[Sakdog]

Is this design flawed or what? Its supposed to be used for 357 or .38 spl Its their 2ogive radius tumble lube design bullet that weighs 158 grains. I show a max coal of 1.590" for 357 mag and these bullets if crimped in the last groove (looks like a tumble lube groove but if you look closely appears to be the crimp groove) when you crimp that booger in a 357 case the COAL is something like 1.638" (brass is trimmed). Actually in my Taurus tracker will bind the cylinder because the bullets stick out of the cyl. just barely.... If i seat the bullet another .050" it will be sunk in the case and the crimp will be over the 2r portion of the bullet. If I seat it another .010 or so it'll shave lead every time I seat a bullet. Anyone else have this problem? This bullet design works fine in the .38 spl but it really sucks that Ill have to tap each cast bullet with a hammer before sizing and lubing them so that they can fire from my .357.. Seriously considering calling lee precision on this one and seeing if they will take my 6 cav mold back and give me a 6 cav design with the SWC profile just because of this.

I absolutely love lee products everything for casting/reloading I own comes from lee except a lyman dps3 powder dispenser/scale. But boy oh boy does this ever seem like a design flaw and this bullet design should be designated for .38spl only. Am I missing something maybe theres a better way to seat it correctly... Any help appreciated.

zc

 

[PrimalSeal]

The one I use is the 158 grain SWC. Do you have a link to the actual mold so I can get an idea of what it looks like? From there we might be able to lend you some help.

 

[Silicon Wolverine]

negatory good buddy. you are supposed to crimp those over the bottom edge of the ogive, NOT in the first groove. that is lube groove but it is differently shaped to help lube the leading edge of the bullet better.

SW

 

[Sakdog]

Thanks SW I suppose Ill give that a shot on the next batch. Poor lube groove keeps getting a crimp mushed down on it but Its good to have this forum to help guide me on these kind of issues. Live and learn thanks buddy.

link to picture of what the bullet looks like can be found here
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=563717

 

[Silicon Wolverine]

that issue is why i got rid of that particular mold. never likede the deisgn. i started shooting truncated flat points from a 9mm mold in mine, got fantastic results, and never went back. my colt trooper has a tight bore so 356 bullets work good in it.

its a littel known fact that over half of modern 38/357 revolvers have tight bores that can shoot 9mm bullets better than standard ones. 9mm is .356 and 38/357 is usually .358. i experimented with it with mine just to cut back on the number of molds i was buying and found shooting 9mm bullets IMPROVED my groups considerably. give it a try and see how it works out for you.

SW

 

[Sakdog]

Thats actually very interesting about the barrel diameter on Modern 38/357 revolvers. It would make sense because manufacturers could use some of the same tooling as they would to manufacture 9mm barrels. If I recall correctly the LEE reloading manual states that the problem with oversize bullets is not so much an increase in pressure but the fact that It will not chamber correctly so it would seem that manufacturers could just use the same tooling because that extra .002" between 9mm and 38/357 really wont make a big difference. I've got a 9mm TC mold from lee and I have the 2r ogive 9mm mold as well both are 124 gn. designs but the TC one I have leaned off using that much for no other reason than that the TC makes my 9mms look like crayola crayons. I guess they will look even more like crayons when stuck in a 357 case! But ill give that a shot and see how she goes it'll be nice to have a few different bullet designs all of which I can load into 38/357. Ive got a couple 1000 9mm makarov bullets that I bought before I started casting and some that I have cast I need to run through the .358 die and try them out too. I like my little FEG pa-63 but man oh man does it take a long time to turn 9mm luger cases into Makarov cases. I think I loaded 50 of em and every time I pull that trigger I am running around looking for that piece of brass because it took forever to trim it down. good stuff though. what a fun habit though.