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Who here is actively casting?

5K views 42 replies 14 participants last post by  reloader762 
#1 ·
I have once again had the brilliant idea to try casting and have started looking at equipment, Furnaces, pots, molds, dippers.

One bullet mold I am very much interested in is the Lee 356-102-1R to be used in my 380 loadings. So then I have to ask, if anyone is casting these would you be willing to part with a few that I could try before spending the money on a mold?
 
#2 ·
I still cast but not that one. I prefer the old Lyman molds, but have a few Lees, and I like how they work. The 356-102-1R looks like a good profile, I'd bet it would work with any gun that shot RN-FMJ well.

Mostly now, I just do the Keith-type sWC for 357/38 , the 230 RN, and a 124 conical in 9mm which works in 38/357 too
 
#3 ·
I've been actively casting since 1977 and did it infrequently for 20 years before that. I don't cast that Lee # you listed, always stayed below 100 gr. for 380, I like 95 gr. I have a few Lee molds, mostly old #'s they no longer catalog; but then most of my Ideal/Lyman #'s are no longer catalogued, as well. I use a Lee 10# bottom pour pot, works well for me. I use 2 RCBS lubrisizers, one for soft loob and the other for hard loob, heaters under both if I need to heat things up.
 
#4 ·
I only cast in the winter anymore and then only for .38 special .358 140gn SWC's and 200gn .452 Colts.
 
#5 ·
Thanks guys, not certain how extensive I'm going to get in this but I do believe I'm going to give it a try. I certainly have the time for it.
 
#6 ·
The Lee molds are pretty decent and depending on the alloy you're casting with, weights seem pretty accurate. Granted they may not give you everything you want but they're also not 100 dollar molds either. With casting, you have several paths you can take. You can buy premade ingots and use a small pot to cast directly from the ingots or you can recover lead and mix your own alloys and pour your own ingots or you can melt wheel weights, cast your own ingots and mold from those. It really matters how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. After casting, you have your choice of coating/lube methods. you can lube and size, you can tumble lube, you can powder coat or if you're really feeling adventurous, you can copper plate. Your equipment will vary based on how you want to go about it. I do recommend a bottom pour pot like the Lee Pro 4 20 pounder. If you're reclaiming lead, Find a cast iron cornbread mold or a cast iron muffin mold.

For 380 auto I would try to stick with a weight that most closely matches what you would shoot in factory ammo. If you're shooting 95 gr factory stuff, then cast at 95 gr. If you want to shoot 100-102 gr, then go for it. The mold isn't that expensive.
 
#7 ·
. Your equipment will vary based on how you want to go about it. I do recommend a bottom pour pot like the Lee Pro 4 20 pounder. If you're reclaiming lead, Find a cast iron cornbread mold or a cast iron muffin mold.

For 380 auto I would try to stick with a weight that most closely matches what you would shoot in factory ammo. If you're shooting 95 gr factory stuff, then cast at 95 gr. If you want to shoot 100-102 gr, then go for it. The mold isn't that expensive.
I understand the usefulness of the bottom pour pot but I also understand they leak and with some it's more so than others. Not ideal to me.

The bullet I'm using now is 100gr plated reload. No factory stuff.
 
#10 ·
Thank you, PM on the way
 
#12 ·
That's nice and mostly true. I have been an active member of Cast Boolits since Mar. 2016... With the same user name.... The variance in barrel Diameters is one of the reasons I do not cast now. Especially for 9mm.
 
#14 ·
I cast for five different handgun an five different rifle calibers in all action types but the 380 is not one I cast for, about the only thing close to it is the 9 mm Mak. but my cast load although in the same bullet weight range are closer to 9 mm velocity wise. I spend a few hours over the weekend breaking in my new NOE 30 XCB rifle bullet molds. It's a 30 cal. 165 gr. minimalist lube groove gas check bullet I been waiting to get my hands on as it been out of production/ stock for quiet some time.

I castup about 150 of the 30 XCB bullets as I only had a limitedtime to work with them so I just coated about ten each usingSuper Durable Clear and Popping Silver Vein gas checked and sizedthem to see how they would turn out. I cast a random set of samplesduring the casting process and after they cooled I measure andweighed each set. The bullets across the sampling weighed between167.0 and 167.3 grs. Two bullets from the mold using my micrometermeasured .311" while the third bullet measured .311.5" Thepowder coating added around .002" to the diameter before sizing.I might, can get these bullets to work in my SKS and Mosin rifles aswell which would be a bonus.







I'll be shooting some test loads in a couple week after the bullet age hardening stabilizes. I plan on shooting these in my Rem. 30-06 as a more streamline bullet to replace the current Lee 170 gr. FN bullet I'm using. I'm currently shooting the 170 gr. FN at 2275 fps. with good accuracy and if that holds up with the new bullet I going to try to push it up to 2500 fps.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Two issues in general give 9 mm bullet casters the most trouble bore groove dia. and chamber throats. Groove diameters can be all over the place, people assume that all 9 mm handguns have .355" groove dia. bores and although .355" is common you will find some pistol with groove diameters at .356" or in some instances .357" slugging the bore before purchasing a mold is your best bet to determine what bullet dia. will work in your pistol. In my CANIK TP9 SA my pistol prefers bullet sized to .357" don't even bother shooting a cast bullet sized to .356" it's just not accurate.

