Please help my ignorance!

I'm thinking that I need to get a mold to feed my Rossi 92 in 357. Problem is I don't know, 1.)how to measure the bore of the little 16" carbine except to find the appropriate size fishing sinker of pure or near pure lead and shove it down the bore. 2.) the shape of bullet that would feed in the Rossi but have the widest meplate that will function. 3.) What weight between 150gr and 180gr that I should choose. I know the weight, besides quantity, has a lot to do with what ratio I have of lead to tin and antimony.

So you can see I need a lot of help. Perhaps someone has one of these rifles and I could find out some of the bullets that work well in their Rossi. I will eventually be adding a D/A revolver and hope that the bullet will shoot well in both. Oh, I do have a very minimal amount if casting under my belt and have enjoyed using aluminum molds. I am currently looking at Accurate Molds of Centerville , Utah for the mold but I'm willing to go somewhere else as well. Thanks to all!

FMpreacher

Slugging a barrel is easy and useful when determining bore diameter to size your bullets to. Use pure soft lead. I've used sinkers before as well as round ball. I put a little imperial lube on the slug. Get it started at the muzzle with a wood mallet when it's flush with the crown I then use a wood dowel and my mallet to push it on through the barrel and catch it at the other end. Measure the diameter of the bullet with a mic and you now know your bore diameter.

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Don’t overthink things. I have owned 14 .38 cal weapons and .358 cast bullets worked in all of them.

Bullet profile can get problematic. There are bullets that feed in almost any gun, but if you are going off the reservation with a larger meplat you should test some before investing in a mold. I have seen bullets that feed in one lever action that will not work reliably in an other of the same make. Sometimes adjusting OAL will solve it but not always.

RNFP bullets are forgiving but that may not address the large flat nose criteria you desire.

Start out cheap. Lee mould. 358 RF . About 160 gr and it will kill. Get the two cavity model to start. Most 150 to 190 gr boolits should do fine in your carbine.

As far as boolit weight, you could try different ones, and see which your particular rifle likes. Twist rate of the barrel is a determining factor. long skinny boolits like faster twist. If you need boolits to try, a request to generous members here might produce enough for a test run. I could send you some 150 gr pistol boolits of 150 gr. for free.

Wayne

Please do NOT use a wood dowel to drive a slug through the rifle barrel. If it breaks or gets jammed you will visit a gun smith to have it removed. The bore diameter is the minor measurement of the barrel before the rifling is cut or pressed in the inner part of the barrel. The GROOVE diameter is the larger measurement and your cast bullet needs to be a little larger than that to get a good seal and prevent leading of the barrel surface.

As suggested, the Lee 358-158-RF is a good starting point, and is not a great expense to get started, you might just find that you will not need to look further unless you want to buy the Lee 6 cavity mold for more production. With the conventional bullet lube styles, you can lube and size, or tumble lube, or powder coat the same bullet, which ever best suits your needs. Welcome and good luck. Dusty

Just to play it safe:

Stick with nose-to-crimp-groove length of 0.3" or less. That will keep your cartridge length within max SAAMI spec per the blueprint. A lot of revolvers will probably let you go longer, but they don't have to contend with a lever action feeding system.

In semi auto pistols, I've found round nose flat points with something close to a 70% meplat to be very accommodating for reliable feed. For a .358, that's 0.25". There are A LOT of folks running the Lee 358-158-RF, which looks to be directly cloned in the Accurate 36-158M (personally, I'd request Tom leave off the bevel base). That takes the meplat up to 0.275", so call 0.28" at 78% your tentative upper limit for meplat.

Within those parameters, there's a mountain of designs you can choose from, so start thinking about whether you're wanting a conventional groove for a lube-sizer; having it drop at desired diameter for tumble lube; or planning to powder coat. Give this thread a few days to hopefully get some input on what DOESN'T feed. To test the upper extreme without a lot of money invested, you could always load a dummy round with a .38 wadcutter or flat based boolit seated backwards out at max .357 COAL. How the nose of that gets mangled on feeding should give an inkling of what the gun wants.

As already mentioned you can try a Lee 2-cavity cheap.

158-170 grains is a good weight range to be in. I've found that non-expanding 9mm's in the 135-147 grain / 1000fps range can penetrate quite a lot, so you probably don't need to go to the 180+ range for a .357 unless you have something particular in mind like subsonic/suppressed.

Buying a Lee two cavity is not that cheap ($35) and wasted money unless you love casting more than shooting. It gets old quick for some of us and that is why people buy 4-8 cavity molds. Figure about 75-100 bullets and hour per cavity. If 150-200 bullets an hour is all you want/need then the 2 cavity is OK. Otherwise, you will end up buying another mold.

The only 2 cavity molds I have are for a Master Caster than turns out 350-400 bullets an hour, but you cannot get that rate of production casting manually.

It takes 10 sample bullets to figure out what your gun will feed. Load them up without powder or primers and cycle them 10 times each. In 100 cycles you will know what works. Check them for scratches and dings as well. When you load them do not put a roll crimp on them so you can play with COAL if need be. Like Wayne posted, most of us will send you a handful of bullets free for the asking. Free is better than $35 wasted.

