CrewChief Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 I haven't loaded but a few hundred rounds of 9MM in the past. I have a 5 gallon bucket filled with clean cases and enough primer and powder to fill them up. What I don't have is a large supply of bullets. I have tried some .355 125gr Blue Bullets and I have a load that works pretty well with them. I should add that I load for at least 4 different guns. I thought I would try some .356 in RN and TC before I made a big order, and I have ordered some to try from three different suppliers, but as you can imagine they have been slow in coming in. I really would like to load these this winter, but I'm concerned about how long it will take to receive what I have coming, develop loads, then order and receive whatever bullet I settle on. I'm faced with three choices: Wait it out and do things the measured and certain way that may take a long time. Go ahead and order a large dose of the 125gr Blue .355's. They may or may not be the best option, but I know they work. Take a chance and order something in .356 and hope they work when they get here. This one could actually be split further because I have three supplier choices and two bullet styles to choose between. What would you do? I'm really hoping to do a lot of shooting in the spring and early summer and loading my own seems to be the best bet for having affordable ammunition Thanks, and FWIW, I'm loading on a Dillon 550B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddc Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 At this point in time I'd be inclined to go with the sure thing; the Blue Bulllet load that works. When/if things get better might be a better time to experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George16 Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 (edited) Just order the blue bullets now so you’ll have what you need earlier instead of waiting for bullet supply to come to normal. Then once the bullets arrive, you can load them right away with your proven recipe. Edited September 26, 2020 by George16 Spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HesedTech Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 Blues work just fine and is one of the most common bullets in USPSA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intheshaw1 Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 BBI is shipping within a week and those are .356. order the UPS packs and those will be there by the end of next week. You can order the blues you know that work and play with the BBIs until then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuletchi1 Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 In my honest opinion since a use .355 and only .355, I'm afraid that if I switch to a bigger size bullet it would change the fit of the barrel and would not be able to go back to .355 after shooting much of the .356.Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intheshaw1 Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 24 minutes ago, kuletchi1 said: In my honest opinion since a use .355 and only .355, I'm afraid that if I switch to a bigger size bullet it would change the fit of the barrel and would not be able to go back to .355 after shooting much of the .356. Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk It's lead vs steel, it should have no impact on your barrel. Lead is much softer than the steel and the bullet will smash down to fit the barrel long before the barrel will be impacted. And since we're talking coated vs fmjs, coated bullets have less friction on barrels and should have less of an impact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rishii Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 I’ve shot cases of blue bullets In 115,125,135 all in .355 in PCC, production, SS and major in supercomp they all shot great, I’d order what you know works for now and experiment later when the bullet supplies get back to normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molson Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 Crew chief, Does the blue bullet load you have meet your accuracy expectations in all firearms you intend to shoot them in? If yes, do not overthink this and just order the blues and get to loading. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoeShooting Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 start casting your own out of lead. Thats what i started doing, not that i have any shortage of bullets, i mean i probably have like 6k blue bullets, but im starting to cast more because it is way easier to just find lead (sinkers, wheel weights etc) than it is to continue to get blue bullets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jschweg Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 Note that Blue Bullets does offer a special profile of .356 for all of their 9mm bullets. In short of slugging your barrel, *most* guns as a completley general statement will probably be more accurate in .356 given that these are coated. The .356's shoot a good bit more accurately with my barrel after shooting samples with both. I love blue bullets and think that their coating is superb. I've had no reason to shoot anything else in 9mm. Its just always bugged me that their default size is .355 and I don't use them in 40 because you can't get a .401 Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subzero Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 5 hours ago, AverageJoeShooting said: start casting your own out of lead. Thats what i started doing, not that i have any shortage of bullets, i mean i probably have like 6k blue bullets, but im starting to cast more because it is way easier to just find lead (sinkers, wheel weights etc) than it is to continue to get blue bullets Any recommendations on an in-stock 147 gr mold? My 45 ACP cast stuff does well (Lee 230 grain round nose), but Lee doesn't make a 147 grain mold (and my experiments with my 6-gang 124 grain 9mm Lee mold produces inconsistent results - mostly a LOT of flashing on the dropped bullets). I've been looking around for a Lyman 147 but can't seem to locate one in stock (had one on backorder from Midway for what seems like ages now). Debating rolling the dice on the Lee 358-150-1R and sizing to 356... I'm in the same boat as you - no shortage of projectiles on hand, but I have a couple buckets of COWW lead in the garage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrewChief Posted September 26, 2020 Author Share Posted September 26, 2020 I believe that I might have overthought this. I'd like to cast my own, and I was recently offered a goodly amount of lead, but the truth is I have way to many irons in the fire already to start another whole activity like casting. While I haven't loaded for 9mm before, I had loaded a fair amount of .45 including some lead bullets. They were always .452 and I noticed that Blues were .451. That's when I realized that the Blues were undersized compared to most suppliers. I think what I shall do as soon as I hit enter, is order 5k of the Blue RN in .356. I know their bullets will run in my pistols, but the added .01 makes sense to me. I'd like to get 10K and just go for it, but this will get me by for a few months and give me some time to experiment. I sure hope this mess calms down some soon. Thanks for helping me reason through this, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoeShooting Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 3 hours ago, Subzero said: Any recommendations on an in-stock 147 gr mold? My 45 ACP cast stuff does well (Lee 230 grain round nose), but Lee doesn't make a 147 grain mold (and my experiments with my 6-gang 124 grain 9mm Lee mold produces inconsistent results - mostly a LOT of flashing on the dropped bullets). I've been looking around for a Lyman 147 but can't seem to locate one in stock (had one on backorder from Midway for what seems like ages now). Debating rolling the dice on the Lee 358-150-1R and sizing to 356... I'm in the same boat as you - no shortage of projectiles on hand, but I have a couple buckets of COWW lead in the garage. check out NOE, they make a ton of really great molds. i have the .356 lee and noe molds and i resize them both after powder coating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAP Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 I had Arsenal Molds make a 5 cavity 9mm mold for a 147 grain profile similar to Blue Bullets and ACME and a 40 cal mold for 180 Bullets. Both molds are no lube groove and have performed great. I think they are worth checking out. The link below is for the 9 mm bullet.http://arsenalmolds.com/products?product_id=125Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 I don't recommend the 358-150 mold for 9mm. I have run them before, but I don't recommend. Try the 356-120 TC mold, works great in 9mm. Saves on lead too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrewChief Posted November 8, 2020 Author Share Posted November 8, 2020 Just a bit of an update, mostly to give hope for those that are waiting on bullets. the Blue Bullets that I ordered on around the 30th of Sept. It took right at a month to come in and they were the special order 356's. I got them right at the end of October. I had a smaller order for some .38 stuff at Precision and I got that too. It took a little more than a month. Now primers...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeNerd Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 1 hour ago, CrewChief said: Just a bit of an update, mostly to give hope for those that are waiting on bullets. the Blue Bullets that I ordered on around the 30th of Sept. It took right at a month to come in and they were the special order 356's. I got them right at the end of October. I had a smaller order for some .38 stuff at Precision and I got that too. It took a little more than a month. Now primers...... I have more confidence in coated bullet manufacturers than everyone else right now unfortunately. Rumor mil DG is shipping quick, I've had good experience with S&S shipping fast when stuff is in stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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