.40 s&w mold for Schuemann barrel

[Mushki25]

I recently acquired a used SVI with a Schuemann barrel and would like any advice available on selecting a mold to cast for this gun.  I do not currently reload nor cast of .40 and will have to purchase what I need. I would like to stay away from aluminum molds unless everyone states otherwise because I have no experience with them and I feel they would be less durable. I will need to load these long for the function of the gun from advice of the guns first owner.  The rounds he threw in confirm he loaded them long as well but those are jacketed.  Thanks in advance for any help

Edited August 6, 2017 by Mushki25

[technetium-99m]

I loaded a bunch of 180gr 40s with the Lee 6 cavity aluminum mold.  Sized to .401 and lubed with blue angel.

 

They ran great and were accurate in at least 3 limited guns.  The 6 cavity mold was hard to beat for production.  I did cool the sprue plate with a water soaked towel before I opened the mold.  Worked just fine.

[Mushki25]

39 minutes ago, technetium-99m said:

I loaded a bunch of 180gr 40s with the Lee 6 cavity aluminum mold.  Sized to .401 and lubed with blue angel.

 

They ran great and were accurate in at least 3 limited guns.  The 6 cavity mold was hard to beat for production.  I did cool the sprue plate with a water soaked towel before I opened the mold.  Worked just fine.

Would you care to share the load data?  Feel free to sub velocity for powder charge if you would be more comfortable sharing that way

[technetium-99m]

It's been a while.  I loaded them with Solo 1000, can't remember the exact powder charge.  I do remember I loaded them to an oal of 1.185.

 

Made major at 3 or so major matches, around 173 PF.

[Echd]

The Lee bullets feed great (in tight chambers) but they fed horribly in my Mr. Bullet feeder. They are one of the few designs that would fall in and get stuck sideways. This was annoying to dislodge and required stopping the press and sometimes emptying the collator. If you do not use a bullet collator I don't see it as a problem and it is an excellent bullet, but I personally changed to a different profile.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Echd

[Mushki25]

Any chance you'll share what you went with and your load data?  Just collecting info.

[Echd]

Certainly, I changed to a mihec 180gr grooveless hp mold. With my not very precise wheel weight mixture this dropped around 181 gr as an HP and if memory serves a touch over 190 as a solid. This profile feeds perfectly in my MBF. I shoot 4.2 gr titegroup in practically all my 40 loads. I do not have my chrono data handy at the moment.

 

I will fully admit of late I have been buying xtreme plated bullets though because it has been entirely too hot to cast or sit out in the garage hitek-ing bullets. I used to think it a travesty to buy a bullet I could cast but I am weakening.

 

Don't let me talk you out of the lee 175 though, it was a very reliable and accurate bullet for me and I shot probably several thousand when my dept changed to a 40s&w for familiarization. The only complaint I had was the difficulty with my mr bullet feeder, and if one was willing to relieve some of the plastic in one of the drop tubes (the part leading to the spring tube) you could probably make it work without issue. I have only run into that issue with the lee 401 175 and a few rather esoteric 357 projectiles like the 361627.

 

These pictures are a bit too large to upload here so here are some images of the projectiles in question- the lee powder coated in blue, the mihec in gold hitek. Not sure if this site uses bbcode or what so you will have to follow the links (I don't post here enough to be familiar with the site and mostly creep for dillon and reloading info... I don't have the time to compete so I don't feel like I add much to most discussions)

 

http://imgur.com/lv6awVD

http://imgur.com/qdLBE2Y

 

Additionally NOE molds offers a similar profile but I have not tried it. If production were my main goal I would buy a 6 or 8 cavity mihec aluminum mold with no lube grooves and make it rain bullets, then powder coat them. That would be the minimum time investment and give you a fairly short and squat bullet not at all unlike a plated RN.

 

I own brass, iron, and aluminum molds and do not feel that aluminum is the lesser material. All mold materials have pros and cons, aluminum probably has the most pros to be honest. It can't rust meaningfully, it weighs less (throw an 8-10 cav steel mold around for a while or even a 4-6 cav brass and tell me you aren't tired), and it's typically less expensive, and you can perform minor modifications more easily. Normal mold usage will not damage a bullet mold of any material type negatively within any sort of reasonable or realistic schedule of use. I feel that brass looks great and the ease of machining over iron and ability to use cramer style HP pins gives it some advantages, but for molds i actually use the most, i prefer aluminum > iron > brass.

 

Also my very most important bit of advice would be to slug your barrel... many match grade tubes are "tighter" than more pedestrian ones may be. I know I have seen 0.356" dia bullets lead in guns that turned out to be 0.355" although other factors may have contributed. Conventional cast bullet loading data says fat is better but with the advent of coated bullets I am not so sure that is universally true. Most all my coated 40s get sized to 0.401" whereas I sized conventionally lubricated and tumble lubricated bullets to 0.402" or even fatter without issue.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Echd

[RAP]

I use a 5 cavity 180 grain. I lube groove Arsenal mold. Very similar to Acme 180 NLG bullet. I have cast and shot thousands of bullets through my 40 with great results. I also HI TEK then size my bullets. I also have a Schuemann barrel. Arsenal molds are very reasonably priced and Jared is great to work with.


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