9mm hardcast?

[Daddy]

Anyone in here have experience loading 9mm with heavy hardcast?
I want to load 147 or heavier hardcast with a wide flat nose keith style bullet.
But I don't find bullets or load data like that for 9mm. So I'm wondering if anyone knows of source for bullets that meet that criteria. Or if anyone has had success loading a bullet designed for 38/357 that could be resized for 9mm?
I know Buffalo bore and underwood both have a load very similar to what i am trying to achieve. But i don't know if they are sourcing their bullets from a maker that has them available for retail, or of their bullet designs are proprietary.

 

[Kp321]

I loaded some similar bullets in 9mm about 30 years ago. I will have to dig through some old records for the exact load but I remember the results were excellent with Blue Dot powder. That doesn’t really help since Blue Dot is unobtainable.

 

[Forrest r]

A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away we used to fit 6" 9mm bbl's in or 1911/38 super raceguns and cast/use the lyman 358311 158gr rn bullets in them.

Lyman 44th manual has the data for the 9mm/358311 combo.
Lyman 48th manual has data for their 9mm bullet, 356637. The 356637 is a 147gr fn bullet like what you're describing.

 

[71vette]

Acme, Summit, and Missouri all have a good TC 147 grain hardcast. I loaded some up using Silhouette. This is max standard pressure of the Hodgdon website:

147gr Summit FP

4.6gr Silhouette, 1.145” COAL, SPP

4” Glock 19: 956fps

+P is 4.9 grains. I haven’t tried that but it’s supposed to add about another 100 fps. I just used mixed range brass. No feeding issues whatsoever in my Glocks. Haven’t tried them in anything else yet. Silhouette does a good job for “energetic” short pistol cases. Works a lot like Power Pistol.

 

[gwpercle]

Back in the day when I got my first 9mm luger , a WWII surplus Walther P38 , it would function with Lyman 358477 , a 150 gr,
cast SWC , Keith style bullet... it was my only mould .
size to .357"... since that time I have found the 124 gr. cast Truncated Cone design to be a better all around preformer .
My pick is a 4 cavity NOE 358-124-TC ... so far it feeds in every 9mm Luger I have tried it in .
Gary

 

[243winxb]

HS-6 powder & thin walled brass. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?media/albums/taurus-g3c-9mm-luger.317/

 

[venomballistics]

9mm has dragged me down the mold collection rabbit hole than I care to admit.
There's a Lee precision 147 that earned a place among my carbine loads.
AA #7 quickly delivered respectable loads.
It took a bit more to chain down in 350 legend, but ultimately rose to the challenge

 

[rwsmith]

I loaded some heavy for caliber (Up to 165 gr) for 9mm a long time ago. I know that 147 gr would be a piece of cake by comparison in all aspects. Types of powder, available space in the case, OAL, availability of load data. I'm SURE that I have load data for 147 gr. I'll look it up. What powders do you have??

PS: Lyman 49th has over a dozen loads for 147 gr cast.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

Anyone in here have experience loading 9mm with heavy hardcast?
I want to load 147 or heavier hardcast with a wide flat nose keith style bullet.

Which pistols are you reloading for?

50 years ago 9mm was crazy expensive unless you found a Army Navy that had surplus 9mm.

So I loaded 125 grain LRN which is 100% reliable in any 9mm pistol. That is also what the 9mm pistols are designed around. With Glock pistols I load plated X-Treme Bullets.

 

[Daddy]

Which pistols are you reloading for?

50 years ago 9mm was crazy expensive unless you found a Army Navy that had surplus 9mm.

So I loaded 125 grain LRN which is 100% reliable in any 9mm pistol. That is also what the 9mm pistols are designed around. With Glock pistols I load plated X-Treme Bullets.

I'll probably run these out of an m&p 2.0

 

[Daddy]

A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away we used to fit 6" 9mm bbl's in or 1911/38 super raceguns and cast/use the lyman 358311 158gr rn bullets in them.

Lyman 44th manual has the data for the 9mm/358311 combo.
Lyman 48th manual has data for their 9mm bullet, 356637. The 356637 is a 147gr fn bullet like what you're describing.

Thank you. I'll have to see if I can find a copy.

 

[Tracksidewrong]

I load my own 150 cast slugs with an Arsenal mold for my MP-5 clone. These are my subsonic loads for when I run suppressed. I am loading at 28gr HI Skor 700X and they run about 900 FPS. I also use Tightgroup.

I load a cast lead 130 gr slug with an Arsenal mold for all my 9mm guns, I use True Blue powder for this supersonic load, but I'd have to go dig up my notes for an exact charge, they run at about 1200 FPS. Let me know if you need that load and chronograph data and I'll find it.

 

[David Sinko]

I have used the Lee 158 gr. SWC sized down to .356 or better yet .355 with a good dose of Power Pistol. Overall length is critical for proper fit in the chamber but this load has given surprisingly high velocity. I have tried this bullet with a coating but that didn't work out too well. I just size the bullet and use a regular soft lube for the Glock 17 and 19. Just proceed carefully with regard to powder charge weight and overall length. If Power Pistol isn't available I'm thinking Longshot should be a good substitute but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[Daddy]

Back in the day when I got my first 9mm luger , a WWII surplus Walther P38 , it would function with Lyman 358477 , a 150 gr,
cast SWC , Keith style bullet... it was my only mould .
size to .357"... since that time I have found the 124 gr. cast Truncated Cone design to be a better all around preformer .
My pick is a 4 cavity NOE 358-124-TC ... so far it feeds in every 9mm Luger I have tried it in .
Gary

My goal is to use a keith style bullet or something similar with as big of a wide flat nose as i can get to function.