BTW, this a high end 4 cavity mold that comes with pins to make solid, Large HP, Cup HP and Penta HP bullets from 162-173 gr. at a reasonable cost for a lifetime of productive casting. It is a very popular style for .357's. and getting samples will be easy as many folks here have it. The design has decades of positive history as an accurate and effective hunting bullet.

https://www.mp-molds.com/product/358...4-cavity-mold/

While the Lee Molds are Not as Cheap as they once were... they still Move well on the Market.. The Used Market is Very strong right now...But, some of my Younger Friends would Never Buy Anything Used...they would rather Shoddy Chiwanese New...than decent Quality Used!! I consider Lee Molds acceptable Quality, and Actually prefer them. 2 cavity?? I am Not at all in any Hurry anymore...and in fact get considerable Enjoyment, Puttering...so... I still cast with single cavity if I like 'em!!!

Maybe you should decide which Camp yer In....

Save yourself a lot of trouble and don't worry about slugging the bore. Wasted time. The Lee bullet is a good suggestion. I have an older Rossi 38/357 carbine and it shoots this bullet well. I size mine to .360" but as mentioned .358" would probably work well also. You don't need a hard alloy for plinking bullets but would be best to have a balanced alloy. In other words equal parts of Tin and Antimony. Not knowing what components of alloy you have it's a little tough to get you where you want to go. There is an excellent article on the LASC site dealing with the 357 Magnum cartidge specifically. It is a good read and a link can be found at the bottom of this page.
Good luck to you,
Rick

What I recommend is to try several different styles of commercial cast bullets, 50 of each will give you a good idea of what they will do. Then look for that mould or one close to it. Look in the 160-180 grn range I have used 160 grn with good results. remember as weight goes up velocity goes down. Also as weight goes up so does recoil. The other bullet that may be interesting is the 148grn wadcutter know for accuracy, A full sized metplat. This might make a good all around bullet for your uses.

Even though it goes against all the previous suggestions, I probably wouldn't slug the bore, I'd just size them .358 like all the commercial cast bullets that you'd buy from the major vendors.
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I own some leverguns, but I don't own a Rossi. COAL plays a big part in what will cycle in the gun and what won't. I'd start with a 158gr RF (like the Lee), if you go heavier, that generally means longer in 357Mag ammo...which may or may not be a problem with your gun.
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If I just got a Rossi, I'd search around the Rossi forum that our friend RanchDog runs.
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There is a couple sentences in a post at the Rossi forum that kind of says it all.

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"It's interesting that the personalities of 92s relating to feeding differ almost as much as those of their owners. My Rossi .38/357 R92 feeds smoothly with both .38 Special and .357 Magnum. Unlike what some have experienced here, I've found SWCs feed as well as TC (truncated cone) bullets, which are my bullets of choice. One caveat, though: I shoot only reloads; never factory ammunition. What follows is a description of seven loads that work and one that won't"
-by dlidster » 26 May 2020

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https://www.rossi-rifleman.com/viewtopic.php?t=6720

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Originally Posted by Dusty Bannister

Please do NOT use a wood dowel to drive a slug through the rifle barrel. If it breaks or gets jammed you will visit a gun smith to have it removed. The bore diameter is the minor measurement of the barrel before the rifling is cut or pressed in the inner part of the barrel. The GROOVE diameter is the larger measurement and your cast bullet needs to be a little larger than that to get a good seal and prevent leading of the barrel surface.

As suggested, the Lee 358-158-RF is a good starting point, and is not a great expense to get started, you might just find that you will not need to look further unless you want to buy the Lee 6 cavity mold for more production. With the conventional bullet lube styles, you can lube and size, or tumble lube, or powder coat the same bullet, which ever best suits your needs. Welcome and good luck. Dusty

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I will never use anything other than a wood dowel. I use hardwood not balsa. If they break and they have I get another one and pound it out. Works just fine.

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Quote--"I will never use anything other than a wood dowel. I use hardwood not balsa. If they break and they have I get another one and pound it out. Works just fine."

Yes it certainly will----until it splits on an angle and the sharp point jams in beside the second piece and you try to drive the whole mess out, then---- But your gun, your choice!

EMT is perfectly welcome to use whatever method he finds serves him best. Others might care to review this link to decide if it is worth following his method or not.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...-from-a-barrel

Never would have I imagined a wood dowel would cause such a debate. I have never had the problems you guys discuss. The dowels have never been jammed up inside. I don't pound on them like I'm killing snakes. Gentle little taps with a dowel of the appropriate size to the bore. I have the used the same walnut dowel multiple times on multiple guns. If dowels are so bad, what do you recommend?

