MP-Mold 125gr .359 HP for 9mm

[Vance]

I just ordered one of these this morning. The only mold I have used is a Lee mold for 9mm .356 round nose 124gr tumble lube. It works OK.

The MP-Mold will have one grease groove instead of the many shallow grooves the Lee mold has. Can I still tumble the bullets in LLA? I'm thinking that won't be enough lube.

I have read brief mentions of pan lubing. From what I gather, you put some solid stick lube in a pan and melt it for your bullets, but haven't found anything telling me whether I just do a tumble in the melted lube then drain or what?

I am leaning towards getting the RCBS Lubrisizer and die.

What advice do you people have?

Vance

 

[45 2.1]

Buy the lubrisizer with a 0.357" die. That bullet shoots quite well and is very devastating in hollow point form.

 

[Vance]

I did some more research and pan lubing looks as messy and inconvenient as tumble lubing.

I'm going for the Luber/ sizer and a 0.357 die.

 

[Doby45]

Here is that very boolit, loading on top of 3.4gr of Bullseye and lubed with Carnuba Red.

 

[mikld]

Pan lubing is no more messier thay you are. I cut up pieces of lube and stack it around bullets set base down in a pie pan or cake pan. I put the pan/bullets/lube in a toaster oven @ 200 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes (I adjust the depth of the lube to cover the lube groove whil melting). Bullets and lube need to be same temp. for good adhesion of lube to bullet. Remove pan from oven (here's the only place I think it might get messy; if you drop/spill the pan) and allow to cool. When not completely cold, but cool, you can usually push the bullets out of the lube cake and have the lube grooves full. Size if necessary. I've been casting my own and lubing them for over 10 years and don't have, nor do I plan on getting, a lubersizer.

Yep you can tumble lube non-tumble lube bullets. Alox needs to be on the bearing surface of the bullet, not filling the groove.

Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook is a great reference for casting, loading, and shooting lead bullets.

 

[Vance]

Pan lubing is no more messier thay you are. I cut up pieces of lube and stack it around bullets set base down in a pie pan or cake pan. I put the pan/bullets/lube in a toaster oven @ 200 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes (I adjust the depth of the lube to cover the lube groove whil melting). Bullets and lube need to be same temp. for good adhesion of lube to bullet. Remove pan from oven (here's the only place I think it might get messy; if you drop/spill the pan) and allow to cool. When not completely cold, but cool, you can usually push the bullets out of the lube cake and have the lube grooves full. Size if necessary. I've been casting my own and lubing them for over 10 years and don't have, nor do I plan on getting, a lubersizer.

Thanks Mikld. That doesn't sound too hard. I can go to good will and find an old 13x9 cake pan to do it in. I am planning to use White Label Lube's BAC. I will give it a try.

 

[Vance]

That looks awesome Doby.

 

[chris in va]

Can I still tumble the bullets in LLA?

Yes, however...

Go to Lowes, get Johnson's Paste Wax in the yellow tin. With a heat gun, melt some into a small bottle. Dump about 1/4 that amount of mineral spirits into the bottle.

Advantage? Dries much faster and hardens to a wax-like coating, unlike the sticky LLA I used to use. You can also mix in some LLA if you desire. You'll have to run the (closed) bottle under hot water every time you need it to melt the concoction. Doesn't take much, don't overdo it.

 

[Vance]

That's cool!

 

[snuffy]

Chris wrote;

Yes, however...

Go to Lowes, get Johnson's Paste Wax in the yellow tin. With a heat gun, melt some into a small bottle. Dump about 1/4 that amount of mineral spirits into the bottle.

Advantage? Dries much faster and hardens to a wax-like coating, unlike the sticky LLA I used to use. You can also mix in some LLA if you desire. You'll have to run the (closed) bottle under hot water every time you need it to melt the concoction. Doesn't take much, don't overdo it.

A mixture that's worked well for those over on castboolits.com is 45-45-5. 45% lee liquid alox, 45% Johnsons paste wax, 5% mineral spirits. It lubricates well, drys hard, and isn't sticky.

Another good tumble lube is rooster lube;

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=746916

It drys clear and non-tacky. Looks like it isn't really there.

 

[Vance]

OK. So I received my mold on Thursday and my handles today. I heated up the production pot I have and preheated the mold and started molding bullets. The first bunch were all duds and were recycled into the melt. Then the next bunch I did turned out OK. They measured out between .358 and .360 so these will be good after I put it through the .357 sizer I have.

I couldn't get good pictures. One with flash and one without flash. Doby's hollow points were round, while the hollow point I have is pentagon shaped. Is there a big difference in performance?

 

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Those look really nice! Good work!

 

[Vance]

I just discovered that the extra pins for the hollow point are round shaped so I can make either style and solid flat points. Cool

 

[Stick_man]

Vance, MP also makes a "penta" pin for an awesome looking and great performing hollow point. I am not sure how much just the pins would run, but I just got a mould for my .40 with the penta's and they look great. I have heard they open up a little better than the regular round hollows do, but don't have any experience shooting them yet.

 

[hornetguy]

It looks to me like his mold already has the penta pin.

Lee used to sell a pan lube kit, with a small, shallow pan, approximately 6" in diameter, and perhaps 3/4" deep. I still use mine, and can stand up 30 or more .357 boolits in it for lubing. I use Lee alox, or Javelina alox, and a fired case to cut them out of the lube, cookie-cutter style. It's a simple process, but a little time consuming. I do this for my .35 Whelen, .45-70, .38 special, and 7.62X54. I'm not shooting hundreds of boolits at a time, so it works ok for me.

 

[Vance]

Yes, my mold came with both styles of pins. I had just by happenstance installed the penta pins and thought the other two were extras. Then later on I looked at them and found they were the round ones.

 

[Stick_man]

D'oh! I didn't even see that post or pics when I mentioned the penta pins. I have heard many good things about the penta's and can't wait to try my own out.

Very nice indeed!

 

[Vance]

OK. Here are two more pictures. Sized and lubed and one loaded.

 

[Vance]

I wish I had a better camera.