I find myself in need of a "fatter" bullet in my 9 mm. Has anyone ever tried a bullet from a Lee 358-125-RF bullet mold in a 9 mm? Any other .358 cast bullet recommendations?

Ed

I know my brother has used the Lee tumble lube version of the 158 gr. SWC coated with a moly lube powder. He loaded them with a light charge of 231 and reported excellent accuracy and perfect reliability in a couple of 9mm pistols. I'm not sure if he ran them through a sizer first or loaded them as is. If you want I could find out exactly how he did it, with the powder charge and OAL.

Dave Sinko

I haven't used that specific bullet, however, I have used lots of a very similar design (the only difference being that the nose section, forward of the front driving band, is a truncated cone). Used in .356", .357" and .358" diameter. As it happens, .356" does fine in both my current 9mm's, BUT...the .357" will shoot just as well. In fact, I have about 350 of them sitting on the bench, waiting to be loaded (after lubing), right now.

I have tested lots of other designs, including a .358" dia., round nose/ flat point....in 158 grain (a bullet expressly designed for the .38 Special). Those are even more "blunt" in the nose portion, than the bullet design you asked about. I've had NO problems, with the right load - but I do have to seat those quite deeply.

I can offer a bit of advice.

First, it doesn't matter if the bullet is oversized (that is, if you technically "need" a .356" diameter....and you use a .357") - but UNDERSIZED will always be a problem. So, no less than 0.001" over groove dia. with cast - ever. I assume that you've slugged your barrel and KNOW that you need .358" diameter. If not, I suggest you do - it would save $$ and time in not guessing on the correct size needed.

Second, the exact bullet design matters far less than the correct weight and the right load. Feeding issues with semi-autos are probably the most important consideration here. Whether the 358-125-RF will feed in your pistol is a matter for trial and error (if no one can offer direct experience). Of course, 125 grain will be fine.

Third, the feeding issue has TWO components - chamber length and size of meplat. The bullet you describe has a pretty large meplat. That MIGHT give you problems. Chamber length, given that this is a 125 grainer, might not be an issue. Sometimes, a "short" chamber will frustrate feeding, with anything but fairly severely pointed nose section cast bullets (such as round nose or truncated cone type). My S&W 6904 does just fine with any round nose, but any flat point design will give trouble unless the COL is right (shorter than what is needed for my Beretta - my Beretta is very tolerant on this point). But, with the right seating depth, it all works out.

Overall, I think that you have a good chance of making those work. However, I think that you will have to play with seating depth a good bit (probably a good bit shorter than 1.10", if we are talking about an S&W) - I could be wrong, though. And since these are 125 grain, it shouldn't be unsolvable. Be advised that, as a rule, you can't play around too much with seating depth, IF the load you use is too near the max. But, since we are talking about CAST here, that should not be an issue.

Lastly, I will say that, to be certain of no feeding issues going in, if I were you, I'd find out if that mold is available with a truncated cone nose. That is not a rarity for that type of bullet at all. If so, that's what I go with - then, you can be virtually certain that you won't have much (or any) of a problem with feeding.

K-framer,
Thanks for your comments. I'm not too worried about feeding. The gun this load is intended for seems to feed anything, which is a surprise given that it's a Kahr CM9. My problem instead is really bad leading. My bore measures 0.3547 inches so, foolish me, I thought a 0.356 bullet would be dandy. It wasn't!

I believe I have what I had with a model 29-2 years ago; an over sized chamber. That 29's 0.435 inch throats were letting flame blow by the bullet and erode lead off into the barrel. My Kahr's chamber measures 0.385 inches at the "neck" which is a good bit larger than SAAMI. I'm betting that gasses are getting around the bullet before the bullet gets settled into the bore. If that's the case, it seems a 0.358 or even a 0.359 bullet should fix me up. The bullet I ask about was simply the Lee bullet that was 0.358 and looked most like a 9mm bullet.

Ed

A lot of guys use the larger bullet, my 9mm loads work fine w/ 0.356" so that is what I use. The ony way to know is buy 100 comm cast that size & give them a try.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I'm currently trying to get a trio of .357" barrel dimension SIG pistols to shoot lead. Sizing at .358" my current issue is getting them to STAY .358" when loaded into sized cases.

My mold is a .360" Night Owl Enterprises 135 gr RF design. Beautiful mold. Can't speak highly enough of NOE.

I'm trying to be able to use LEAD in my nines like I do in .40 and all my .45's. So silliness like the current shortages don't affect my shooting. Cheaper too.

I'd suggest going to;

Setting up for boolits in a new 9mm

I'll get flamed for this, but most 9mms need .358 (or larger) cast bullets, regardless of what the "book" says. The bullet has to fit the actual barrel you are using. So slug your barrels to determine what size you need, and proceed from there. There. I said it.

I have always felt if the bullet was .001 or .002 larger than what is common size for lead and it would chamber correctly it will size itself as it goes down the barrel.

My bullets are softer than most people use and I don't go over 1000 fps with 90% of my loads but I dont get much lead sticking around in the bore.

I do fire lap the bore on all my guns, I'm not sure how much that helps but it can't hurt.

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Shoot fast & live long
Warren

I've used the little 105gr SWC that Lee makes for bullets in 9mm loads and they work great sized to .358" and given a good tumble lubing that's a little thicker than I would normally use. I haven't done that in a while and I think I may do another run of them soon.