9MM HG #68

[Josh]

I have shot the HG #68 in 45's for a while and by far it is one of the most accurate designs ever made for that cartridge. That being said I wanted to scale it down to the 9mm bore, so I did the math, the 9mm is 79% of the diameter of the 45 cal. Knowing this I copied an HG #68 design (from my previous drawing of the HG #68) and then multiplied every number by 79% with the exception of the nose diameter, below is the result. I assumed that the bullet would come out slightly heavier than 100 gr, I assumed about 110-115 gr. Do any of you pistol shooters see any reason this wouldn't work in the 9x19 and even the 380?

 

[Pistolero]

Lee 105 gr is pretty much there already, really. But it does look like it will be a nice
design.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/24...s-and-w-358-diameter-105-grain-semi-wadcutter

Bill

 

[fiver]

I shoot my 9's at 358.
I specced the HM-2 at 359-360 it comes in over 359 in my ww/soft/lino alloy.

 

[Pistolero]

I normally size to .358 for 9mm, too. Seems to work well in all my guns.

The Lee 105 SWC is a .38 mold, easily makes .358 sized diam. It was my first mold ever,
used it for 9mm, my first pistol caliber that I reloaded and it never failed to feed, function
and shoot well in 9mm. Slightly pointier than the H&G 68, but I have always thought of it
as the counterpart of the H&G 68 for 9mm and it seems to work as well.

 

[Josh]

I had to go find this mould, of course I had no idea it existed... ah the things we learn... LOL

 

[fiver]

saeco makes on too probably heavier than you intend but the same style.

 

[Pistolero]

Good luck, Lee molds are cheap enough to give it a try. The desing has a crimp groove,
since it was for .38 revolvers originally, but it works well for 9mm, nor sure if I ever used it in .38 Spl.

Bill

 

[KHornet]

Tried 358 in my Walther P1, no dice! Shot well, but only if hand fed. It wants .356.

 

[Josh]

I shoot .357 in my M&P Pro series, I am just looking for a bullet that will allow me to ring out the best of this pistol and a few others.

 

[Pistolero]

Interesting, my Walther P1 has a .3585 groove diam, and I worried if .358 would be fat enough. It works
great. with .358 Lee 120 TC bullets, have not tried the 105s in it, as the 120 TCs are my current std 9mm
bullet.

Josh, if you have not tried the Lee 120 TC, which is sold as "356" but mine casts .358 or a hair more, you
should try it. Conventional lube, air cooled wwt alloy, nothing fancy, NRA 50-50 and
I have had it work in a wide variety of my 9mms, Browning, Star, SIG, Walther P1, and many more.

Bill

 

[Josh]

Interesting, my Walther P1 has a .3585 groove diam, and I worried if .358 would be fat enough. It works
great. with .358 Lee 120 TC bullets, have not tried the 105s in it, as the 120 TCs are my current std 9mm
bullet.

Josh, if you have not tried the Lee 120 TC, which is sold as "356" but mine casts .358 or a hair more, you
should try it. Conventional lube, air cooled wwt alloy, nothing fancy, NRA 50-50 and
I have had it work in a wide variety of my 9mms, Browning, Star, SIG, Walther P1, and many more.

Bill

I have never tried the 120 TC, the only other Lee mould I have tried for the 9x19 was the 124 RN, that was way back in the day and it sucked hind teat, I believe that is because the unsupported section of the nose just overpowers the short driving band section.

I am not necessarily wanting to go down to 100 gr as my 9mm LOVES anything in the 124 gr range with jacketed. I may give the 120 TC a go instead, it looks to have a way better CG/CP ratio than the 124 RN. If I am not mistaken they also have a very similar design in the 45-230-TC, that may make the short list too

 

[Pistolero]

Here is what it looks like, and if you go to the other site, look up my sticky on "Setting up a new 9mm for boolits", you may
be able to use some of the info there.

Set up LOA to match the front corner of the bullet to the curve of the
FMJ bullet.

Bill

 

[Cherokee]

I highly recommend the Lee 356-120-TC conventional design 6 cavity mold. I've got about 25k through my XDM 9's without any problems and a bunch more thru my other 9's. Great bullet.
If you really want to try the 115 SWC style for the 9mm, go to http://www.pennbullets.com/ they sell this style bullet, or did a few years ago. They work fine in my 9's, I just like the Lee bullet better.

 

[Barry in IN]

H&G had at least one design they more or less considered a 68 for 9mm and 38 Super. I'll check the number and weight in a minute, but I am pretty sure one is the 322.

I always thought the Saeco 924 looked close to a 9mm 68, except for the 924 having the gas check. I used to look at that mold in their catalog and think it would be incredible in the 9mm.
I got one, and had little luck.

(Likewise my amazing bullet design judgment showed when the Saeco 383 looked like a disaster to me, but ended up being one of my favorites.)

 

[Barry in IN]

Here we go. First off, the H&G 332 I was thinking of is more or less the 68 design but in .40/10mm (175 grains).

The 161 (and maybe the 81, except for the thick base) look similar to the 68.


In later catalogs, they would say their 275 was basically the 68 for 9mms. I have a two-cavity 275, and while the 161 looks closer to me, the 275 is close. The nose is a more slender profile than the 68, but its not too far off. I have had fair to OK luck with it.
Edit:
Here is a group buy clone of the H&G 275. To me, this looks like the nose is a bit wide, with a flatter meplat than mine.



All of these 9mm/Super molds I think look similar to the 68 are in the 125-135 grain range.

I would think if a manufacturer came up with a 9mm mould that resembled the 68, weighing 125-135 grains, with a nice target hole poking shoulder, it would sell. Even if it didn't shoot well, it would sell.

 

[Josh]

Thanks for that info Barry, l wonder what the length would be to get the 130ish weight. I do like the look of the 81 and 161, I may have to redesign my "68" to reflect said weight.

 

[Barry in IN]

I don't know. I wish I had either so I could tel you.

Tomorrow I can measure bullets from my H&G 275 and the Saeco 924. They should be in the ballpark.

You might take a look at the discontinued Lyman 358480 also. Its a .358" 133 grain SWC. Just going on appearance, it varies from the 68 in having a wider nose and meplat, and two lube grooves.

I love that bullet, especially in the Super.

The wider nose is not a bad thing, IMO. I would like to see someone go to a single lube groove if they duplicated it, however.

 

[Josh]

There a few ways to bump up the weight without going too long, but with a SWC style bullet you are limited by nose design and most has to go into the case. I will play around a bit with this sometime tomorrow and see what l come up with.

 

[fiver]

you can always take away from the lube groove.
your only lubing 5" of barrel.