finding an accurate cast 9mm

skizzums · November 4, 2014, 01:49 PM

okay, most of you have heard my dillemia with the 120 TC and the horrible accuracy they gave me(maybe better suited for a heavy-weight .380, I dunno). I followed anothers advice, mostly, and went with the lee 358-125-rf with a .357 sizing die.
was having troubles with my pot today, was just pooping out large droplets instead of a steady stream, but got a handful of decent bullets before the emptying and teardown.
they looked as if though they might hav some feeding issues with the shape

PC of course

very consistent weight between 125 and 125.3 in 20 rounds

nothing to write home about, but handsome nonetheless, over 3.9gr HP38

accurate?!? sheeeet yeah! very preliminary, but heres a 5-shot W, feeds great

shot into my controversial trapbox at 18feet

straight-shooter · November 4, 2014, 06:44 PM

I also size all my 9mm to .357 and found it greatly improved my groups with no leading with non PC bullets. Of course now I PC all my cast but none the less the .357 sizing seemed to be the major key.

Those are some great looking bullets and thanks for the great write up.

skizzums · November 4, 2014, 06:51 PM

as for making the pot flow again, very easy, and works great agan, actually a little better than before

just unscrewed the pin that does the flow(surely it has an actual name), but i'll call it flow doohickey. heated it up to very hot and scraped off the excess, then lightly sanded till nice and shiney

then I used a small diamond bit from my dremel set, after running a paperclip through the bottom hole, just hand turned the diamond bit on the top and bottom of hole. then ran the paper clip some more

then heated up some lead and pourd it through the clean hole to get any garbage out, and viola, its like new

skizzums · November 4, 2014, 07:02 PM

in the end, I didn't get to do nearly as much casting as I had planned on my only day off of the week, but still got enough done to do some good shooting

FrankenMauser · November 4, 2014, 10:25 PM

Hoorah!

Vance · November 4, 2014, 11:10 PM

Looks good. Glad it worked out for you.

reloader28 · November 4, 2014, 11:19 PM

They look great.
Thats our favorite 9mm bullet.
.357 sized here also. Drops at 130gr with straight clip on WW for me.

skizzums · November 5, 2014, 12:17 AM

thanks. like I said, these are very preliminary, only shot 5 rounds, and although seem promising, need to do a lot of testing to ensure reliable cycling, accuracy and leading(which shouldn't be a concern). hopefully ill get out Thursday and do some celebratory shooting for Georgia staying firmly a red state.(close race my heinie), anyway, not to veer, ill get out and do some more testing Thursday I hope. I forget who gave the suggestion for the 358-125-RF, but I appreciate it, I would not have tried it assuming it wouldn't feed well.

**edit: looks like "chris in va", thanks for the suggestion

chris in va · November 6, 2014, 11:46 PM

That's the mold I went with after horrible accuracy issues with TC molds. I then found out the 356-125-2r mold drops at .360, so I was able to resize at 358 for my CZ. It feeds more reliably than the RF I found.

November 4, 2014, 01:49 PM	#1
skizzums Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2013 Location: Douglasville, Ga Posts: 4,615	finding an accurate cast 9mm okay, most of you have heard my dillemia with the 120 TC and the horrible accuracy they gave me(maybe better suited for a heavy-weight .380, I dunno). I followed anothers advice, mostly, and went with the lee 358-125-rf with a .357 sizing die. was having troubles with my pot today, was just pooping out large droplets instead of a steady stream, but got a handful of decent bullets before the emptying and teardown. they looked as if though they might hav some feeding issues with the shape PC of course very consistent weight between 125 and 125.3 in 20 rounds nothing to write home about, but handsome nonetheless, over 3.9gr HP38 accurate?!? sheeeet yeah! very preliminary, but heres a 5-shot W, feeds great shot into my controversial trapbox at 18feet __________________ My head is bloody, but unbowed Last edited by skizzums; November 4, 2014 at 04:07 PM.

November 4, 2014, 06:51 PM	#3
skizzums Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2013 Location: Douglasville, Ga Posts: 4,615	as for making the pot flow again, very easy, and works great agan, actually a little better than before just unscrewed the pin that does the flow(surely it has an actual name), but i'll call it flow doohickey. heated it up to very hot and scraped off the excess, then lightly sanded till nice and shiney then I used a small diamond bit from my dremel set, after running a paperclip through the bottom hole, just hand turned the diamond bit on the top and bottom of hole. then ran the paper clip some more then heated up some lead and pourd it through the clean hole to get any garbage out, and viola, its like new __________________ My head is bloody, but unbowed

November 4, 2014, 07:02 PM	#4
skizzums Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2013 Location: Douglasville, Ga Posts: 4,615	in the end, I didn't get to do nearly as much casting as I had planned on my only day off of the week, but still got enough done to do some good shooting __________________ My head is bloody, but unbowed

November 4, 2014, 10:25 PM	#5
FrankenMauser Senior Member Join Date: August 25, 2008 Location: In the valley above the plain Posts: 13,427	Hoorah! __________________ Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe.

November 5, 2014, 12:17 AM	#8
skizzums Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2013 Location: Douglasville, Ga Posts: 4,615	thanks. like I said, these are very preliminary, only shot 5 rounds, and although seem promising, need to do a lot of testing to ensure reliable cycling, accuracy and leading(which shouldn't be a concern). hopefully ill get out Thursday and do some celebratory shooting for Georgia staying firmly a red state.(close race my heinie), anyway, not to veer, ill get out and do some more testing Thursday I hope. I forget who gave the suggestion for the 358-125-RF, but I appreciate it, I would not have tried it assuming it wouldn't feed well. **edit: looks like "chris in va", thanks for the suggestion __________________ My head is bloody, but unbowed

November 4, 2014, 06:44 PM	#2
straight-shooter Senior Member Join Date: June 12, 2007 Location: North Central Indiana Posts: 436	I also size all my 9mm to .357 and found it greatly improved my groups with no leading with non PC bullets. Of course now I PC all my cast but none the less the .357 sizing seemed to be the major key. Those are some great looking bullets and thanks for the great write up.

November 4, 2014, 11:10 PM	#6
Vance Senior Member Join Date: January 16, 2011 Location: North Bend, OR Posts: 743	Looks good. Glad it worked out for you.

November 4, 2014, 11:19 PM	#7
reloader28 Senior Member Join Date: October 13, 2009 Location: nw wyoming Posts: 1,061	They look great. Thats our favorite 9mm bullet. .357 sized here also. Drops at 130gr with straight clip on WW for me.

November 6, 2014, 11:46 PM	#9
chris in va Senior Member Join Date: December 26, 2004 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 13,806	That's the mold I went with after horrible accuracy issues with TC molds. I then found out the 356-125-2r mold drops at .360, so I was able to resize at 358 for my CZ. It feeds more reliably than the RF I found.