Looking to buy a new mold for my 357. I want a cast boolit that would shoot well at mid range loads up to full magnum loadings.
Looking to buy a new mold for my 357. I want a cast boolit that would shoot well at mid range loads up to full magnum loadings.
That would be either the NOE 360-160 WFN or the Lyman 358156. I'd get both.
Last edited by Beagle333; 06-16-2014 at 10:19 PM. Reason: can't find any MP 358156 available
KE4GWE - - - - - - Colt 1860, it just feels right.
Nearly any 150-170 grain boolit will fit that description with appropriate sizing. I personally like the 358311 and 358429 offerings from Lyman as well as the 358-158-rf from Lee.
If you are thinking about a gas check boolit it is hard to beat the Lee c358-158-swc
358429 is my heaviest boolit. The LEE 140 gr SWC works well also.
Shiloh
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"A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves."
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Any government that does not trust its citizens with firearms is either a tyranny, or planning to become one. Joseph P. Martino
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"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns; why should we let them have ideas?" - J. Stalin
Another vote for 358156. But as above, just about any 150-170gr SWC design works pretty well.
My Straight shooter thread
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...traightshooter
I have all the classic offerings from Lyman and RCBS but my most used is the Lee 158 TL SWC. I shoot a hundred of these to one of the other designs in my various 38/357 pistols and Handi- Rifle.
Another good all around boolit is Lyman 358665, the cowboy boolit.
Just a note (without trying to invoke the standard joke about using gascheck-capable bullets without the check):
I've fired THOUSANDS of the 358156 bullet without gaschecks over the last fifty years.
Accuracy was superb, and effect on a limited number of critters up to 150 pounds or so was all that a man could want.
I have a 4-cavity mould for the design, and it's my standard .38/.357 bullet. I do occasionally install gaschecks when the impulse strikes, but frankly, they're not really needed for my uses.
Regards from BruceB in Nevada
"The .30'06 is never a mistake." - Colonel Townsend Whelen
Probably any well cast SWC boolit of mid weight should do.
My favorite and my go to jackrabit and vermin boolit as well as paper and can puncher is the RCBS 38-150-SWC design. Forty some years of great service from that mold now and accuracy is great from 800 fps to 1,200 fps out of several different S&W revolvers. I guess at least a couple of dump trucks have been filled up with jacks, prairie dogs, picket pins and other hay eaters and diggers over the years with the boolit out of my S&Ws.
Last edited by Scharfschuetze; 06-17-2014 at 09:39 PM.
Keep your powder dry,
Scharf
No such thing as a "single bullet mold." Stand by.
My go to bullet for the .38 Special and .357 Mag is the RCBS 38-150-KT.
I bought one of the MP molds 358-156 GC molds It works well as an HP in every 38/357 we have. Might be worth a PM to see if he has any left.
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I have several different 35 Caliber molds, but the 358156 is the most accurate across the board so far.
Getting ready to run a batch of 357446 here whenever I work up the gumption.
I had hopes the 180-190 LAR45/Ranch Dog Boolit would be more accurate, but neither could match the 358156 in any case tested so far.
Amendments
The Second there to protect the First!
It's a NOE 360477 (150 grain PB SWC) for me. Works great at 38 and 357 velocities out of my Rugers and S&W's. I've had better luck with NOE than the other brands -- just my experience.
Lots of good ones, but the NOE 358429 is my favorite. For plain wadcutters, I like and use a Lyman 358495.
In homage to Skeeter Skelton, I got Buckshot to HP a cavity of my old Ideal 358156. It is a good one as well.
NOE 360-180 works for everything we are doing with a 357 mag.
Lyman 358477 was my standard CB for many, many years with some 358429 and 358156 thrown in. Lately I have switched to the Lee 358158RF. Great accuracy in 38 or 357.
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SASS, Ruger & Marlin accumulator
Really like my Saeco # 62358 RNFP Great PB use it hard or soft fast and slow always flys well for me. GP
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |