Barrel for cast 9mm? Any to stay away from

[taymag]

I know some guns have a tight throat, etc, I need a threaded barrel and want to make sure there aren't any to stay away from for cast

 

[LiveLife]

What pistol?

 

[taymag]

Glock 17

 

[mstreddy]

taymag, I have one of the Lone Wolf stainless threaded barrels for both my 17 and one for the 19. I also have one of the ported ones for the 34. They work well. The 17 has a tighter chamber and when I reload I have to make sure I size the brass as much as possible. The 19 is not as tight but is tighter than any of my Glocks or the Beretta 92.
But, for around $120 or so, they are a good option. I've shot some cast through the 17.

 

[taymag]

I don't run through a FCD so I doubt anything is the "tight" vicinity will work. I assume you mean tight compared to you factory barrel?

 

[mstreddy]

I don't use the FCD either. I just screw the sizing die down a little further to size the case. In 9mm I'm using the Hornady die set and I seat/crimp in one step. The crimp is to remove the flare. When I was loading lead I found that with most bullet styles I had to seat a little deeper to get them to plunk correctly in the barrel.
And yes, I mean it's tighter than most other factory barrels, particularly the Glocks.
Where in South Florida are you? I'm in the south Broward area and work in Kendall. I shoot at Ace's in Doral on a weeknight evening.
Maybe we can meet up and you can take a look at the Lone wolf barrels I have and try them out.

 

[taymag]

I am in Delray Beach, right around the corner. I just started USPSA at Markham on Thursday nights. I may take you up on that offer and check them out, but if I have to load short I am most likely out on the LW. Ill shoot you a message if I am up on the air on deciding and may come shoot to try it out, appreciate the offer. I am still up on the air on the factory Glock barrel and lead, seems to shoot fine and not have any issues but people say I am supposed to. I figured if I am going to buy a threaded barrel for the random times I shoot with people that want to shoot my silencers (pretty rare now) I want to not have to swap it out and get something that will load my cast reloads for uspsa too.

 

[LiveLife]

I use G22/23/27 with KKM and Lone Wolf 40S&W/9mm conversion barrels. When I shot USPSA matches, I considered using conversion barrels for 9mm Major due to thicker chamber and barrels.

As far as I can tell, both KKM and LW 9mm chambers are comparable to factory Glock chambers in dimension and case base support.

Differences are KKM barrel has free bore before start of rifling to allow longer than SAAMI max length and allow both traditional stepped RN bullets with longer nose and newer non-step RN bullets with shorter/rounder nose. My older Lone Wolf barrels were sold with rifling reamed but the newest barrel for G23 has almost no leade with sharp start of rifling (like the match barrel in my Sig 1911) and is not compatible with non-step RN nose bullets from MBC/Dardas as I have to load them much shorter than 1.060" not leaving much space for powder charge. New LW barrel will work with stepped RN bullets loaded to no longer than 1.125" OAL.

If you are looking for accuracy, I have found slower 1:24 barrel twist rate of KKM to produce slightly greater accuracy than faster 1:16 twist rate Lone Wolf barrel.

 

[mstreddy]

Don't worry so much about the loading short, it's just the profile and additional .001 of the lead rounds compared to plated/FMJ. Any time you switch the bullets we have to check the OAL. What I found that for some lead Flat Nose compared to Plated I had to seat a little deeper, say from 1.13 to 1.11. Some others LRN also had some adjustments compared to my usual settings.
I installed the threaded barrel as the Glock 17 is my normal suppressor host. I haven't shot it with the original since, and it's been many years and thousands of rounds now. I also bought an aftermarket 6" barrel for my M1991 9MM, and a spare barrel for my Beretta 92. I had both threaded so they can serve as hosts as well.
As to factory Glock barrels and lead, I shot several thousand rounds through my 19 before the Internet told me how wrong it was.

In 45 I have a 1911 barrel from Storm Lake and a Lone Wolf for my Glock 21. Though I couldn't get the 21 to cycle well with the suppressor at all. In the 1911 it was a hoot.

We'll have to meet up some time. Maybe one of the indoor ranges in the Hallandale area?

 

[LiveLife]

I am still up on the air on the factory Glock barrel and lead, seems to shoot fine and not have any issues but people say I am supposed to.

With Glock's longer leade and smoother/rounded start of rifling, bullet jumps deeper into the rifling before building chamber pressure and more high pressure gas leaks around the bullet. This will blow liquefied lube off the bullet and cause more fouling in the barrel along with leading.

