Mold For 357 Sig?

[HPBrowningMK3]

Is anone casting bullets for 357 sig? If so, what mold are you using? I was told I may have to have a custom mold cut for me because the typical 9mm molds are not a good fit for 357 Sig because of the neck.

I currently cast 9mm, 40 s&w and 45ACP and have no problems with them.

[Ferrum]

I would be curios to know why you can't use the 9mm mold? I've used cast bullets from Extreme, interchangibly, between my 9 and .357 Sig with no problems?

[milotrain]

http://www.accuratemolds.com/

[HPBrowningMK3]

Ok, what I was told is that this has to do with setback, neck tension and ogive. Apparently Sig 357 doesn't like RN bullets and only some TCs. I don't have much experience with this caliber but really like it because I can hit pretty much anything with it to about 100 yards. Pretty much point of aim.

I've used Montana Gold with AA#9 with no problems and certainly no setbacks. Hornady XTPs work perfectly too.

I wish I could have a mold for a bullet(Montana Gold) like that.

Speaking of Extremes, what kind of bullet did you use? RN 124?

[HPBrowningMK3]

http://www.accuratemolds.com/

Thanks, Milotrain. I just received a response from Tom and he brought up the same concerns about the bullet himself. I will stick with fmjs and plated bullets.

[meaty-btz]

I use a round nose 9mm lee unit and they work.. but need to be set too deep.

There is a better TC Lee 6 cavity mold that also works great. Even my round nose, which work great, even if set deep I have tested to hold over 80# without set-back. Which i was told was the test you need to do.

[HPBrowningMK3]

I will see if I can buy a few lee tc cast bullets from someone before I invest in yet another mold. Thanks for the tip!

I use a round nose 9mm lee unit and they work.. but need to be set too deep.

There is a better TC Lee 6 cavity mold that also works great. Even my round nose, which work great, even if set deep I have tested to hold over 80# without set-back. Which i was told was the test you need to do.

[meaty-btz]

I will see if I can buy a few lee tc cast bullets from someone before I invest in yet another mold. Thanks for the tip!

The issue with the lead bullets isnt just set back. They can deform on contact with the edge of the feed ramp.

I had hell with that and a 45. The lead would strike the ramp and deform.. failure to feed.

Obviously one solution is a harder lead alloy.

Another problem is your home lead bullets with tumble lube will gum up the ramp.. again, failure to feed.

I don't know about other 357sig guns but if the specs have any say.. most are really tight on the tolerances. Literally the 357SIG is as large as they could fit without forcing a larger frame. So slight variations in COL can also lead to FTFs. I know that even a thousandth over can introduce FTF issues.. and while the 1.14 COL is max and what I load to it is "long".

It just isn't a round with a lot of wiggle room.

At 1.14 along with not a hair over, combined with the extra friction reduction of being powdercoated.. I still had a 2/50 FTF rate compared with my 9mm and the same bullet which has a failure to feed rate of maybe 1-2/200-300 which is always an issue caused by some error in my reloading process while in the case of the failures in the 357sig, it was just that my COL is "max" and most will agree it won't feed as reliably at that length.

I have yet to try it but most folks say you can get better feed all around for the cartridge with a 1.35 COL, regardless of bullet shape, lube, etc.
357SIG was the answer to how big of a cartridge we could stuff into a 9mm frame.

Honestly everyone cries about neck tension issues, which I never experienced on 7.62x25 and have yet to see on 35SIG that I have loaded. I've tested with belled case mouths and just chamfered case mouths and all of them will hold to over 80#. I use the lee die sets in both calibers. I could see it being a problem with the use of jacketed round nose bullets. Cast lead bullets all have a flat sided design for the lube grooves and this provides plenty of straight surface for proper neck tension no matter the seated depth.

[HPBrowningMK3]

Looks like I am getting the tc mold next week to test the bullets. I will make sure to test them for 80#, but what you said makes sense to me.

Thanks!