The real big savings on reloading

[freezingduck]

I am considering starting to reload 9mm for production.

I pay about 33 cents pr. 9mm in Norway.

If I use my own cast bullets i can reload for 8 cents pr. 9mm.

I reload all my rifle ammunition on a single stage press.

I see that a complete cast and reloading setup will set me back about 2000USD here.

Its hard to get some of the small reloading items here.

I have as much free brass and lead as I can possibly want.

I was planning on buying the Lyman 4 cavity 147gr mold.

A Lyman 4500 Sizer and lubricator.

I am also buying a complete dillon 650 setup.

So I have a few questions;)

Is the lyman 147gr a good choice?

What lube should I use?

Will it smoke much?

is the wihtavouri N340 a good choice for powder?

I am ordering the press from double alpha, and the casting equipment from Midway in Norway.

I might end up shooting factory ammunition at Matches, but this will let me train 4 times as much;)

[NuJudge]

Can I suggest having your barrel slugged to determine groove diameter, and a chamber cast being made with Cerrosafe or other such alloy to determine its dimensions?

I have shot some of the Lyman 356637. It drops from the mold at about .357", undersize for many of my pistols, not because it drops a small bullet, but because my Beretta and Walther pistols have groove diameters of almost .358". The pistol manufacturers do this apparently to control peak pressures. Using a Lead bullet that is smaller than the groove diameter of the barrel will result in gasses pushing past the bullet and cutting Lead off as they do, depositing it in the barrel.

What I shoot most in cast bullets in the 9mm is bullets actually intended for the .38 Special revolver. My Beretta and Walther barrels have chambers that are cut so large that they freely admit a 9mm cartridge loaded with a .359" bullet. I also have an FN Hi-Power that has a chamber cut so tight that it will not admit a cartridge loaded with a bullet larger than .357", so it gets strictly jacketed bullets.

Cast bullet loads smoke a good bit. The higher the pressures, the less smoke you will get. Much of the smoke comes from burnt bullet lubricant. Some of the lubricants are particularly bad, such as the US NRA recommended grease-type formula of 50% Beeswax/50% Alox 2138F intended for grooves in bullets. Alox 2138F is no longer made, so most makers use Alox 350. Since I shoot mostly outdoors, I don't mind the smoke. I use a lot of NRA formula lube.

There is another Alox lubricant, Lee Liquid Alox. It is a completely different product of the former Alox corporation. It is a thick liquid that bullets are sort of swished around in, the liquid dries on the bullets, then bullets are put through a sizer. It works fine on grooved bullets intended for grease type lubes. There is not a lot of smoke from this. The material is used to coat the underside of cars to prevent rust. That being the case, you may be able to get supplies of it without the usual problems with exporting firearms related materials from the US. The Lee ALOX product is Alox 606-55. The second number is the percent Alox 606, the rest being mineral spirits. Alox 606 is a solid. Melts at 245 degrees centigrade. Requires careful handling when mineral spirits are added to avoid fire. Alox 606 is 0.77 per pound, 606-55 is 0.67 a pound. Some people Use Alox 606-75 and warm it.

Home made lubricants are quite possible, but can be dangerous to make. Here are several links:

http://www.lasc.us/LubeIngredients.htm

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?f=58

There are a lot of lubing and sizing machines intended for the grease type lubes. The best of them is the Star, which is really quick.

Edited September 23, 2012 by NuJudge

[freezingduck]

I was hoping to shoot the same load out of a P226, CZ75 and a Glock with a aftermarket barrel.

Guessing they have different barrel diameters.

[noylj]

1) Lucky you--having as much lead available as you want.

2) You should always slug your barrel. Jacketed bullets should be the same diameter as the barrel's groove diameter, with slightly larger being fine. Slightly smaller jacketed bullets will shoot well, but not quite as well. If action pistol shooting, it won't matter. Lead has to be AT LEAST the same diameter and, in all my guns, the bullet must be at least 0.001" LARGER than groove diameter. Thus, if you have barrels with groove diameters or 0.355, 0.3555, 0.356, then a lead bullet will almost certainly HAVE to be 0.357" to work in all of them.

3) I ran a LOT of tests back in the mid '80s and found that sizing a bullet did not EVER improve accuracy and almost always decreased accuracy. At that time, since all I had was a Lubri-Sizer, I get bullet sizing dies that were the same diameter or 0.001" larger than my as-cast bullet diameter. Then I went to pan lubing and now I tumble lube.

Every new caster I can, I suggest that they first try as-cast bullets and Lee Liquid Alox or wax emulsion (used to seal the end of logs when cut so they don't split during drying) or paste wax as a tumble lube and see how it goes.

Don't do things that don't improve your shooting, and Lubri-Sizing never improved anything for me.

4) If you get leading, particularly at the beginning of the rifling, try a tumble lube of LLA over the already lubed bullet. The LLA really decreases leading and improves accuracy when I have some undersized bullets.

5) US wheel weights have been great all by themselves for most pistol shooting (thanks EPA for killing off the lead wheelwright), though sometimes I have had to add 0.5-1% tin to improve bullet fill-out. US commercial cast bullets are almost always 6-12 BHN units harder than they need to be. Casting your own means you can cast 8-10 BHN and have GREAT bullets for almost all non-magnum shooting.

Edited September 23, 2012 by noylj

[freezingduck]

So i dont need to resize the cast bullets and only tumble lube them?

Which mold do you reccomend? Lyman 147gr a lee mold?

Thank you for sone great help;)