 

[Daddy]

I have used the Lee 158 gr. SWC sized down to .356 or better yet .355 with a good dose of Power Pistol. Overall length is critical for proper fit in the chamber but this load has given surprisingly high velocity. I have tried this bullet with a coating but that didn't work out too well. I just size the bullet and use a regular soft lube for the Glock 17 and 19. Just proceed carefully with regard to powder charge weight and overall length. If Power Pistol isn't available I'm thinking Longshot should be a good substitute but I haven't tried it yet.

I currently have 158 gr Lee swc. For what I am trying to accomplish with this load, I believe that the selection of designs for 38/357 are going to be where i end up. What problems did you run into with the powder coated bullets?

 

[David Sinko]

The push through sizing die would resize the coated bullet but the coating at the front of the driving band was thick enough that it required the bullet be seated deeper into the case. This would cause the case to bulge excessively and restrict powder capacity, likely increasing pressure way too much. It really depends on your chamber dimensions and even the internal dimensions of the brand of brass. There's a very fine line and what works for me might not work for you without some tweaking. The loaded rounds must be able to pass the "plunk" test without sticking in the chamber leade.

 

[Forrest r]

A link to free downloading of the lyman 48th reloading manual.
https://archive.org/download/365559...k/365559935-Lyman-48th-Reloading-Handbook.pdf

A link to free downloading of the lyman 44th reloading manual
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=4a8b...G9hZC9seW1hbi00NC9MeW1hbjQ0X3RleHQucGRm&ntb=1

 

[Daddy]

9mm has dragged me down the mold collection rabbit hole than I care to admit.
There's a Lee precision 147 that earned a place among my carbine loads.
AA #7 quickly delivered respectable loads.
It took a bit more to chain down in 350 legend, but ultimately rose to the challenge

Nice!
I haven't shot 9mm in long guns much. I have a cz scorpion but it only has a 4" barrel, so it performs pretty much the same as handguns as far as ballistic performance.

 

[venomballistics]

Nice!
I haven't shot 9mm in long guns much. I have a cz scorpion but it only has a 4" barrel, so it performs pretty much the same as handguns as far as ballistic performance.

A test drive of a CZ was an early influence in my PCC considerations. Fine little piece of hardware.
For me, however, 9mm was an odd addition. I didn't really seek this out, rather it snuck into the collection with a Walther p-38 and kinda spread like cancer.
experimentation with subsonic 30-06 opened my eyes to the need for things like 22 hornet, 25-20 and 32-20. Looking for modern counterparts, all roads lead to 9mm or 357.
An "AR-9" build offers you to modular legos for men approach of the AR 15 platform to where you can prety much cook up any configuration you deem suitable.
Having both the Colt SMG pattern system and the Glock double stack system, I can tell you both will run exquisitely with a little tuning. I favor the glock compatible of the two due to its wide range of mag options. A Glock 26's 10 round mag or the 15 round G19 make for sensible mags for a small game rifle ... from there, we can escalate to a 60 round drum if you want to feel Italian.
they are some of my go to guns for training new shooters

 

[rockquarry]

Anyone in here have experience loading 9mm with heavy hardcast?
I want to load 147 or heavier hardcast with a wide flat nose keith style bullet.
But I don't find bullets or load data like that for 9mm. So I'm wondering if anyone knows of source for bullets that meet that criteria. Or if anyone has had success loading a bullet designed for 38/357 that could be resized for 9mm?
I know Buffalo bore and underwood both have a load very similar to what i am trying to achieve. But i don't know if they are sourcing their bullets from a maker that has them available for retail, or of their bullet designs are proprietary.View attachment 774029

You likely don't need "hardcast". A softer bullet that fits will often shoot more accurately and won't lead the bore and will penetrate just fine for those who need a lot of penetration for whatever reason. I'm speaking of conventionally sized and lubed bullets. I've read that bullet hardness isn't as critical with coated bullets but I've had no experience with coated.

I seldom shoot 9mm anymore but did extensive cast bullet work with the cartridge in several pistols for many years, just to see if cast bullets were practical and accurate in the 9mm. I prefer heavy bullets. I tried around a dozen cast bullet designs and about that many powders. My long time favorite bullet for the 9mm has been the Lyman #358212, an obsolete .38 Special round nose that weighs about 150 grains cast of wheelweight alloy. I size to either .358" or .359" (I'd have to look at my notes to be sure). I use Bullseye powder, but HS-6 is a close second. These loads are accurate and shoot to point-of-aim at 25 yards. Functioning is perfect in my three 9mm pistols, all of which I've had more than thirty years: Beretta 92F, Sig P226, and a Walther P4.

I much prefer the .45 ACP over the 9mm, but the 9mm is certainly a good cast bullet cartridge for 9mm enthusiasts.