Chamber throats are different as well, although the 9 mm cartridge head spaces on the case mouth the camber throat and the amount of freebore before the leads begin to guide the bullet into the rifling may be a little or a lot or none at all. The overall length using certain types of bullets with a larger ogive may be affected by the amount of freebore and may not chamber correctly. You can seat the bullet in most instances slightly deeper to accommodate the lack of freebore if that's an issue but them you have to take into account the additional pressure the load will create with the bullet seated at a shorter OAL. I don't have this issue in my CANIK but I personally prefer the TC style of bullet as it eliminates the ogive issues.

I like Lee molds as I have probably around 15 or so at last count, but I never had any luck with any of the 9mm molds casting large enough bullet except for the Lee .356 125 gr. RN my mold using my 50/50 + tin alloy drops bullets at .358" which work perfectly for coating and sizing down to .357" I don't like coating bullet up to make them fit the fore. My favorite mold for my 9 mms is the NOE 124 gr. TC which drops .358" bullet s as well with my alloy. Two of the cavities cast GC design bullets which I shoot in my 9 mm revolver but they shoot about as well with the check left off in the CANIK.



 
#19 ·
Thank you so very much, a very generous gift.

Right now I've already loaded 35; 10 with 3.0gr of AA#2 @ .970", then 10 same load @ .960 then 10 with 2.8gr @ .960 and then 5 loaded the same way @ 9.55"... Have a Shoot set for Sunday morning with Czechbikr and Konyo312 and looking forward to not only meeting up with these members but also testing these loads.

Will post a report once we are back.
 
#20 ·
Sadly I only got to test these in one of my 380's as I left the Magazine for the second on the bench. Doh! The S&W EZ380 seemed to like them all but the longest ones. Also gave a few to Czechbikr to try in his old CZ and he didn't like them or the gun didn't, he said they were all over the target.

So I'm going to load a few more and test again with BOTH guns. Think I'm going to stick with the AA#2 2.8gr. @ .960"
 
#22 ·
So far this is working well. John I loaded another 50 of the ones you sent me with the AA#2 and hope to get to shoot them in both guns soon. Also going to try and loading some of these with HP-38 to compare. So far though I am liking this cast bullet and it's making really think about starting to cast, especially with this bullet mold.
 
#23 ·
Just finished shooting a bunch of these lil 380 pills and here is what I got;

Two guns used were a Witness Pavona 380 and a S&W 380EZ.

Bullets and loads were these;

Lee 356-95-RF Powder coated, Loaded with 2.8gr of both AA#2 and HP-38
unknown 95gr R2 with 2.8gr AA#2
Lee 356-102-R1 2.8gr AA#2 and 2.8gr HP-38

Of all the rounds fired the Lee 95-RF was the least impressive. Though it did seem to shoot a bit better in the S&W than it did in the Pavona. Though both shot high.

The best over-all was the 102-R1 with the HP-38 fired thru the S&W.

Didn't have a lot of the unknown mold to shoot this time so it may not be a fair comparison to the others but it did shoot about the same from both guns and was acceptable performance.

So if I base a mold purchase from these results I truly believe I have to go with the Lee 356-102

Really want to shout out to jspdrcmach5 for supplying me with that nice bag of bullets. They were the best of everything I tested. Also if you could pm me and supply some details on how you cast and lubed these that would be wonderful.
 
#24 · (Edited)
#25 ·
Thank you Sir, this has been a great experience and I learned a little bit. Thinking now that I will take the plunge.
 
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#27 ·
Well seeing as I started this topic I guess I am for sure. Now have 4 molds and looking for a couple others.
 
#29 ·
It seemed to work good, not worth the extra effort of resizing though, I use a dedicated 9mm bullet mold now.
It was accurate but a lot of extra work.
Powder coating seems the way to go for lubrication, a lot cleaner and no gray lead coated hands after shooting.
 
#30 ·
i shoot these in my 9mm`s all the time .just cast them, tumble lube . and shoot . the recoil in sub compact guns is notably less than my normal lee tl 356- 124 grain bullets -----------casting a batch tomorrow
 
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#32 ·
yep,same here---got the 105 mold hoping it would work in 9mm pistols. it won`t ,but works fine in my Ruger 9mm
carbine which eats anything. 105 is a wonderful .38 special plinking bullet though ------
 
#34 ·
#35 ·
thanks , 1/3 plumbing lead , 2/3 wheel weights ,and other hard scrape . 2 6 cavity molds rotating back and forth.
very few culls, only took a couple of hours . now on to powder coating -----------
 
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#36 ·
Haven't quite dipped a toe into the whole powder coating trend yet. My main concern when getting molds was "what projectiles cost me a fortune and which can I get cheaply?" Due to that, I cast for 45, 45-70 and 30 cal rifle.
 
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