Reloading 9mm with hardcast bullets

[hot chili powder]

Never loaded 9mm with lead hardcast bullets....any tips/suggestions for me? Thinking about using Lasercast 115 or 124 gr hardcast bullets. Have Titegroup, CFE Pistol and Bullseye powder....good choices? Tell me what ya think.........thanks guys!! {FYI: shooting a CZ Duty}

 

[Tilos]

I'd look into coated bullets instead of traditional lubed/cast bullets.
Lots of benefits in doing this, and the cost is the same or less.
thank me later,

 

[kcofohio]

I have had better luck with CFE-P than Titegroup. But with lead noncoated bullets, you will need to see what works for your gun without leading the barrel.

 

[LiveLife]

Groove diameter of barrel - With lead bullets, bullet-to-barrel fit is key, especially with harder bullets. So slug your barrel and choose bullet diameter sized .001"+ over the groove diameter to reduce leading and increase accuracy.

Oversized barrel - Some factory 9mm barrels are oversized at .357"+ and with lead bullets sized .358", finished rounds may not fully chamber in the barrel. With oversized barrels, using undersized .356" bullets will likely result in leading and poor accuracy/keyholing and using softer bullets (14-18 BHN) may help deform/obturate the bullet base to seal with the barrel better.

Hardness of lead alloy - I used to shoot 22-24 BHN bullets sized .356" in my KKM/Lone Wolf barrels with .355"-.356" groove diameter and got leading even with high-to-near max load data. Laser-Cast is 24 BHN and Oregon Trail suggests 11,500-13,000 PSI to obturate their bullets - http://www.laser-cast.com/files/Understanding_bullet_obturation.pdf

But when I switched to softer 18 BHN MBC bullets sized .356", I did not get leading even at mid-to-high range load data. I have also gotten good results with 18 BHN RMR, 16 BHN Dardas and 14-16 BHN Z-Cast bullets.


Missouri Bullet Company (18 BHN) offers large selection and 5% THR discount (Brad prefers we PM discount code) - http://missouribullet.com/results.php?category=5&secondary=8

Dardas Cast Bullets (16 BHN) offers large selection and 5% THR discount with HIGHROAD promo code - http://www.dardascastbullets.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=dardas&Category_Code=9

Rocky Mountain Reloading (18 BHN) offers popular sizes and 5% THR discount with thehighroad5 promo code (and must enter THR ID in the order comment box) and free shipping on all orders - https://rmrbullets.com/product-cate...lets-for-reloading-9mm-355-12/?v=7516fd43adaa

Z-Cast Bulletz/JacobEagle.com (14-16 BHN) - http://www.jacobeagle.com/bullets

 

[FROGO207]

I have had good luck with the Missouri Bullet and Zcast offerings so far. I just got 2K Hi Tec coated 124's from MB to try I bet they will not disappoint me either.

 

[Starr1der]

I'll jump in on the side of coated or plated rather than lead; first, don't know your range situation, but many indoor ranges, especially newer ones (at least in my area), discourage if not ban lead bullets, and in Wisconsin, indoor range season is fom October til April. I got 13" of snow on Sunday, March 12th. Second, I'm not all that fond of the idea of unnecessary lead exposure- and to me, using exposed lead rather than coated bullets is unnecessary. Lastly, considering the negligible cost difference (if any) between coated/plated bullets and cast lead, I consider it a no brainer. Now, if you were casting yourself, I'd take that into consideration, and even then you might look into HiTek coating or powder coating. You might say I'm a little bit fanatic about lead exposure.

 

[cat_IT_guy]

I've had good experience with the parabellum from MBC, I think its 115gr and I load it over bullseye to about 1070fps. Its never failed to cycle the gun (Walther PPQ) and doenst seem to cause issues with leading.

 

[redbullitt]

I used powder coated lee cast boolits, but the idea is the same! Definitely noticeably cleaner in the mags and pistol.

All of my 9mm is fired from a g17 and g19. I found that many cast loads had a higher POI than my sights, but a lighter faster projectile seemed to take care of that.

