38 & 357 mold, your opinion / experience

[BruniX]

hi,
As I start shooting regularly at the colt 357 revolver, at the shooting club, I seriously consider acquiring a mold, fmj ammunition being expensive, it's a shame, to use them on paper target.
I will shoot mostly from the 38 special at the stand at 25 m (22.86 yard) sometimes, may be, 357 brass & load...

I saw two lyman molds, simply because this is the brand I use for the 45-70, (which I like) and I already have the handles ...
in addition,
as, unfortunately there are almost no American powders here, I have Lyman loading data for vithavuori, easy to acquire here ...

This is the lyman # 258156 and # 356311:

Lyman 38 and 357 mold.png (65.82 KiB) Viewed 3207 times

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/ ... nt-358-dia

the first of the two can receive a gas check, especially to use it in 357 magnum. According to the reviews, it works well without gas check in 38.
What do you think ?
Are you among the people who have used them, are there others who are very well?
(i don't know if it is possible tu use RCBS molds with lyman handle)

see you soon,
BruniX

[Mistered]

I would go with a 158 grain SWC non-gas check style. I had a Lee mold and their bullets can typically be used without sizing.

Mix a harder lead and keep your .357 velocities within reason to avoid leading. Literally no problems with .38 loads.

I used to cast these by the 1000s back in the day but with plated so cheap now its hard to justify casting.

Don't forget you will need a system to lube your cast bullets as well. I don't know how 'technical' you want to get but a 'cake cutter' style lube tool can be easily made if you want to 'pan' lube your bullets.
Old school but it works well and is fairly fast.

[220]

If you are only shooting paper then a wadcutter design is worth thinking about.
Another one that shoots very well for me is the Lee 105SWC seated as deep as I can get it in a 38spl case and a light charge of fast burning powder.
By deep I mean completely in the case, with my dies the nose of the projectile is about 3mm below the case mouth,At 650-700fps at 25m 10 shot groups are a big hole if I do my part.
At 650-700fps it doesnt seem to matter if I shoot them without sizing and lubed with LA lubed and sized or coated results are all similar.
One flyer is this group but the other 9 shots are fairly representative of the results I get. Revlover is a stock standard S&W 686.

[Travlin]

Any Keith type bullet that is non gas check will take care of most of your needs. You are shooting a Colt, I have an old model Colt Trooper that I have been shooting my own loads with my cast bullets in since 1969. My Colt likes the slugs sized to .356 just as the man that sold it to me suggested. He was a registered Colt Dealer. My Lyman mould is 357446 and I cast them hard so they weigh about 158 grains.

[clovishound]

I second the wadcutter for .38 revolver work, however, you will need something different for .357 magnum. I use only .357 magnum in my Henry, but have only shoot a couple of .357 in revolvers to see how they shoot. I would consider using .357 for self defense, if using a 38/357 revolver for SD.

I would also second a 158 grain semi wadcutter without gas checks for .357. It will also work very well for .38, but my preference is wadcutter. If you want to load the .357 up to respectable velocities, consider powder coating or Hi Tek coating them. I would consider that anyway, unless you have a revolver that is good with lead. I have not had good luck with 2 of my 3 revolvers with lubbed cast. Coated works very well.

[JEBar]

there is an old comment about opinions .. .. for me, this type of discussion is a learning experience and its good to read about so many who have positive experiences using cast bullets .... I tried using good quality ones in 38 and 357 .... did try adjusting powder charges but still ended up with lead mess in the barrels (revolvers and rifles) .... I believe part of the problem stemmed from the theory that its not good to fire both lead and jacketed bullets in the same firearm .... this has been discussed many times .... even though I have thousands of Oregon Trail and Missouri Bullet Company cast 158 gr bullets in various configurations, I've come to the point that for me its best to go with jacketed

[Mistered]

I believe part of the problem stemmed from the theory that its not good to fire both lead and jacketed bullets in the same firearm

Probably some truth to this however I think it stems from the problem some experience with lead not shooting anywhere near as accurately as jacketed in a particular gun and so that becomes the simple solution for many.

When it's not a problem many will shoot a combination of lead and jacketed with no issues.

Lots of reasons for the inconsistency of accuracy with lead. Bullet diameter, lead content, weight variances, lube issues etc. and sometimes it's hard to decipher the exact problem.

A couple years ago it seems I ran out of .357 while out shooting my Henry and had a box of .38 Specials with me so I decided to run a few and to my surprise they shot incredibly accurately. I believe they were Laser Cast 158 grain SWC.

I recently picked up a box of 125 grain hard cast LRN 9mm bullets to try in my Ruger PCC (the ongoing experiment) and they shot TERRIBLE out of it! One person even suggested the bullets may not be engaging the rifling due to the twist rate and shooting like a smoothbore! However in my CZ 75 they shoot incredibly well.