Use small words please!

[Baltimoreed]

Just looked at a pix of your lee die. Does the little expander thingy float or it locked in place by the threaded top part? If it floats add a spacer between the two parts, cut a piece of a dowel.

[Burnt Fingers]

"The M die is bottomed out"
Does that mean the outside of the die is hitting the shell plate?
And/Or the center (expander) is bottomed out into the threads of the die body?
Using the M die requires you powder drop in another station, correct?
So...
1) size/de-prime
2) prime/expand M die
3) Powder drop
4) Seat/crimp

Do you seat and crimp separately??
Is there visibly scraped off coating piled up on the case mouth/edge on a finished round?
I guess I can wait for the pics to answer those questions...

edit: If the M die BODY is "bottomed out" because the nut is hitting the top of the press...remove the nut and you can screw the die BODY further down for more flare, screw the nut onto the die Body UNDER the die plate(use a Dillion nut).

I do seat and crimp in separate stations. There is some visible coating and lead on the case mouth.

Who made your custom powder thru expander? LatheSmith made mine for an SDB and I now use it in my 550. I have no issues with it and 358 9mm boolits. Expand the brass deep enough to where the seating die just barely seats the boolit. Then back the taper crimp die out. Then just turn the crimp die down enough to just remove the flare. Pull the boolit and the boolit should measure the same as before you seated it.

I purchased it from UniqueTek

Just a thought - You are aware that Lyman makes two die sizes for the M die? You do have the short die body??

I was not. I've got several M dies. I'll compare bodies. Maybe I can do a swap.

[sparky45]

Why not add a little spray lube to the bullet such as Hornady's One Shot. That along with a flare on the case should solve your problem.

[Burnt Fingers]

It's official, I'm a complete and total idiot.

I checked my M dies, I have three, one for .357, one for .38, and one for 9mm. Sure enough I had a short M die body on the 9mm head. I put the long die body on the 9mm head and now I have enough adjustment in the M die.

I dropped my Dillon powder measure a bit to give more flare.

Problem solved....except for ONE boolit. The NOE HTC359-129-TC. It was still scraping lead and Hi-Tek off the boolit. So with a lot of trepidation I dropped the Dillon powder measure a bit more. It's more flare than I've ever used on a pistol case but it works. I can now seat that NOE boolit and all my other 9mm boolits and keep the coating intact. I must have seated and pulled 70-80 boolits to verify that everything was working.

I loaded up a sample group of the 9mm boolits I plan to use the most. Now I just need to hit the range and see if I've solved my leading problem.

Thanks for all the help and the hints. Sometimes it's the little things that bite ya on the butt.

[onelight]

Glad you found a fix . I really like the Hi-tek coated bullets , myself and 2 of my shooting buddies shoot a lot of them one has 5 or six glocks they work well in all our guns.

[Conditor22]

.358 is OK for a .356 bore if it shoots well, I've had good luck with .3575

[Baltimoreed]

Sometimes ya just gotta read the directions. Glad to hear you figured it out before grinding on stuff.

[468]

Ya gotta be able to laugh at yourself.

[leadhead]

If your using the Lee powder through die, and using .358 diameter
bullets... buy the Lee .38 S&W bushing for the die and you won't
have "shaving" problems. It expands the 9mm case a little deeper
and is a couple thousands bigger in diameter. Works like a dream.
Denny

[Burnt Fingers]

If your using the Lee powder through die, and using .358 diameter
bullets... buy the Lee .38 S&W bushing for the die and you won't
have "shaving" problems. It expands the 9mm case a little deeper
and is a couple thousands bigger in diameter. Works like a dream.
Denny

I'm not using the Lee.

I thought I had beat this leading machine. I was wrong. Cleaned the pistol today and there was a ton of lead in the barrel. Another member says he has the same gun and feels it's the sharp transition to the rifling. The barrel needs to be throated but it's a hardened barrel and Doug can't do those.

[Conditor22]

You have/had 2 problems:
1 shaved coating while seating the boolit - you seem to have fixed this
2 leading from the boolit
BF did you pull a loaded boolit and check the diameter?
A lot of people have problems with the 9mm due to the tapered case and the tendency to over crimp.

I never played with the M dies but have a good selection of NOE expanders.

Before NOE I used the Lee powder through die to expand and flare then only crimped enough so that when I pushed the cartridge against my loading bench the boolit didn't move. IF it didn't pass the dropp test I would barely "kiss it" with the Lee factory crimp die.

The softer the boolit the more likely it will be downsized.

[Burnt Fingers]

I have pulled boolits. They are not being swaged down.

It seems the problem is the sharp transition from the chamber to the rifling is shaving the boolit.

This makes sense since the leading is very even all around the bore.

[Conditor22]

Maybe DougGuy will weigh in, this is more up his alley.

[Dan Cash]

The M die is bottomed out. There's no more adjustment in it on my Dillon 650.

I really don't want to have to chamfer my 9mm brass. I shoot/reload ~500 rounds a week of the stuff.

My boolits pass all the tests, smash and acetone.

The measured bore on my Canik is .356. If I size to .358 I can also use the same boolits in my 586 and my Colt Officer's Target.

I'll get some pictures tomorrow.

You might consider a good bullet sizing and lubrication program and forget the paint.

[Burnt Fingers]

You might consider a good bullet sizing and lubrication program and forget the paint.

I don't think that will help much with the rifling shaving the bullet.