I have the Lee 9mm 120TC mold. It is great in my 9mm.
Has anyone tried this in a .38spl?
Does it cast large enough?
I like the mold I have and I would love to cast it for the .38spl.
I have the Lee 9mm 120TC mold. It is great in my 9mm.
Has anyone tried this in a .38spl?
Does it cast large enough?
I like the mold I have and I would love to cast it for the .38spl.
Haven't tried.
You already mentioned my chief concern, is it large enough??
Shiloh
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The catalog lists these as 9mm/.38 bullets. You'll have to check the "as cast" diameter and see if they are big enough. I have some on hand, but they have all been sized to .356. They need to be at least .357, and even then you may have a leading problem. If they will go .358-.359 they ought to do well. Also depends on how fast you want to drive them, I guess.
The question should be does your's cast large enough. You have the mould, measure the bullets.
Aim small, miss small!
Depends on the pistol. I hear some 38/357s on the S&W variety run .356 anyway.
I had one of those in a Lee six banger. The boolits cast too small for my Hi Power and now I use a iron mold and size down to .358 and the Browning loves them. I got rid of the Lee some time ago and of course now I have two more 9's and I shoulda kept it.
I keep on telling myself.....don't sell molds or guns cuz it's gonna bite ya.
Pax Nobiscum Dan (Crash) Corrigan
Currently casting, reloading and shooting: 223 Rem, 6.5x55 Sweede, 30 Carbine, 30-06 Springfield, 30-30 WCF, 303 Brit., 7.62x39, 7.92x57 Mauser, .32 Long, 32 H&R Mag, 327 Fed Mag, 380 ACP. 9x19, 38 Spcl, 357 Mag, 38-55 Win, 41 Mag, 44 Spcl., 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 45 ACP, 454 Casull, 457 RB for ROA and 50-90 Sharps. Shooting .22 LR & 12 Gauge seldom and buying ammo for same.
Been there, done that. I gave my 9mm stuff to a friend because I got rid of my 9mm and had no desire to get another. Then picked up a 9mm Lugar.
Aim small, miss small!
I size mine to .357 for the 9mms. I use a .358 sizer for .357 mag and .38 Spl.
Undersized is far worse than oversized, and I have lots of other boolits for the
revolvers, so I have never even tried it. In fact last weekend I cast up over 500
120-TCs and about 250 RCBS 38-150-KTs for the .38/.357s. I just use different
designs for the two.
Probably would work if you only have the one mold, but might not be ideal.
Bill
If it was easy, anybody could do it.
I loaded some up a while back for light snub nose loads and they worked fine, but did not shot to point of aim, really high or low, I cant remember for sure. I loaded them as cast. They were dropping at about .358 if I remember correctly. It just depends on what size you mold drops them at and your barrel size. Give it a shot.
I've used it a lot in my K 38 and Rossi 92, very accurate and holds up well to 100 yds. Can't find my 100 yd stuff but here is a couple of 50 yd targets, one on the left is the rifle and the revolver is on the right. The .38 spl load is 5.3/231.
Last edited by fecmech; 01-09-2011 at 01:40 PM.
"Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyrannies. Aristotle
I have that mold, mine cast about .360 varies a little from one cavity to another but sized to .358 shoots good in my .38/.357 Vaqueros and 92 rifle. Used it for SASS until I got a similar mold with a crimp groove, now use that one.
H10
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 |