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Old 03-21-2017, 10:32 AM
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LoboGunLeather LoboGunLeather is offline
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Ditto on rockquarry. No better resource than the Lyman manuals.

I've cast many tens of thousands of bullets over the past 40-odd years. Older wheel weights are just about perfect for most handgun uses. As for the available ingots fitting into your lead pot, if too large they are easily chopped into smaller pieces using a cold chisel; quick and easy, and old cold chisels can be found in most pawn shops or second hand stores frequently.

Reloading 9X19 can be a little tricky. Tapered case, which carbide sizer dies will reduce in a straight tubular fashion, then bullet seating can leave a noticeable expanded hump in the case wall. Be sure your bullets will work in your pistol's chamber; adjusting bullet sizing and COL as needed for proper feeding. Also, many 9mm pistols will have problems with anything other than round-nose bullet shapes. I have had good results with the Lee 356-125-2R mold for many years in multiple pistols, so if you can find a mold of similar proportions I would expect pretty good results right away.

9X19 headspaces on the case mouth, so no roll crimping; a moderate taper crimp works best. 9mm cases have relatively little capacity, and powders in the middle of the burning rate range seem to work best (with cast bullets I've found Unique to be very good, as well as AA#5 and Blue Dot).

When working up your loads I suggest loading 10 rounds or so at a time, then function testing in your pistol. Start at the recommended starting powder charge and recommended max. COL. Then you can play with overall length as needed to get good feeding, and work up your powder charge until you achieve positive functioning in your pistol. Once you find a satisfactory load I recommend making up a dummy round (unprimed, uncharged case with seated bullet) to use for die set-ups in the future, saving a lot of time and assuring good results.

Have fun with it.
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