I am thinking of biting the bullet and buying a mold for casting 9mm. Was wondering if anyone here had any recommendation. Currently looking at the RCBS 124gr. CN mold.

I've read that Lee's 358-125 125gr. RF is a good mold (which I like the profile), as well as their 356-120.


I know it would be nice to have one that cast over the so it could be used for 38/357, but I already have 2 molds for 38/257, so I am not quite as concerned with that aspect. Appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

I use the Lee "Air Force" style bullet from a 6-cavity mold and size the bullets to .357". It is a good shooter in my guns that will shoot lead bullets (most don't shoot them very well). I also use the old NEI #84, which is a knock-off of the H&G #68 design for 9mm, sized to .356". That one won't quite make it to .357". The Lee bullet shoots good with fairly mild charges. Predictably, the #84 has to have a little steam behind it for best accuracy.

You might see which one you can find, and decide from there. 9mm moulds seem to be in short supply right now.

Lyman 358242, 124 grain, and a .357 sizing die. Slug your barrel to determine the correct sizer. My BHP is .357 and I use a .358 sizing die.

I like RCBS molds and their 125 gr tc mold is a lt like my 356402 qhich is a greaat shooter. I also like the 358242 rn 124 gr.

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Buddy have you slugged your bore. 9mm is a pain in the butt with lead bullets. What kind of gun are you using. I had a Beretta 92 that slugged out to .358. I have learned to fire .357 out of all my 9mm now. The berreta was sold, because I could not cast bullets for it that would chamber LOL.

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On another note, if I was going to buy another mold for a 9mm it would be a .358 for a 38 / 357 so I could resize them.

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I haven't slugged my barrel yet. Will be shooting them in a S&W 5906.

You might be surprised at what you find. For best accuracy, I would definitely slug it and see what size you need.

Slugging the barrel is fine but you are liable to find this ^^^ - a big bore and a chamber a little on the small side. The usual approach is just to put the largest lead bullet in the thing that the chamber will allow, which is usually .357" - sometimes .358".

From the way I understand it the S&W barrel's you need a special tool to read the size due to it having 5 lands & grooves. Fortunately, I already have a .357 and .358 sizing die for my LAM2. Wondering if it does slug out to .357, if that is why I have been having poor accuracy results with Berry's plated 115gr. bullets which measure .356.

If you just want a bulk plinking bullet then the Lee six cavity mold in the bullet you like by them is a great bullet. I used to have the two cavity version and gave it away when I bought the six cavity tumble lube version. However, with the TL version I've always had leading be an issue no matter the alloy or amount of lube used. They need to be a little hard so I water quenched them with wheel weights and that did best but I think it comes down to they don't have a good driving band. Ever since someone pointed that out to me with another mold I've stopped buying Lee's tumble lube molds. Now I wish I had bought the standard lube groove version.

If you want a really neat mold then get over to the Cast Boolits Forum and wait for another group buy on the Mihec M-P Mold that casts four hollow point 125gr bullets at a time. It's a great mold and I'm about to start loading my first loads from them this weekend. Fun!

I would love one of the Mihec molds, but I can't for the life of me seem to figure out the group buy thing. When they are available, how long it will take to get one, etc.

Good advice on slugging your barrel. I cast, then lubed and sized (.357") 2K of 121 gr TC slugs from a #356402 mold over the winter. Assuming I had a .355" or .356" bore.

I loaded some for my SIG 226's and talk about LEADING!

Slugged all my SIG barrels and guess what? .357" and one is on the plus end of .357". So I need .358" slugs.

Issue #2 is trying to load .358" slugs into sized cases designed for .355" slugs. I can load them, pull a bullet and it's smooshed down to .356" !!

Few weeks back ordered a NOE , 5 cavity, .360" 130 gr RF mold. I hope this will allow me to get the nines going with lead.
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...roducts_id=334



I'm still working on the whole mess.

I see the Mihecs and looks like a recent run had them for .357 and .359, but I don't know if I want to spend $105+++ to find out I got the wrong thing.

Wheelguns, Pistols and Handcannons

A couple of active thread now on loading for the nine. A SEARCH will reveal DOZENS.

The sticky's at the top of the page....go down several and there's probably the definitive thread by MTgun44 on HOW to DO IT.

My M&P 9 barrel slugged at 0.3545" on the grooves and 0.350" on the lands. The chamber needed a 0.379" case or smaller, otherwise the case would not plunk all the way in. That made fat led bullets impossible with this gun. The throat was also very narrow and would not take a wide bullet so I knew the RF would cause headaches although I liked the wide metplat.