So while you can shoot lead bullets in Glock barrels, you are likely to experience more inconsistent pressure build which affects accuracy, especially with lower power target loads meeting 125 power factor requirement which may not properly deform the bullet base to seal with the barrel. And as fouling builds up along the rifling, you will essentially end up with a smooth bore with reduced bore diameter and accuracy will decrease. I can shoot MBC 18 BHN 9mm 124 gr RN (SmallBall) loaded with W231/HP-38 for about 200-300 rounds before accuracy starts to drop. With KKM/Lone Wolf barrels, I can shoot 500+ rounds and barrels will remain clean.

We recently had a discussion on shooting lead bullets in Glock barrels in this thread - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/standard-glock-barrels-with-lead.814942/#post-10434419

 

[LiveLife]

If you are going with Lone Wolf barrel, you can send samples of your dummy match rounds (no powder/no primer) and they will ream the barrel to work with the bullet ogive and OAL.

 

[taymag]

Not a bad idea, but after spending the extra cash it looks like I might as well go with the KKM (but damn they're half the price of my 17)

 

[LiveLife]

After you reload several hundred thousand rounds for USPSA matches, cost of firearm/shooting accessories/reloading equipment become "trivial" compared to overall cost of ammunition.

What's a few hundred dollars when you spend tens of thousands of dollars?

With that said, I am a happy user of Lone Wolf barrels over decades and would not hesitate to use one to shoot a match stage tomorrow. FYI, Lone Wolf barrels have produced greater accuracy for me than factory Glock barrels with lead loads.

 

[mstreddy]

Taymag, try out the lone wolf, see if they work for you. Throw some rounds through mine and see how they work for you.

 

[kingmt]

I've tasted the cookies from Lone Wolf & all I'll say is I'll be going back again as soon as I can save up enough disposable income in that category.

 

[au_prospector]

When you make popcorn, do you shake the pot or the stove? Does a dog wag or does he wag his tail? Please say something if I am wrong, but dont you get the barrel you want, then size your cast bullets to fit that barrel? Isnt one barrel slightly different than another even from the same manufacturer? When a barrel is made and the rifling is cut.... A fresh rifling cutting die will cut larger diameter barrels the first few, then cut a few right on the money, then cut tighter barrels before being discarded? Do I have it wrong?

 

[taymag]

I don't want to be limited to loading short even though I would "probably" be fine, I just want the option to load whatever length I want within reason for flexibility.

I am not doubting the accuracy of LW, honestly I laugh when people tell me how much more accurate one barrel is over the other. Plus for USPSA it is extremely doubtful any barrel is more accurate over the other at those ranges

 

[LiveLife]

for USPSA it is extremely doubtful any barrel is more accurate over the other at those ranges

Yes, this is true. For Action Pistol matches that use fast double taps instead of slow fire bullseye matches, utmost accuracy is not paramount.

Besides, I believe there are reloading variables that affect greater amount of accuracy than barrel selection, such as bullet and powder combination. For USPSA, barrel selection could be like discussion on primers as to which may affect more consistent chamber pressures - Sure, there will be differences but likely overshadowed by small variance in powder charge or bullet setback variance.

FWIW, I have done side by side comparison with KKM and Lone Wolf barrels using different bullets and powders and results are interesting. Note that with my new LW barrel for G23 with short leade and sharp start of rifling (unreamed), I could not use 124 gr Lead RN with Herco as max OAL for this barrel at 1.125" would significantly compress the powder charge.

In the 9mm Herco thread, I got following groups with G22 at 10 yards (4/5 shot groups) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/9mm-and-herco-for-jacketed-lead-plated-bullets.745656/

115 gr Berry's HBRN Thick Plated 6.1 gr Herco @ 1.155" OAL:
KKM - 1.04"
LW (reamed barrel) - 1.20"

124 gr Z-Cast 14-16 BHN Lead RN (stepped) 5.2 gr Herco @ 1.160" OAL:
KKM - 1.12"
LW (reamed barrel) - 1.50"

Here are 25 yard LW (reamed)/KKM groups with Berry's 124 gr regular plated solid base RN and 3.8/4.0 gr Titegroup loaded to 1.160" (left 2 groups with LW / right group with KKM) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...e-pistol-reloaders.746062/page-2#post-9382933

Here are 25 yard KKM groups with RMR Hardcore Match RN and 4.0 gr WST/5.2 gr BE-86 loaded to 1.160" - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ick-plated-bullets.761471/page-5#post-9655361

 

[LiveLife]

but damn they're half the price of my G17

FYI, PSA is running Christmas sale and selling G17 threaded barrel for $59 (same 1:16 barrel twist rate as Lone Wolf) - http://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-engraved-barrel-glock-17-9mm-threaded-ss.html

 

[Tilos]

I have a Storm Lake barrel and it shoots well, has a tighter-than-Glock chamber though, but can sent to the factory to be opened-up/reamed if you want, at no charge.
I just use the barrel for plunk test while re-loading.