9mm-Why bother?

The company used to load and cast alot of 9mm bullets for testing purposes when I was at Ruger. While it is company policy not to recommend or condone any handloaded ammunition, we needed to know what it would do, in particular whether firing jacketed +P+ law enforcement loads in a heavily leaded barrel would cause problems.

We cast bullets from salvaged backstop lead, alternating between two RCBS pots, with a pair of 4-cavity Saeco molds, casting the bullets hot enough so they were uniformly frosted, dropping them into a 5-gallon bucket of water, loading them as-cast and unsized, lubricated with a light coat of Lee Liquid Alox and crimping in what would later be introduced as the Lee Factory Crimp Die.

Moulds were cooled off by periodically resting on a large wet sponge. A man working an 8 hour shift could cast over 100 pounds of bullets a day. The Dillon RL550B was set up to throw 3.6 grs. of Bullseye for a 124-gr. truncated cone bullet similar to the H&G #7. They dropped at .358 and we loaded them that way.

A very important factor with cast bullets in the 9mm is to have a lube bleed hole in the seater and crimp dies, so that bullet lube buildup does not increase seating depth, which can cause a dangerous increase in pressure. Dillon dies have this feature, and it is easy to drill a 1/16” bleed hole in the top plug of the LFC die for when you are loading thousands of rounds.

If you are a manufacturer running short of 9mm “proof” ammo to run “accelerated endurance tests” of 188 proof loads in the P85 pistol you are trying to destroy, without having to dip into your “real” proof loads needed for production, all you need to do is take a standard GI Ball M882, crack the asphalt bullet sealant with your seating die in your reloading press and reseat the bullet only 1/16th deeper, for +10-12,000 psi~!

The same thing happens in varying degrees in all small cases, .32 ACP, .40 S&W, etc. Paying strict attention to seating depth, proper crimp and testing for “bullet push,” no more than 0.005” shortening of OAL after 5 secs. at 50 pounds compression is very important.

I don't know how many rounds we loaded in that setup, but we were buying case lots of Bullseye, four 8-lb. kegs at a whack, and primers by the skid.

These loads in the Ruger P85 pistol in development at that time would outshoot most FMJ ball ammo, about 2 inches at 25 yards and 1030 +/- 30 fps. and run the gun like a pony trotting.