Casting for 9mm

I use the Lee 356-125-2R cast in the 6 cavity mold 90457.
This has worked good for me and several others.
 
I hate to burst your bubble but I have found cast lead bullets in the 9mm Luger cartridge to be a losing proposition. Most semi-auto pistol barrels have shallow lands and grooves compared to revolvers so accuracy is only fair at best. They also tend to lead the barrel; Glock specifically warns against them. I now reserve lead bullets for wheelguns and only load FMJ projectiles for semi-auto pistols.
 
Your best bet is to try some hard cast .356" bullets, best for feeding are Truncated cone or round nose style. Just get a minimal amount and see how they work. You may not shoot your pistol much if you can't use affordable cast bullets, and you won't get to be a great shooter if you don't shoot...alot! I will send you some free ones if you pay shipping, just for you to try....Ben
 
Cast bullets work fine in semi-auto's. You may have experiment a bit to get the best preformance out of them but it is not rocket science. I have used both the six cavity Lee molds in 9mm and they function fine. I did have problems with tumbling but changing seating depth and going to a harder aloy cleared up that problem.
 
I have been casting 9MM bullets (124 gr Truncated SAECO) for the past seven years. I cast them from wheelweights and water drop them. I have found sizing them to .357 works best for me in my several 9MM guns. I use Felix Lube (Soft Lube). I suspect I have cast over 20,000+ of them over this period.

Accuracy is excellent. Leading is virtually non-existant. This is particularly true when using them in my Tanfoglio "L" model. These bullets have been shot with excellent results in the following 9MM guns:

CZ 85
Tanfoglio Model "L"
CZ 75
Tanfoglio Combat Sport
STI Trojan
FN Hi-Power
Inglis Hi-Power

My favourite load used in IDPA/IPSC is 4.1 gr of Win 231. Load makes approx 130- 135 power facter. I use 231 as it drops consistantly out of my Dillon powder measure.

I have tried using hard lubes and found them to be very ineffective in reducing leading in a number of handgun calibers. I have found bullets down range where little if any of the hard lube was consumed. Leading in my .45acp pistols was always in the first inch or so of the barrel using hard lubes - disappeared when I went to the soft lube mentioned.

Good luck with your casting.

Take Care

Bob
 
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joebanana

Hi

Your tumbling bullets likely were caused by the bullets being undersized for your gun. Try sizing them .357. I would strongly suggest you stay as close as you can to recomended OAL. Seating the 9MM bullets less than recommended can drive pressures. Light loads may not be a problem but heavier loadings combined with a weak case could make things interesting in a hurry.

Take Care

Bob
 
I have casted thousands of bullets for my 45 ACP and they work much better than the cheap plated bullets like frontier, so I do not agree that you can not cast for an auto. I suspect that due to the operating pressures of the nine some hardning would be required as the pressure is too much for an air cooled wheel weight bullet. So the suggestions so far are trunicated nose, sized to 357 and hardened. Do I atleast get a X2 on this suggestion before I hand my credit card info to Andrew at higginson's?
 
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I ended casting RN. No issues feeding in any auto. Some don't like the semi truncated. The Lee nose is really pointy. My pistols didn't like them all that much. RN fed easy and were arguably a schnick easier to drop from the mold.

You really need to test the alloy hardness. I stopped casting quickly as leading was a serious problem with my pipes. Water quenching ww didn't help. I went with plated and have lived happily ever after.

I just didn't want to bother with mixing a hard alloy or heat treating.

From 40cal and up, casting was superb and the larger the bore, the less hardness I could get away with. 40S&W - ww/water quenched excellent. 45ACP - ww air cooled excellent. 45LC - ww/water quenched/gas check - AMAZING!!!!!!!!

124gr usually works the best as you can cycle the slide without running fast/high pressures. I always used Lee liq Alox and it works superbly - on everything but the 9mm. Hard lubes I found on commercial bullets didn't do too much.

If you are interested in cast, I have some commercial 'hard' cast you can have for a few $$.

Jerry
 
I should point out water quenching is not necessary for the 9MM. I do it for convenience. Wheelweight alloy is hard enough for most pistol and rifle applications. To hard a bullet will often lead more than a bullet tht is cast from softer alloy.

The base of the bullet obuterates to seal the bore preventing gas cutting which is the major cause of leading. That and using to hard a lube.

9MM barrels have in the past been all over the map as to diameter ranging from .354 - .358. I size mine at .357 and it seems to work in all of the above guns listed. I had a CZ85 Pre B that was notorious for leading and bullet tumbling until I increased the sizing diameter. Now I just size to .357 and leave it at that.

You didn't indicate what 9MM gun you bought. If it is one of the above I listed previously you shouldn't have any feeding issues with truncated bullets.

I would not use a Lee FCD when using lead bullets. All the die does is end up resizing the lead bullet down to something in the range of .355 which will cause poor accuracy and bullet tumbling in most guns.

Take Care

Bob
 
Just to add the the support for cast bullets in 9mm. I use cast in the following:

Walther P99, CZ 75 and 85, Smith PPC9

and they all work fine. Lots of people like the heavier 147gr, but I've had great luck with a Lyman 120 gr, and what I believe is probably a RCBS 125 (big bag of heads marked 128gr ?? from some show). Certainly polygonal barrels aren't suited for cast, but most rifled barrels work just fine. My leading and\or tumbling have always been solved by paying attention to the small details.. slug the barrel, find out what it needs.. in my case .355 went thru the targets pretty much perfectly sideways at 25yds, whereas .356 always go in pointy end first. The OAL is critical in that it establishes the bullet jump distance before it engages the lands. My experience has been that anything over .005-.007" to the lands starts to give me leading. As to powder,, was a W231 guy, tried WSF and seemed to work well in the 147gr, now starting to work with Titegroup (seems to be a little tighter group..) in the 120\125 loads.
 
I just want to dispel the notion about polygonial barrels. My Tanfoglio with the .40cal top end shoots lead bullets just fine. In fact it is extrremely accurate using the Lyman 180 gr lead bullet. Others I know, have experienced no problems shooting lead in their Glocks. Problem with the Glocks is guys that own them think they don't have to clean their guns. Lead bullets with lube on them do shoot dirty and you have to clean your gun after shooting them. I suspect, as others have, the Glocks that have kaboomed have done so because the chamber was dirty and the gun fired out of battery when the case stuck in the chamber due to gunk build up.

Take Care

Bob
 
The range I shot at a few years ago was limited to cast bullets only due to concerns over the backstop, there were quite a few Glock 9mm shooters there and nobody ever had problems that I saw and I shot there pretty much every time it was open which was twice a week for many years. Personally I like the heavier bullets in my 9mms and have shot 145/147 gr RN made for 38 Super and cast my own Lyman 147 gr mould # 356637, they both shot great.
 
Cast is King.

I am currently having much success with a 130grain cast truncated cone bullet. It is propelled by Aliant's PROMO powder. They are being fired in a superb Lone Wolf traditional lands and groove barrel in my Glock 17.
The LWD barrel has sharp and deep lands and grooves and the .356 diameter of the 130 works great.
If you want to shoot more, cast is the way to go.
BTW I get that great cast bullet from Rick @ RandRbullets@mountaincable.net.
 
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