I got the 6 cavity Lee 356-120-TC bullets and had to size them to .356 and seat them so that the cone went right down to the case mouth. I then closed the expansion bell by using a Lee 38/.357 factory crimp die to just barely kiss the case and not go all the way down. The 38 special also has a case mouth spec'ed at .379"

After all that, it paid off. Reliable feeding, no leading and acceptable accuracy. Here is the target from my first loads at 13 yards:

A lot of good advice but it's outdated. There's reloading components out there that weren't herd of or even invented as little as 4 years ago.

DO NOT BUY ANY MOLD THAT HAS A BEVEL BASE FOR THE 9MM!!!!!

Because the 9mm is such a short high pressure case, they can be finicky to reload. So major influences of the bbl/bullet are:
bbl fit/bullet size
bullet hardness
how hard are they being driven
powder selection
the right expansion bell for the over sized bullets.

There's a great equalizer out the called a plain base gas check. The 9mm & 40s&w are easily tamed with these gas checks. They stop:
leading from wrong fit/wrong alloy/powder melting lead base
lead being shaved off of bullets being loaded with the wrong bell
wrong lube

It is worth while to use these, they make the 9mm cast bullet a plug & play item by taking all the guess work out of finding the magic bullet/bbl/alloy/lube/powder combo.

They are made from nothing more than beverage cans (soda/beer/tea/etc). The material is .004" thick & is seated when you size the bullet. A couple of bullets with the pb gas check:
left=standard lyman sized & lubed
right=lee push thru sizer & tumble lubed
center=some pb gas checks & a simple home made gas check maker



They are what's called a 35cal gas check, they will work on any 35cal lead bullet:
9mm
38spl
357
357max
35cal rifle bullets

There are vendors out there that sell them.

Ahhhh my head hurts . I see Saeco has a 124gr GC mold (#924), which I like the profile:


But then there is the Mihec 359 125, which is a few more $$$ than the 2 cavity Saeco #924, but is a 4 cavity mold.


Mihec offers it in .357 and .359, but I don't want to shell out $105++ to find out I chose the wrong size. I already have a .357 & .358 sizer, guessing I need to slug the barrel of my 5906 first, and then try to figure out how the heck to measure S&W 5 groove rifling with my caliper.

Things I have noted on my 5906, it shoots WWB 115gr FMJ bullets really well in terms of accuracy and POI to POA. Have had terrible accuracy shooting 115gr Berry's plated, which I initially attributed to not belling the brass enough and taper crimping too hard. Adjust the belling and crimp to lighten it so it was not marring the plated bullet--still not luck with accuracy. Seated the bullets slightly deeper and still no luck with grouping at close range. Wondering if I should pull a factory WWB 115gr FMJ, and measure the diameter.

With my 5906 I get the most consistent and best accuracy with 124gr bullets.
all the lead I have shot out of it has been 122gr or higher.

With various 115 gr OEM FMJ about the best I am getting is 1.5" @ 10 yd although with a 115 XTP and 6.3 Herco I am at 3/4" 5 shot groups and with the Berry's I get 1" with 5.0~5.2 WSF (stick a 124 Berry's in there and the group shrinks to 1/2")

of course YMMV

Gas checks would help but, if the barrel is too big and the round is two small, the bullets will still "rattle" down the barrel and possibly keyhole. You need everything perfect for 9mm. It's just a PITA, to reload with lead projectiles if its not a perfect barrel and chamber, and a lot are not.

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I forgot to add that I use 38 / 357 LRN or Missouri's DPA #8 38 super .357 LRN, in my wife's xd9sc. I get no lead with a hot charge of fast burning bullseye powder. But the xd's are very tight manufactured guns with conventional lands and groves.

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The other thing that really affects the 9mm is the lead alloy that is used for the cast bullets. An alloy that works for 900fps plinking loads might struggle when you put the hammer down for some 1200fps+ loads. But an alloy with a case check (normal .010” on a gas check shank designed in the bullet) or a plain base gas check on plain base bullets (.004” pictured on Mihec bullets in above post) will easily go from mild to wild without any problems.

I have a little bit of experience with using/owning/shooting 9mm’s and casting bullets for them over the last 25+ years. Some of the 9’s that I’ve owned:
S&W 39
S&W 6946
Browning high power
1911 with a 6” 9mm bbl
I’m down to 1 9mm right now but it will put some lead down range in a hurry with its 10” bbl. A TC contender with a custom shop 9mm bbl installed. I can use the same cast bullet/alloy with the pb gas check & shoot 900fps plinking loads or 1500fps+ barn burners.





Do yourself a favor & get a good mold with a pb (plain base) & a pb gas check maker. Cast your bullets out of any alloy (water dropped range lead/that’s all I’ve used for years), size your bullets to .356 or .357 with the pb gas check on them & don’t look back. You’ll be able to use them in any 9mm that is in specs & drive them at plinking speeds to full throttle without any problems.