My 1st Go Round with 9mm casted

First of all id like to say thank you all that read this ,cuzz i know this has been beatin to death. I just wanted to share my experiance and maybe get to know some folk.

First thing i think i did wrong was buy a mold,( 2-3 actually) before i had a bore to slug. Bought me a .356-124-2r TL RN Lee off CheeseBay and figured half the battle was over,wronk!

Armed with a 10pounder Lyman pot, dipper and some unknown lead from work i made what i thought was some pretty sweet lookin boolits. Ohh they looked pretty alright,but flyin was a diff. story ill get into ina min. By pencil testin my lead,far as i can figure its round 12bhn. I fluxed with sawdust and added some tin solder maybe 2in. to the melt. Most seemed to fill out fine. I pan lubed with LLA( 1 coat).

I just bought a Stoeger, and really was itchin to try out my lead. Running a couple mags of factory through first gave me a nice baseline i figured to compare the casters to. It did not take long at all to see everything go2hell when i switched. It was like night n day. The factory shot soo damn nice, my groups were tight as ever. The lead was all over town and some possible keyholes. After maybe 35 rounds lookin at the bore the smile dropped from my face.

You can prolly tell what happened next. I spent all the next day scrubbing. My lead did indeed drop .356 but unfortunatly my bore slugged at 356. I got in on a group buy for a 359 and thinkin bout sizing them down ofcourse.

The load .356-124-2r TL with 3.8gr RedDot @ 1.13 OaL Stoeger Cougar slugged @ .356

Thanx again for all the info from u guys, "Ajax" on chat has helped me quite abit as have you all. Great community here,and i will def. be sticking around. I enjoy a good challenge,and it seems ive got one as of right now

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Just Casted My First Boolits

Last edited by hylander; Today at 08:07 AM.

Great job on your first casts! Unfortunately now you are hooked and will spend countless hours casting and forget to spend any time with the Wife/Girlfriend.

Doc

I will do my casting while my wife does the mopping inside since she runs me out of the house anyways

when you start dropping good boolits like that, you keep on going.

it's all an educated guess,,,, till the trigger is pulled.

the more i find out about shootin boolits, the more it contradicts everything i ever learned about shooting jaxketed.

when you start dropping good boolits like that, you keep on going.Seriously, how did you stop at 10? Those look damn nice for straight WW. It appears your mold was up to temp too, you must have preheated it or dipped it in the melt.

Though to be picky, i think the edges of the driving bands could be a little more square. Maybe a touch of tin or hotter mold.

Nice job! Is that 30-06 you are loading them in? For what gun?

Edit: what the hell am i saying, those edges look great

Seriously, how did you stop at 10? Those look damn nice for straight WW. It appears your mold was up to temp too, you must have preheated it or dipped it in the melt.

Though to be picky, i think the edges of the driving bands could be a little more square. Maybe a touch of tin or hotter mold.

Nice job! Is that 30-06 you are loading them in? For what gun?

Edit: what the hell am i saying, those edges look great

Thanks guys,
Well I stoppped at 10 because I really have no idea what I'm doing I wasn't really ready to cast but I just got antsy and wanted to try. To preheat the mold I sat it on top of the pot while the Lead melted and then dipped it into the melt.
Yes 30-06, 1903A3 4 groove
I need to find a source for tin and also how much would I add ?

"Some times it's just better to smile an walk away."
-161

"Think ya used enough dynamite there, Butch?"
-Butch Cassidy & the Sun-dance Kid

Add up to about 2%. To make calculations easier I convert everything to grains. One pound equals 7000 grains. For 2%, you would add 140 grains of tin per pound of alloy. Roll plumbing solder is what I've found most convenient to use for tin. Just clip off and weigh it. I've found the .118" lead free solder I use weighs about 20 grains per inch, so about 7 inches per pound of alloy.
Your bullets look good. I would have had a hard time stopping there! I think you're officially "hooked" into this obsession.

PS. I would be curious to know what diameter your bullets dropped in the nose and the body. I've been trying to find this mold myself.

Thanks,
Rick

What Rick said, I'll add that when buying the lead-free solder, make sure of it's metal composition. It varies a lot. What I try to find is the 95% tin,,-- 5% antimony alloy. That gives mainly tin with the bonus of a touch of antimony. There's some that has silver in it, from 5 to ten %. Also found is some that has silver and copper, but seldom more than 10%.

If you get lucky and find some old bar solder, it comes in different alloy percentages. Lead is always the first number like 60-40% lead-tin.

It's been 45 years since my first time casting, can't remember that far back! BUT I'm certain of one thing, my first boolits did NOT LOOK THAT GOOD!

He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

?At the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat?--Theodore Roosevelt

tin is the first number.
even in alloys it's expressed tin/antimony/lead.
or tin /antimony/copper, silver.

it's all an educated guess,,,, till the trigger is pulled.

the more i find out about shootin boolits, the more it contradicts everything i ever learned about shooting jaxketed.

Thanks guys, I will get some Tin today. PS. I would be curious to know what diameter your bullets dropped in the nose and the body. I've been trying to find this mold myself. Rick:
Body dropped .3115
Nose dropped .298

I was hoping the nose would be over .300
I sent an email to Lee, they said it will if I change my alloy.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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