Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Cast Pistol Bullets

I cast for rifle, and typically a 308 bullet is cast and sized to .310". So as a rule, are pistol bullets cast 1 or 2 thousands larger than "nominal"? Any issues loading the larger diameter in dies or chambers? Looking to do , 357, 9MM and 45acp.

Revolver, you want to match the cylinder throats, auto's I'd run them .001 or .002 over. No problems, so long as they do chamber.

I reload for all the cartridges you mentioned. Yes, you would typically use cast handgun bullets .001" or .002" over bore size. As mentioned above, more is not a problem as long as they chamber.

Don

I use the same sizer die for 9mm, 357, and .358 cal rifles; bullets end up .3595-.360" depending on hardness. That works well in all of them; as long as they chamber freely they aren't "too big".

Wow, that's .004" over for a 9.

I've never slugged a 9mm bore that actually measured .355, all the 9mm bores that I slugged were .357.

So .359 is correct in those barrels, and accuracy is better when the bullet is fatter, when that matters, as long as it fits into the chamber.

CZs are the only pistols I've run into that seem to have a problem with chambering.

In my way of thinking these days, .002 over is minimum with cast, again considering feeding and chambering.

The only barrel that's ever given me trouble sizing that way was a Lone Wolf replacement Glock barrel; the chamber was tight for anything but jacketed ammo with .355" bullets. I lapped that chamber out, because super tight chambers in semi-auto pistols are generally a stupid idea; no more issues and the accuracy is very good.

So if you cast for a 9MM, the as cast bullet likely won't be 357, maybe but not much more. So all you're doing is lubing.

Well it depends on both the gun and the mold selected. No all 9mm bores are alike dia. wise they run the gamut,for instance my 9mm want shoot anything under .357 accurately and none of the Lee molds designed for the 9mm will cast that large for me as I tried several and ended up selling them to individuals that they did work for.

With Lee molds I ended up buy a 125 gr. 38 cal. molds and sizing the bullets to .358 it works just fine with no issues. Not all molds are created equal as some of the custom mold for 9mm cast larger than spec. bullets to begin with so you can size them accordingly. http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=34&osCsid=cipki0lda8b46p66ut8eu99pn0

No, not at all.

Since I have some 9mm barrels that are a .357" bore, I don't cast with anything smaller than that. All of mine drop ~ .358-.359", whether they were made that way or not. I don't lube bullets any more, I powder coat, so that adds a little to the size as well.

Use a bullet with a bevel base or bell your cases slightly, belling is not an option with cases like the 9mm & .45 acp that headspace on the mouth of the case.

WHAT?

Steelhead is right, Wayne. The protocol for sizing to revolver throat diameter was worked out eons ago. Ignore groove diameter when sizing for a revolver. Call Ed Harris and ask him if in doubt.

As for belling case mouths, it's better than relying on bevel bases to get yourself into the case. Adjust the seating die erase the bell is all you have to do. It helps if the brass is all the same length for that.

I wish I had a throater to loan you like the one we been trading back and forth!

That's what I said!!

Hmm, seems he's never heard of that new fangled thing called a taper crimp die.

Don

Taper crimp? Wow...what'll they think of next??

I catch him saying stupid $h!t about hand loading many times. Either he does not hand load (he says 40 years)or is not mechanically inclined. Most of his statements are "internet repeats" when it comes to hand loading.

I'd also add that don't worry if the bullets are little bigger than the cylinder throats, so long as they chamber your cylinder will be your sizing die.

It's not good if your cylinder is smaller than your bore, but I've about never seen that.

My Smith's, in 38 tend to run tight, while my Rugers, tend to run larger.

I shot .359 in everything. It matches my Ruger and they chamber in my Smith's.

I could be mis-remembering something I learned long ago, but it seems there were some S&W revolvers in .45 Colt that had this problem. I think that would be the 25-2s, specifically.

Ruger 45s were/are prone to undersized throats(.449-.450) to bore condition as were Colt Pythons(.355-.356).

Almost every Smith 25-5 and 25-2 had large throats (.454-.457).

Shooting bullets larger than the throat can cause plating on the cylinder face in wheelguns, which doesnt harm anything and is miles better than scrubbing a barrel and getting crappy accuracy.

Ahhhh, yes. The 25-5. I thought the chamber throats were undersized, though. Probably what I was told was that most BULLETS were undersized for the throats.

Thanks Hawk.

FWIW, S&W finally got around to fixing the throat problem on the 25-5's in the early 1980's. I just bought one last week with a serial # of N826XXX, and it has perfect .452" throats.

Don

The only problem is dies; older dies for the 45 Colt and 45 ACP work well in that they usually arent carbide and have larger expanders. Plus the seater dies accept the larger bullets. Many off the shelf dies today wont allow really large stuff to work well or without issues. Ditching the carbide sizer, RCBS Cowboy dies are a godsend for those who need the ability to make the 25-5 or 45 Colt Anaconda sing with their large throats.

Like others have said, fill the throat as much without undue chambering and the oversized throats arent a big deal.

But I admit the standardization is nice!

No problem, really. I bought a set of steel dies and ordered the expander for the Cowboy expander die. Using this in conjuction with sizing my bullets with my .455" sizing die turns out reloads that work really well in the 25-5's with large throats.

Don

And undersized throats are something a competent pistolsmith can fix in two shakes of a deer's tail.

If you'll notice A) I referenced 38 caliber in my post and B) He asked about 357. So I felt NO reason to mention 45 Colt et al.

In my experience, Ruger 38 throats tend to run a little big, as I mentioned, and S&W are usually right on the money.

Thanks guys. I'm OK with the revolver part of this, it's the autos that concern me. I'll check the chamber diameter to see what kind of clearance there is to play with. Can't have them too tight to function.

I have to go on record here. I had gunswizard mixed up with someone else on this site. I am not going to mention no name, but it is not gunswizard. He is good people.

I wasn't trying to bust your chops, Steelhead...I hope you did not get that impression. I really wasn't all that confident I had it right in the first place---and for good reason, too, as we can all see. I figured this was a pretty generic revolver-oriented subject, and I guess that turned out to be wrong too.

At least gimme some points for consistency.

I ran into that die issue recently with some RCBS 454 Casull dies. I've had them for years, but mostly loaded jacketed bullets back when I first had a 454, and used Dillon dies once I got into casting (no issues with lead bullets in the Dillon stuff BTW, A+ for them).

Anyway, tried to load some 460 S&W with the Lee 300gr WFN bullet in the RCBS dies - the expander is fine but the seater is so tight it pinches the case against the bullet and shaves lead. That surprised me for a bullet only .453" diameter. I swapped to an old Lee 45 Colt seater I had laying around, no more issues.

The only handguns that have given me issues with bullets sized 0.001-002" over is S&W 38's. Unless you size them right at 0.357", the round won't seat all the way in the cylinder.

Ultimately you need to check every gun to see what sizing diameter and seating depth works for you. You definitely want to do a plunk test for autoloaders. Have the t-shirt for going to the range with several boxes of ammo that wouldn't seat in 45 because my years of experience loading revolver ammo didn't directly correlate to the making sure the bullets passed the plunk test.

actually since i own one its around .457. I don't size the cast bullet anymore because of that and they work fine.

finally read this thread. i have usually gone one or two over, but your statements supports exactly an issue i had with daughters ladysmith, they wouldn't go all the way in.