higher powder charge.

BTW, Missouri Bullet offers 147 gr bullet in softer 15 BHN instead of 18 BHN used for rest of 9mm bullets.

 

[noylj]

I fire 115gn and 125gn L-SWC in all my 9mm guns, including 1930 era P-08s and 1940 era P-38s. They feed great in all my guns and are so much more accurate than L-RN. Just remember to keep 1/32" or slightly more of the shoulder above the case mouth.

 

[LiveLife]

Like this?

 

[liloldhobit]

thanks for the imput will read the ebook and get more info. seems as though there is more to loading lead than platted bullets. must read and learn more.....

 

[dardascastbullets]

To say that a barrel is 'oversize' and will cause 'gas cutting, bullet base erosion, and liquified lubricant blown off the bullet surface' and is errant. Whatever the groove diameter is is what the groove diameter is. The cast bullet then needs to be appropriately sized according to the dimension of the slugged groove diameter. So, if in the poster's case, his firearm slugs out at 0.357" or 0.358", then the appropriate minimum sized diameters would be 0.358" and 0.359" respectively. It is a simple matter to find the proper sized diameter for a particular bore and/or cylinder throats.

 

[LiveLife]

Matt, my PT145 barrel is so oversized (.455"+ groove diameter) that I could not get accuracy even with near max load data using harder MBC 18 BHN bullets (yes, it leaded the barrel pretty bad too). I didn't think getting .456"+ sized diameter bullets was a feasible option as I wanted to shoot the same load in all of my pistols (M&P45 and Sig 1911 barrels are .451" groove diameter and with very tight Sig 1911 chamber, I would not be able to reliably chamber larger than .452" diameter reloads - I could barely chamber them now with .452" bullets).

I finally resolved the issue by using softer 12 BHN bullet that deformed better to provide better seal with the barrel. Now I can shoot the same load in all the pistols. I did suggest to Brad that offering 9mm bullets in softer 15 BHN might be a good option for those with oversized 9mm barrels as he already offers 147 gr bullet in 15 BHN (not sure if the market is big enough ... we could always do a poll to find out).

 

[noylj]

I load with more shoulder exposed. I like to minimize headspace, since all cases are too short and headspacing is on the extractor. I like to keep the headspace to 0.02" or less.
It is amazing how accuracy can improve with cases that are 0.750" or longer and the bullet lightly touches the lede/rifling.

 

[noylj]

bds:

I always wonder if all my guns are simply unique or if some loaders are doing something wrong.
I have no problem loading and chambering 0.359" bullets in my 9x19, 9x21, .38 Super, .38 Special, and .357 Magnum guns.
I have loaded bullet as large as 0.455" in my .45s, even the ones with custom tight match Bar-Sto barrels.
There seem to be a lot of VERY tight chambered barrels out there.
For .45ACP, you need a SOFT bullet to obdurate. There is no pressure to obdurate a HARD bullet. I put several light coats of LLA on undersized bullets and shoot a lot more soft bullets than hard bullets. Hard bullets are needed for barrels with very shallow grooves, as some old .45ACP barrels, or Magnum loads.

 

[noylj]

d'Artagnan

Did you slug your barrel?
Browning spec for groove diameter is something like 0.355-0.362". I have a BHP with a groove diameter of 0.3595" and they told me I was within spec.
For lead bullets, fit is everything. Your bullets almost have to be at least 0.001" over groove diameter.
Shooting 0.357" lead bullets in my 0.355" CZ-75 barrels is great. Almost no leading, ever, and very good accuracy.
In fact, both CZs are by far my most accurate 9x19s, even with the stock lousy trigger.