Graybeard Outdoors banner

9mm advice needed

2K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Tom W. 
#1 ·
I cast and loaded up some Lee 124g tumble lube round nose bullets, in cases unsorted by head stamp, with 4.1 grains of Bullseye, to OAL varying between 1.12 -1.145. All bullets lubed with Lee Liquid Alox. The loads function fine, but give horrible accuracy, tumbling into target at 10 yards, and cause very bad leading. The BHN of the alloy is about 8. I am thinking I have done several things wrong. Too much powder is causing soft bullet to strip right over the rifling. Too soft of a bullet is causing bad leading. Varying OAL is not good, but should not cause bullet tumbling. Groups ran about 14 " at 10 yards. Factory FMJ loads shoot fine from the gun, a CZ 75BD. Any advice is appreciated.
 
#2 ·
What hardness are they? WW air cooled should work fine. You can also water quench them if they have a little arsenic in them, like from WW's. Too soft not good for a 9.

What size? Try another powder? Belling your cases enough so no lead is shaved when seating?

My first hi power shot lead fine, round hammer spur. Later versions didn't like lead at all.
 
#4 ·
That is harder than a swaged bullet. So not too soft. It is soft, but useable.

Id look at the bullets after you load them. Pull ine and measure. Im betting that they are small. So your case is reforming the bullet. A Lyman M die will qure this other makers have similar.


Are you crimping at all?

CW
 
#5 ·
I shoot a lot of those bullets for plinking. I don't load them that hot generally in the mid 900's but under 1,000fps. 4.0gr W231, 4.3gr unique, 3.8gr green dot all with the same 1.160" COL. Been using primaV the past couple years as it meters better than the flake stuff. I haven't sized them in 25 years or so, and only use a standard 3 die set with the Lee powder through die and pro auto powder measure set up with the spring kit (I hate the pullchain version). I used to get used plumbers lead from a buddy for free and have shot some pretty soft bullets in 9, 38, 40, 44 and 45 by keeping the velocity down. be interesting to see what your pulled bullets measure.
 
#7 ·
Update:

I made some trial rounds and fired them today. I hardened up my alloy from BHN 8 to about BHN 13. I dropped my powder charge from 4.1 g of Bullseye to, 2.3 grains, 3.3 grains and 3.6 grains. Accuracy was splendid at 2.3 grains but the gun became a single shot gun, not enough oomph to work the action. 3.3 grains gave good accuracy, and functioned the gun, 3.6 grains gave less accuracy, and slight leading. I think I will harden the alloy even more to something like 16 or 18. I will pull some bullets and measure them, but I think they are OK at .357-.358.
 
#9 ·
I agree with MM. stop crimping like that. Esp with these softies. Your swaging them down. You will see when ya pull them they will be under sized from your seated dia.

FCD can be a wonderful thing but more times than not with cast unless its a hard cast its a detriment to accuracy.

CW.
 
#10 ·
+1 on the crimps. Dropping the charge a good idea with the bullet hardness you're using. 3.5 of bullseye was what I'd try before you listed some lower loads. If the 3.3 works and you're happy with it I'd say you're there. Keeping velocity lo for a softer alloy important for good results, unless you water quench or heat treat them. IMHO.

Some 9's have a fast twist that seems to require a harder bullet than you'd expect. I think it's good to think reduced magnum for load pressure and bullet hardness.

Some good reliable loads in 9 from the past were 158 gr RNL, for 38 special, using 3.0 grs bullseye or 3.5 grs Unique. They both functioned well with no leading in a Hi power.

Like everything YMMV.
 
#11 · (Edited)
It took me more work to beat leading in Glock 9mm than any other gun I cast for. All of the work eventually paid off with good full power loads and the only lead I have in bulk (~ 8 bhn range scrap).

I use tumble lube for lots of guns but could not get leading free 9mm performance with either the factory or an aftermarket barrel.

Now I use nothing but powder coat in the 9mm. Even with powder coat, I had to do a bunch of other stuff including:

  • Get the boolit diameter up to 0.3575"
  • Use an oversize expander plug
  • Sort brass (a mix of fed, cci & blazer works for me)
  • Do bullet seating and flare removal (no crimp needed) as separate steps.

Now I can load target or full power with zero leading.

Trying tumble lube it is a good idea, but to get acceptable performance you will probably be better off harder lead (I think the hard lead helps avoid having boolits sized down too much by the case). Things like the oversized expander plug, brass sorting, and separating bullet seating and flare removal may still be worth trying. Slower powders with loads that are just enough for slide hold back on any empty magazine is also worth considering.
 
#12 ·
Try the Lee 358-125 RF bullets. I was having trouble with my CZ 75 SP01 using the rounds that fired well from the two Glocks that I had and Mr Ruger LC9S Pro. It was the Lee 356-120 TC. The CZ chamber was shaving off a tiny ring of lead causing the pistol not to go into battery. Sizing the bullets to .357 helped a lot, but on a whim I got the aforementioned mold, cast, lubed and sized to ..358 and the CZ gobbled them up without a hitch. I should have bought the six cavity mold.......
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top