As for powder, I found the slower range, like unique, to be much easier and require less tinkering. I sized all boolits to .358. Be mindful of your case mouth belling/expander. It may not do quite enough expanding unless you're casting them skinny. You will get leading for sure if your case is swaging the bullets or scraping them undersized. Be liberal with the case mouth chamfer to help with seating.

Use the plunk test to see what your chamber will take AND slug your barrel to really save on guess work.

 

[Dog Soldier]

I cast 9MM bullets with Linotype alloy. They are sized and lubed at .356. These are low cost and very good bullets. I do use Berry's Copper coated bullets in my .38 Super Comp loads.

 

[hot chili powder]

I'd look into coated bullets instead of traditional lubed/cast bullets.
Lots of benefits in doing this, and the cost is the same or less.
thank me later,

Coated bullets seems to be the answer......will try'em.......thanks for the info guys!!

 

[wally]

I recommend the 147 gr hard cast. Missouri Bullet Co. makes some good ones. The HiTek polymer coated seems to be a real improvement and well worth the modest price premium, especially the ones without the "lube groove" in terms of not running into bullet seating depth issues.

These are very accurate and soft shooting in a variety of guns. I use 3.7gr Unique with an OAL of 1.120 and they function 100% in my wide assortment of 9mm handguns and AR SBRs.

I've shot 10's of thousands of rounds of the hard cast lead without issues before recently switching to the polymer coated.

 

[Tilos]

Coated bullets seems to be the answer......will try'em.......thanks for the info guys!!

Good choice
After re-reading your OP, I would recommend bullets from Bayou Bullets.
Although you don't mention other calibers you load for, I buy .38/.357/115gr RN bullets because I load 38 and re-size these bullets for 9mm.
That way I only need to keep/buy one bullet for both calibers.
I believe they come sized 0.358 and I re-size them to 0.357 for some revolvers and 0.356 for 9mm.
http://www.bayoubullets.net/38-357-115-gr-rn-1000-ct/
If you only load 9mm (for now)
http://www.bayoubullets.net/9mm-115-gr-rn-1000-ct/

I have used others with similar good results.

Let us know what you buy and how they worked out,

 

[rskent]

Laser-Cast 115 over a moderately fast load of Bullseye. I have shot quite a few.

I don’t know about your CZ, but my Sig’s seemed to be pretty accurate with them.

 

[castile]

Can I get the Missouri bullet co code?

 

[SlowFuse]

I got leading with titegroup and 9mm lead loads. CFE and HP-38 seem better.

With the titegroup being pretty fast it may burn a little hotter causing it. Not sure, I just stick with plated or fmj with it.

 

[Tacoma]

In my experience bith Bullseye and tightgroup produce good range loads with cast bullets in the 115 to 125 gr range. Tightgroup is noted for creating some extra smoke with cast bullets though. Personally, I like bullseye for cast and tightgroup for plated/coated.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I have been loading 124gr coated bullets from the MBC and I like the results a lot! I'm using Longshot and W231 currently.

 

[Starr1der]

I use Power Pistol behind 115 gn RN coated, 5.1 gn; 1.100 OAL; about 1150 fps. I use 4.8 gn Power Pistol behind 122 gn FP (1.075) & 124 gn RN, (1.110)(The FP is .30 shorter) and both are right around 1050 fps. All are Acme bullets. They also have 145 RN and 147 FP; I tend to use either Titegroup or Longshot on those, and will average in the 950-975 fps range. Don't have my load books in front of me at the moment, but I have the lighter loads memorized. I've used Bayou as well, very nice, but some of their coated stuff has lube grooves which I don't care for.
My advice would be buy a number of the 100 bullet 'sample packs' until you find some you like, then buy volume.

 

[SARuger]

I use MBC 124g coated bullets, I load them and shoot them by the thousands out of 4 different handguns. Performance has been exceptional!

I use the recommended 1.08 COL, and I push them with HS-6 using data from Lymans Cast Bullet Handbook. A middle of the road charge will work darn good in most anything and is very accurate, actually, surprisingly accurate!