casting for 9mm and 38spl

[ThePenguinKnight]

I am researching bullet casting in my ongoing effort to become more independent of commercial ammo supply, and to learn more about fun stuff like shooting. I have two 9mm autoloaders, and might be getting a 38spl for my wife before too long. I'd love to keep things simple, so I was thinking about getting a 125gr 357 RN bullet mold, and simply sizing the bullets based on which caliber weapon they are going in. I.e. cast a bunch of bullets, run some through the .356 sizer for the 9mms and the rest through the .358 sizer for the 38spl. Is this an acceptable and/or advisable practice?

I understand my pistols may have different bore diameters, and I plan to slug them soon, but I am interested in finding out about anything that would keep me from killing two birds with one stone, as it were, and only dealing with one bulet mold. Also I like learning

Thanks in advance.

 

[ReloaderFred]

It's entirely feasible, since I've been doing it for many, many years. It doesn't even have to be a round nose design, as I've got several round nose flat point molds that work equally well in my 9x19, .38 Super and .38/.357 firearms. All I do is run the bullets through the appropriate sizing die for the caliber I'm going to be loading.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[kerreckt]

No reason it wouldn't work based upon the exact bore measurements of the guns you are loading for. Also, keep in mind whether or not your auto loaders feed the bullet profile reliably. Good luck

 

[Certaindeaf]

I'd pretty much probably just get a (or plural) 9mm mold(s) and shoot it unsized out of a .357 bore and perhaps also unsized (slug your bores) through the ".355's" (9mm). Paper doesn't care what you shoot at it but meat does.. a flat point and or semi-wadcutter is way better if your autos will feed them. You can generally make something smaller easier (joke) than making something bigger and we're only talking a thousandth or so here.

 

[Armored farmer]

effort to become more independent of commercial ammo supply

good for you, I'm doing the same thing!

 

[kingmt]

That's all good if you have a place to get lead.

 

[Certaindeaf]

It comes from the ground/vendors. Do you think all the ammunition manufacturers get their lead from gas stations?

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

Getting lead shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm waiting on a call back from a couple tire shops I have connection with, and my buddy and I are looking into alternate sources.

Shooting it unsized is an interesting idea. I wonder what size they pop out of a 9mm mold at. I had imagined it was a couple .001ths bigger than the intended caliber, to allow for sizing variation for bore diameters. I hadn't thought of just shooting it unsized though. Very interesting...

Both my autoloaders shoot RN lead fine; I had loaded over 1000 commercial cast bullets, but they didnt shoot very well and leaded the barrels more than I cared for. Not extreme amounts, but it just didn't seem to be a good match between bullets amd barrels. I might look for a flat nose design for versatility, but at this time I am only looking for practice ammunition.

I tend to stick to cheap and simple where possible, so the Lee products appeal greatly to me. Their bullet sizing kits in particular have caught my attention, and I read generally good things about them. Is their tumble lube system as effective as they say? Is it sensitive to bullet design? I.e. does a bullet with a wider, more traditional lube groove suffer from the liquid alox lube treatment, vs the smaller multiple lube ring design?

Thanks again, all.

 

[Certaindeaf]

You always measure it.. any sizing actually is theoretically detrimental to that bullet.

 

[oldpapps]

Views from an old ......

Bullet diameter:
Softer (more lead) bullets don't shrink as much as harder (less lead and more tin and what ever), they shrink more. How much? Depends upon the alloy.

Bullet shapes:
Round/pointier bullets will feed easier.
Flat points (wad cutters) are a pain to get to feed.
Most of the newer (OK, since the late 70's) auto loaders are ramped to feed hollow points and will do well with semi-wad cutter shaped bullets.

Revolvers don't care what shape the bullet has. Speed loading does do better with pointier bullets.

Targets also don't care what the shape of the bullet is. Yes, wad cutters do make scoring simpler.

Beasties may not care what the bullet's shape is, but better energy transfer is made with bullets that grab and not slip in and out.

And for me:
I gave up on little bullets in the early 80s. Sold or traded them all off. For me a hand gun caliber always starts with the number '4'. I have a powder puff load for the 44 Mag that my 6 years old grand daughter loves to shoot. (Have another lead loading that is NOT a powder puff load.) My daughter did her CCW range work with a 1911 type .45 ACP. (After having 4 kids, shes up to 112 to 115 pounds, so she's far from being an amazon.) What is good for one may not be good for another.

I've got all of the stuff to cast, .316/.355/.358/.429/.452/.311/.378 and a sizer/luber and gas checks for some. I've gotten older/lazier and just don't get around to casting anymore. (Love Missouri Bullet.)
Casting is lots of fun and can save some cash if you do a lot of it.

 

[chris in va]

FWIW, my Lee 356-125-2r mold drops at 360. I use it for my 9mm sized to 358. Would be a good mold for both your calibers.

