Do I need to swage 9mm?

[Reneage Riot]

I plan to get a lee classic turret press with these dies,
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=885350

and this mold
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=141131

Shooting through a SIG 226,

(When I say swage, I mean running the cast bullet through a press that resized and lubes the bullet. I don't know if there are different meaning to this word.)

my dad asked me to post here asking if I need to resize the 9mm bullets after casting. When casting .38 special bullets we run them through a press filled with a hard wax to reshape and lube the bullet. Are the dies and mold all I would need?

Do I need to do this to 9mm, and if so can I use the .38 special dies?

 

[armoredman]

Swage means to form a bullet from very soft lead. What you're talking about is sizing a cast bullet through a lubrisizer.
No, 38 special sizers are usually .358, 9mm should be sized at .356. I use the very inexpensive Lee push through sizer, and lube with Lee Liquid Alox, (which is included with the sizer), but if you have an actual lubrisizer, well, I can't help you, no idea what top punch or otherwise to use..
Great resource is castboolits.gunloads.com. I would HIGHLY suggest you register there, LOTS of great casting info to be had from long time experts in the field.

 

[Walkalong]

armoredman is right, you are talking about lubing/sizing.

If the bullets do indeed drop at .356 (varies according to the alloy used), you really just need to lube them You can do that with a lubrisizer, or a lube like Lee Liquid Alox or Rooster Jacket. If you do need to size them as well, Lee makes a cheap alternative to lubrisizers.

 

[918v]

Sig 9mm chambers have .360" throats. 356" bullets are going to lead badly in it.

 

[Russt]

The short answer is "maybe". Load the bullet and use your barrel as a guage to see if it'll chamber. If it will, shoot it. I have the same mold and it drops a .360 dia. bullet. I used a Lee push through sizer and LLA lube and they shot okay. I like the TC mold better and it also works in my 38/357's. I've recently bought a Lyman 450 sizer and am sizing/lubing the conventional way, in the lube groove. I like it a lot better, less mess on the dies when loading, from the LLA and there was something just not right about that lube groove not being filled on other style of bullets I used. Here's a pic of a few bullets I use for the 9mm, & 38/357.
Love the castboolits site. There's sooo much information there.

 

[armoredman]

I use that .356 tumble lube LRN on the far left, mine drops at .360 too, so I size it with the push through sizers to .358 for 38 Special and .356 for 9mm. Works well in both.
I haven't gotten pan lubing down yet, looks like a lot of muss and fuss in the kitchen area. LLA is just too easy for me.

 

[Reneage Riot]

I talked to my dad and he has the lyman 450 sizer, so i'll order the stuff and see if i need to buy a new sizer die. Question is what size do i want? 355 and 356 both say for 9mm. Also my dad thinks I need some type of head plate to match the shape of the bullet but I'm thinking thats only if i was casting wadcutters?

 

[Russt]

The Lee bullet is a tumble lube design. It won't work very well with the Lyman. It's made for the LLA. You'll need to slug your barrel to see what diameter you will need, usually .001 over bore dia. A top punch is what your dad is talking about and as far as I know there's not one for a Lee, though you can make what you have on hand work with a little epoxy. Here's what I did to a seater because the one I had didn't fit the bullet nose.

 

[baker1425]

The top punch and die are much more expensive than a simple push through Lee die. You can get a 9mm that is not tumble lube. I have had good success with 90309, which should give no problems through either sizing system. When I casted more, I used the lee push through die because it is much faster in production.