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I slug the barrels (and revolver cylinders) of every new to me gun. I use brass rods to drive slugs and in countless uses have never had a problem. I also take some to the range in case of a squib round to clear the barrel. I have uses sinkers, balls, unsized soft bullets, and made my own slugs using fired cases. I want to know my guns. No guessing, no depending on forum info., slugging tells me exactly what dimensions my guns are. You may be fine with what others use as far as diameter and shape go, but not necessarily for your gun. Slugging is easy (lots of good info here and on line) and you will know for sure what you need...

I got my brass rods here. I buy the longer lengths and cut to size https://www.mcmaster.com/products/br.../?s=brass-rods

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Originally Posted by mdi

I slug the barrels (and revolver cylinders) of every new to me gun. I use brass rods to drive slugs and in countless uses have never had a problem. I also take some to the range in case of a squib round to clear the barrel. I have uses sinkers, balls, unsized soft bullets, and made my own slugs using fired cases. I want to know my guns. No guessing, no depending on forum info., slugging tells me exactly what dimensions my guns are. You may be fine with what others use as far as diameter and shape go, but not necessarily for your gun. Slugging is easy (lots of good info here and on line) and you will know for sure what you need...

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An old timer showed me how to slug a barrel he used hardwood dowels. That's why I use that method. I'm always open to new ideas or tricks part of the reason I hang around here and ask questions. I'm not an expert but I didn't fall off the hay wagon yesterday.

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I make range rods from a 3 ft long 1/4" dia. brass rods that I get from McMaster-Carr. I thread one end to 1/4-20 with a die and screw a knob or handle on that end. I drill & tap the other end so that I can screw any type of bore brush or cleaning tool into it. I've used these rods to knock stuck dummy rounds out of the chamber, clean the bore, or for a host of gunsmithing choirs. For 22 caliber rifles I use a piece of 3/16" diameter rod. Rods like these are easy to make, look classy, and work great.

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Originally Posted by 405grain

I make range rods from a 3 ft long 1/4" dia. brass rods that I get from McMaster-Carr. I thread one end to 1/4-20 with a die and screw a knob or handle on that end. I drill & tap the other end so that I can screw any type of bore brush or cleaning tool into it. I've used these rods to knock stuck dummy rounds out of the chamber, clean the bore, or for a host of gunsmithing choirs. For 22 caliber rifles I use a piece of 3/16" diameter rod. Rods like these are easy to make, look classy, and work great.

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Golf balls make excellent handles.

I like that idea.

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If you want to shoot 38's in it get the Lee 125 gr rf and load it with 5 gr BE.

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Originally Posted by MT Gianni

If you want to shoot 38's in it get the Lee 125 gr rf and load it with 5 gr BE.

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I have cast many of thse bullets and have used them in 380 ACP, 9mm, 38 Special and 357 Magnum. I have used a few different alloys and size depending on gun and caliber...

Howdy and Welcome to the forum. My buddy's R92 had no issues feeding theRCBS-38-150-SWC. We shot it a fair amount with that bullet, both in 38 Special and 357 Magnum before he swapped the rifle off. I didn't get a chance to test it with any other 357 bullets, unfortunately.

Before investing in expensive 4 cavity custom moulds ... I have tried out various boolit weights and designs using Lee 2 cavity moulds to find out what works , doesn,t work , what the gun likes and doesn't like ... it isn't a Bad Idea !

You will always find a use for a boolit mould ... it isn't money wasted ...
I dicovered my 9mm fed Truncated Cone desins better than RN ... and that I liked 120 - 124 gr. weight better than 115 gr or 150 grs ... Those Lee moulds helped me decide which NOE mould to order ... I still have uses for the Lee Moulds ...
and I don't see 2 cavity moulds as a handicap ... My first choice are 3 and 2 cavity aluminum !
The Lee 358-158-RF would be a good place to start , 158 grs is a good weight , the Round will help feeding , the Flat is a nice large looking meplat and the flat is sweet to have in a lever gun magazine ... safety is good !
Just my two centavo's ...
Load Safe ,
Gary
Gary

My Rossi 92 hates the Lee 158rf. I can use the Lyman 358665 (158rf) with no problems. Slightly different nose profile. I can also use the Lee 125rf.

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Originally Posted by Bazoo

Howdy and Welcome to the forum. My buddy's R92 had no issues feeding theRCBS-38-150-SWC. We shot it a fair amount with that bullet, both in 38 Special and 357 Magnum before he swapped the rifle off. I didn't get a chance to test it with any other 357 bullets, unfortunately.

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I should Know Better...But, Sold Mine...now searching for another!!! Nice Boolit!!!

I shoot a lot of the 158 Lee boolits thru my Rossi. Size almost all my 38's to .360". My 353 casull needs .358". I use a brass rod, either 1/4" or 5/16" that I got from my local welding supply. Friend of mine broke a wooden dowel in the bore of his revolver, trying to get the boolit out of the barrel. Luckily, I have a lathe and made a bushing to fit in his barrel, so we could drill out most of the dowel and boolit and clear the barrel. Thats why I won't use a wood dowel
I ended up using a Lee 6 cav. 158rnfp mould although lately, I buy PC 38cal boolits of 158gr or less and cast for the heavier weights.