Had a wonderful casting session today to cast some bullets for the TC9 revolver from Tailor's. This revolver, alluding to a recent post on here about Italian reproductions, happens to be a Pietta ,made for and imported by Tailor's Firearms. I will say briefly that this is the smoothest 1873 action I have ever felt. It is butter smooth and grit free. Well done Pietta.
The cylinder mouths and throats on the 9mm cylinder spec out to be .357" exactly. Surprisingly however, the .355" factory fodder from Magtech, at 115gr with a steel case, is the most accurate factory fodder yet. I have some 9mm cast stuff loaded up from years ago and most of it at .3575 will not chamber. It goes in the semi-auto pistols OK with their longer throats, but will not chamber in the revolver.
I fired up the Lyman #20 pot with Lyman #2 alloy and got things rolling. I first cast off several hundred bullets with the Lyman 356637 HP mold then moved on the the Lyman 356402FV truncated cone mold. Both of these molds throw bullets in #2 alloy at .358" (mostly) and then can be trued up with a .357 or .356 size die. The 4-cavity 356402FV mold is a treat to work with. It's heavy but man the cast bullets pile up fast.
I made up a few dummy cartridges with these to test the chambering after sizing. They both chamber perfectly in the TC9 revolver.
I then moved on to the 330gr Lyman 457122 HP mold for the 45 caliber family. I got this mold for the 45-90 to throw the "Express Hollow Point" in the 1886 rifle. While Lyman #2 isn't the best alloy for this bullet to function correctly at 1600fps, I just needed some range loads to aggravate the younger "tactical wanna be" crowd with their black plastic toys. I love doing that. Smoking the range.
Now I just need to work up some good loads for this revolver and regulate the front sight, which of course, in true Colt SAA fashion, is too high initially. With factory fodder, the revolver is printing 4-6" low on paper with 115gr and 147gr fodder. The 115gr grouped the best. Mu cast loads will be the 120gr truncated cone and the 133gr HP bullets. Should be fun working up some loads.
Here is a shot of the Lyman 356402FV bullet on the left and the 356637 bullet on the right.
With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.
