larryw wrote:Ranch Dog wrote:I know I'm biased but I think it is pretty (& deadly)...
I agree...
Man, I like the looks of that wide flat bullet, gotta get me that mold.
This mold was not a big seller, but I don't think anyone got the design. I tried to explain it on my website, but a lot a 9mm Luger guys want a plain base. I will stand behind my belief that a plain base is a poor choice for the 9mm Luger as it is a high-pressure cartridge. You want to shoot a plain base bullet; you might as well shoot a 380 Auto.
I've owned no less than nine modern 9mm Luger semi-autos and not one could make use of a .356" cast bullet; the diameter is too small. All of mine except the Taurus pistols, which needs a .358" bullet, needed a .357" bullet. What I did with the design of my bullet is start with a .356" front band and then tapered each Micro-Band increment .000X" to arrive at a .357" baseband. What this does after passing a case through Lee's Powder through Expander, Bullet Sizing, and Carbide Factory Crimp dies is deliver a very true tapered 9mm Luger cartridge rather than a bulging product that resembles the straight walled 380 Auto. Okay, two hits on the 380 Auto and I mean nothing by it as own several, but a 380 Auto will never equal a 9mm Luger as long as you pay attention to what makes the Luger different. If you don't mind the differences, all you have in your "Nine" is a 380. The tapered case makes the Luger very reliable when details count!
During the period of time that I designed this bullet, Gator checks were very hit or miss (usually the later). Hornady had dropped their 35 caliber pistol checks leaving only the rifle (.358). Again I paid attention to the details so that you could make that check fit the shank by pushing the bullet through a Lee sizing die base first. The good thing about the Hornady 35 rifle check is that it is the thinnest check they form, so it is easy to make it do what you want to do with it.
At one time my self defense training required a lot of shooting against steel bad guy targets that flipped for a hit. The weight of hit spots was calibrated to some standard of energy and a 115-grain bullet at some of the greater self defense distances would not do it unless you became familiar enough with each target to know which side was opposite the pivot. 12X-grains wasn't much better, but 147-grains was a keeper, and as individuals were ranked against each other, I wanted to keep up with the 40 S&W and 45 Auto guys. I love a 45 Auto but all of mine are single stack which means magazine changes come twice as fast, and shooting 800 to 1000 cartridge over a three day weekend with the 45 Auto was hard on my hands with my polymer handguns. I did not experience the fatigue with the 147-grain Luger ammo that I did with the 45 Auto, so that is what I trained with.
Back to my cast bullet design. I could not make a 14X-grain bullet work out, but I could make a 135-grain bullet and found it was capable of everything that the 147-grain jacketed was giving me. So, there you have it. So there you have it, my life in 9mm Luger bullet design.
NOE has a standard lube version of my design; the
SC-357-135-RF. Accurate has the
35-135D, search the page that opens, which is the original tumble lube design.
