Cast lead in 9mm M&P???

armorman

armorman

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Anyone shooting cast lead out of their M&P 9mm? I just bought an M&P 9 and would like to start sourcing components for reloading.....I'm not sure how well the cast lead projectiles are working with this pistol. Lead is 1/2 the cost of the plated stuff.....;). Thanks
 
Ok, that's great news. I couldn't find any info on the S&W website in regards to rifling type with the M&P semi-auto pistols so that's why I was asking! I'm assuming .357 is good to go??? Thanks!
 
Generally bullets sold as "9mm" are .355 or .356 - just make sure you're not loading 38 SPL/357 Mag bullets since as sold they will likely increase pressures in your loads. I've had great luck with 4.2 grains of W231 under a 124 grain conical.
 
The BB size is a little tight if it's accurate. Having said that I've shot around a thousand rounds of their 9mm bullets myself without any issues... well, other than I found that cast lead bullets gave me noticably tighter groups compared to jacketed.

Just a note that there's a lot more stuff in the air in front of the muzzle when you shoot cast bullets. I think it's a mixture of vapour from the lube as well as some amount of lead. At least that's what the sweet taste in the back of my throat tells me and other shooters say the same. So now I only shoot cast bullets outdoors and keep jacketed for indoor.
 
I have about 8K of lead out of my M&P 9........

124gr Cactus Plains boolits pushed by 4.3gr of Unique........

I would reccomend 'seasoning' the barrel some way before you shoot too much cast, it will keep the leading to a minimum and keep the cleaning to a small job as opposed to a huge chore.

YMMV
 
Never had. Problem with lead, I use DRG lead projectiles.
The only gun I try and stay away from lead is the glocks, but smiths and sig no issues.

Have fun reloading, saves tons of cash!
 
enefgee said:
Generally bullets sold as "9mm" are .355 or .356 - just make sure you're not loading 38 SPL/357 Mag bullets since as sold they will likely increase pressures in your loads. I've had great luck with 4.2 grains of W231 under a 124 grain conical.
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Your information is incorrect as it relates to lead boolits. Lead boolits should be sized .357 for the 9MM As a general rule lead boolits should be at least 1/1000th over bore. With the 9MM bores can and do range from .355 to .356. I shoot and cast my own lead boolit and occasionally shoot commercial lead boolits. In all my 9MM guns boolits will tumble if sized .356 and gas cutting will occur increasing the leading problem. I have had boolits tumble in as short a distance as 10 feet when sized .356 out of my CZ's and Tanfoglio.

Lead bullets must seal the bore if accuracy is to be achieved and leading eliminated. It is not uncommon to size boolits as much as 3/1000th over bore depending upon application.

For my revolvers I size my .38spl/.357 boolits .358 and my .45acp boolits .452.

Pressure is not an issue when sizing lead boolits 1 - 2 thousanths over bore.

Take Care

Bob
 
armorman said:
Anyone shooting cast lead out of their M&P 9mm? I just bought an M&P 9 and would like to start sourcing components for reloading.....I'm not sure how well the cast lead projectiles are working with this pistol. Lead is 1/2 the cost of the plated stuff.....;). Thanks
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My M&P had some issues when i tried to run lead through it. My buddy and i did 1000 lead reloads. I put about 150 of those through the M&P and had 3 really bad jams where the slide wouldn't go fully into battery when it tried to chamber the next round. It took a while to jiggle and jack the slide open. After the 3rd time it happened i haven't tried lead in the M&P since, i stick to jacketed.

Not sure why the M&P didn't like them, the other 850 went straight through a Glock and a Sig without problems. The M&P has been a great gun, and it seems as if other people have ran lead without problems but this was just my experience..... best of luck enjoy reloading!!! :)
 
Wolfgang7 said:
Not sure why the M&P didn't like them, the other 850 went straight through a Glock and a Sig without problems. The M&P has been a great gun, and it seems as if other people have ran lead without problems but this was just my experience..... best of luck enjoy reloading!!! :)
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Nothing fails to run in a Glock :)
 
Wolfgang7 said:
My M&P had some issues when i tried to run lead through it. My buddy and i did 1000 lead reloads. I put about 150 of those through the M&P and had 3 really bad jams where the slide wouldn't go fully into battery when it tried to chamber the next round. It took a while to jiggle and jack the slide open. After the 3rd time it happened i haven't tried lead in the M&P since, i stick to jacketed.

Not sure why the M&P didn't like them, the other 850 went straight through a Glock and a Sig without problems. The M&P has been a great gun, and it seems as if other people have ran lead without problems but this was just my experience..... best of luck enjoy reloading!!! :)
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This has nothing to do with using lead. Your OAL was too long for that specific projectile and chamber.

Going on about 8,000 lead rounds through my M&P9 without a problem.
 
Wolfgang7 said:
My M&P had some issues when i tried to run lead through it. My buddy and i did 1000 lead reloads. I put about 150 of those through the M&P and had 3 really bad jams where the slide wouldn't go fully into battery when it tried to chamber the next round. It took a while to jiggle and jack the slide open. After the 3rd time it happened i haven't tried lead in the M&P since, i stick to jacketed.

Not sure why the M&P didn't like them, the other 850 went straight through a Glock and a Sig without problems. The M&P has been a great gun, and it seems as if other people have ran lead without problems but this was just my experience..... best of luck enjoy reloading!!! :)
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Adjust the OAL of your reloads to fit the barrel of the M&P and it will likely run like clockwork and you will have a load that should work in the other guns as well. Remove your barrel and use it to gauge the rounds; a loaded round or dummy should drop freely into the chamber just like a sized empty case.
 
tjhaile said:
Adjust the OAL of your reloads to fit the barrel of the M&P and it will likely run like clockwork and you will have a load that should work in the other guns as well. Remove your barrel and use it to gauge the rounds; a loaded round or dummy should drop freely into the chamber just like a sized empty case.
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Yeah i should go back and see if we logged our OAL on those ones. We just thought it was weird the other 2 pistols ran without a hiccup. Guess the Sig and Glock might have a bit more tolerance for sketchy ammo?? Who knows.... i should load up some slightly longer OAL jacketed and see how the MP reacts...

As well good call on dropping in the chamber with the barrel out i saw Hickok do that it's a great idea...
 
Wolfgang7 said:
Yeah i should go back and see if we logged our OAL on those ones. We just thought it was weird the other 2 pistols ran without a hiccup. Guess the Sig and Glock might have a bit more tolerance for sketchy ammo?? Who knows.... i should load up some slightly longer OAL jacketed and see how the MP reacts...

As well good call on dropping in the chamber with the barrel out i saw Hickok do that it's a great idea...
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No don't do that. No gun will load rounds that are to long for the chamber. Your cartridges, as has been pointed out were simply to long. For most bullets, lead or jacketed the OAL for the 9MM runs to 1.10". Check your manual if you are using bullets listed in the manual. You can get away with longer bullets if the bullet olgive is narrow but for most once you get out of spec to much the bullet simply hits the rifling and the cartridge won't chamber. Even the Glock won't.

Take Care

Bob
 
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