Lee Loader

Hi all,

I am trying to decide what 9 MM bullet mold to get and I think I have it narrowed down between two Lee molds. My choice seems to come down to the TL356-124-2R/90464 and the 356-125-2R/90309. I will be casting from range scrap ingots and powder coating them. My other molds for.357 magnum and .45 ACP are tumble lube designs. I have used Lee liquid alox and MAY try it again in the future, but I have have had really good results with the powder coating so far. I think I like the bullet profile of the non tumble lube bullet for 9 MM but have no experience with either of these bullets.

I would appreciate input and experiences of anyone who cares to chime in. As always, I appreciate your input.

Johnny

I shoot the TL356-124-2R in IPSC almost exclusively. (maybe 2-2.5 thousand a year) I have PC'd them in the past just to try it out. I saw no advantage in going to all the trouble of PCing that many bullets. If anything they were less accurate and more of a pain to load as they tended to bulge the cases. This led to failures to fully chamber in my M&P9. I had to resize them to correct this and I found this stripped some of the coating off of the bands. I polished out my mold since then and now have to size all my bullets.

They looked pretty.

Some RN designs like for 9 mm and 45 ACP can cause you to have to seat the bullet slightly deeper if you PC them due to the PC adding to the diameter of the bullet,sizing the bullet want help that issues. I solved that problem by casting bullets of the TC design in my 9 mm and 45 ACP.

The Lee tumble lube bullet take PC and size just fine.

Lee 356-120-TC here.

First mold I ever bought was the Lyman 356402 which is a conical design similar to the Lee that Gas has. Cast in straight wheel weights from years back it shoots well in all my nines. Likes the Hi Power best and the convertible Black Hawk the least, but still stay minute of ground hog at 50 yards or so.

Make smoke,

I appreciate the replies guys. I will have to consider the truncated cone. I have never tried that style in any of my guns, in any caliber. For the investment in a Lee sizer kit and 2 bullet mold, it will be worth it I think. Originally thought of getting a mold I could use with .357 magnum too, but like the idea of having a dedicated 9 MM mold/bullet and not trying to size them down alot.

I had the 356-124 TC but needed more quantity . When I went to a 6C I went to the 358-125 RNFP . Mine takes a fair amount of sizing for the 358 needed for the 9s but is big enough for a 38 short . It makes a nice one mould for the 9/38/357.

I ended up last year buying a NOE custom mold for my new CANIK 9 mm. The Lee 356 124 gr. TC cast to small and I ended up selling it because I had not started powder coating my bullets at that time. I did find a few I had stashed away and PC them and they worked fine but I had the NOE mold by then.

It is a 4 cavity .358" 124 gr. TC that drops bullets at .359 " so it can be used in both 38/357 or 9mm. The mold will cast two gas check and two plain base bullets. The gas check version comes in handy for my Ruger BH in 357/9 mm convertible. while the plain base gets used in my CANIK.



I can 1. powder coat either bullet, 2. gas check and use traditional lube, 3. lube the plain base bullet or 4. install plain base gas checks and use traditional lube

I would get two molds as in no fan of underweight .357 bullets. That's just me.

Just for popping cans etc it doesn't matter , I agree with the heavier bullet also .....thats why I have 6-7 9/35/38 cal moulds ....... And some of them were priced right .
95,125,148,158,161,200,228 and looking for a 250 , these fill everything from 380 to 358 Win .
I tried for a while to get down to preferably 2 , but 3 was good , moulds per caliber . Yeah that didn't work out. The current average is 4 but several are just out of control , 30,35 and 45 come to mind immediately .