[aandabooks]

Talked to a guy about reloading and supplies the other night at a LGS. We got to talking about shooting lead vs. copper. I picked up 500 pack of .45 230 ball the day before and told him I was thinking about buying some lead for the 9mm. He said in his experience I would be wasting my money and time. Claimed that the small capacity of the case doesn't allow the charge to be powerful enough to stabalize the lead bullet and they will tumble.

Does anybody here reload 9mm with lead? It is definately a cheaper option. The rounds would be going through a LC9 and SR9 if hat makes a difference.

[NotMormon]

Is that his personal experience? Sounds like BS to me....but then again I have never tried it. Still sounds like BS.

[Gonzilla]

In the 90's I bought couple hundred 9mm 115 gr lead rds for about $6 a box. I didn't own a 9mm at the time but numerous people I invited w bring a 9mm and forget my warning - my clubs indoor range is lead only and they inevitably w show up w FMJ.

I just didn't have the heart to tell them they couldn't shoot, so I w just hand them the box of reloads. They seemed accurate enough if the shooter did his part. Just don't use reloads or lead in factory Glock or you'll add to the Kaboom legend.

Only issue w lead is if you load it hot - will lead up your barrel if you don't use a gas check. Use the hardest lead you can find to mitigate problem. Some use copper coated lead to avoid issue.

[JTJ]

Berry's and Rainier plated bullets will run about 10 cents each. I have had good results with them in 38 spl and am prepping 9mm now to load about 1k rounds with the Rainier 124 grain HP. The Rainiers are rated for 1500 fps while the Berry's are rated to 1000 fps but are a little bit cheaper. It works out to the same price as practice loads with the high cost of primers but a copper plated lead HP can be pretty nasty. Very similar to the Nyclads in how they perform. Use the same loading data as lead.

[Rick1967]

I load a 147 grain lead semi-wadcutter. They consitently make a perfect circle in the target. They do not tumble. They are very acurate.

[robocop10mm]

Ill informed person. Cast bullets in 9mm offer some challenges but are by no means "a waste of time". In my experience, the cast bullets should be loaded at or very close to max oal. It seems the small case capacity causes pressures to peak very early. If the bullet is allowed to get some velocity up before contacting the rifling, they tend to fould the bore more.

Just load em long.

[oldpapps]

"wasting my money and time. Claimed that the small capacity of the case doesn't allow the charge to be powerful enough to stabalize the lead bullet and they will tumble."

The old Practical Police Course that I had to endure for so many years included a 50 yard section (slow fire, some with a rickety post for a barricade). The lead re-loads (don't know where the County got them - nasty stuff) never had any detectable tumbling. Was using first generation S&W Model 59s. Biggest gripe was the mag springs were TOO stiff and caused feeding problems when new.

Sounds like the 'salesman' wanted to make a sale of more expensive jacketed bullets.

I load (in frequently) 9MMs for my brother's SIG. Lead 122gr TCFP (the weighed weight, not the 125 grains) over 4gr of 231 to get 1032 FPS. They shoot fine for me and my brother likes them (better, they don't cost him anything).