 

[billybob44]

FWIW, my Lee 356-125-2r mold drops at 360. I use it for my 9mm sized to 358. Would be a good mold for both your calibers.

^^^Same here, except sized to .357"...Works great in my 9's...Bill.

 

[dragon813gt]

Getting lead shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm waiting on a call back from a couple tire shops I have connection with, and my buddy and I are looking into alternate sources.

Good luck is all I have to say. If there are any casters in your area they already have the few shops that still sell them locked up. And depending on where you live the ratio of lead to steel/zinc could be very poor. The good news is that manufacturers have switched to steel so zinc contamination should be something you have to worry about less as time goes by.

I know this will sound negative but the new casters are years behind on building up their lead supply. Free/cheap lead is almost gone. Same thing for linotype and monotype. And a lot of scrap yards won't sell lead to the public for a myriad of reasons. Certified foundry alloys are available at reasonable costs and are going to be a lot of people's only option.


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[GLOOB]

The bigger the better, IMHO. You fit a bullet to the revolver cylinder. Even if it a few mics bigger than the bore. Why bother slugging a bore. Use the biggest bullet that chambers and go from there. IOW dont buy a sizer unless your bullets are too big to chmaber. Cuz thats the only problem sizing will fix. If it chambers, the bore will size the bullet just the same.

Warning re 9. You may need a bigger expander. Unless your alloy is really hard, 9mm cases will swage down a bullet if they arent expanded properly. I use a lee 38SW expander plug.

Before u cheap out, consider a lee mold is only 20 bucks. Thats the cost of a sizer. If you can buy another mold and save yourself the sizing step, you'll be ahead in no time. Unsized 38 in your revos. Unsized 9s in your pistols.

 

[rsrocket1]

Before you start casting and sizing, I recommend you slug your bores. My M&P 9 barrel slugged at 0.3545" on the grooves and 0.340" on the lands, but some Euro 9's are as big as .357" and will not be happy with bullets sized at 0.356".

There is nothing irreversible in buying the wrong size equipment. If you buy too small a sizer, you can always open it up. If you buy the wrong size mold, you can always size the boolits down or beagle the mold up or even make the mold bigger.

BUT
By measuring your gun barrels and determining the needed equipment BEFORE you buy, you will have a much better chance at success the first time with a lot less hair pulling trying to solve leading problems and/or keyholed targets.

The Lee 358-125-RF is a great 38/357 mold and might be a good 9mm mold if your chamber/throat can accept that wide of a bullet. The near-vertical part of the bullet is at caliber diameter for a long way. If you have a narrow throat, you would not be able to put that bullet fully into battery unless you seat the bullet really deep. My M&P barrel is very tight and won't accept a bullet unless it's sized down to .356" max with the case flare closed up with a slight taper crimp. As a test, I tried seating my 358-158-RF bullets in a 9mm case to see if a .358 bullet would work and even when sized to .356, the dummy round wouldn't pass the plunk test until it was seated to beyond the vertical part of the bullet above the crimp groove.

So I bought the 6 cavity 356-120-TC mold and use the .356" sizer and the bullets shoot great in the M&P40 converte over to 9mm. With a 1.03" COL, 4.2g Unique gives me an average 1070 fps and good enough accuracy to have fun with. The 6 cavity molds are the way to go. I can cast about 700 bullets an hour with them. They usually pay for themselves in savings with the first casting session.

9mm fit test along with a bullet left over from the first try with the 358-158-RF, you might barely see the bulge in the case from the fat bullet, the rest were pulled and remelted


First couple of mags @ 15 yds with the 356-120-TC's with 4.2g Unique after chrono tests:

 

[RustyFN]

I was thinking about getting a 125gr 357 RN bullet mold, and simply sizing the bullets based on which caliber weapon they are going in. I.e. cast a bunch of bullets, run some through the .356 sizer for the 9mms and the rest through the .358 sizer for the 38spl.

I would go with a .358 mould. The .357 lead bullet might be too small in a 38/357 gun and also might make a mess trying to lube it in a .358 size/lube die

 

[doubleh]

I agree with everything you said, oldpapps, except one thing. Bullet casting is just work, not fun, for me. I do it to be able to shoot more and I seem to be able to cast "prettier" bullets than the commercial ones. I don't know that it makes any difference shooting them but I just feel good when I finish a run of smooth, shiny bullets. Basically I consider casting and sizing and lubing bullets a boring necessity to allow me more enjoyment shooting than I could afford otherwise.

I buy my lead at the local salvage yard. I haven purchased any in a couple of years so I'm not current on prices but in the past it was always considerably cheaper than buying commercial lead. It's always pure lead. Someone keeps the wheel weights cleaned out. I mix the lead with wheel weights because I have found a fairly soft bullet that fits to lead very little to none at the speed I load them to.

I'm out of wheel weights now. If I can't locate some I'm going to experiment with adding some #4 babbit to harden the pure lead up a little. I have several pounds left over from pouring rope sockets and bridles back in my working days.