Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Casting and loading .380

This is a Lyman # 356242 GV double cavity on the left and it casts a 90 grain bullet. The 6 cavity Lee is designed for the 9 mm at about 120 grains, but it shoots fine in the Kel-Tec P3AT. It will not chamber in the Kahr P-380 any which kind of way. It is Lee mold # TL356-124-2R and in 6 cavity the number is # 90465 and the bullet weighs 124 grains.




These are Lee handles and if you rap the hinge pin sharply as you are accustomed to doing on RCBS or Lyman handles, you are gonna break them. Ask me how I know. I keep Lee in the mold handle business.





These are the 90 grain Lyman bullets coated with Lee liquid lube and loaded as cast. They function fine in the Kel-Tec, but frequently jam in the Kahr. I have to seat them deeper in the case to function through the Kahr.





But reloading can save you a nickel or two if you shoot a .380 much. I don't know how much, but this little supply of commercially loaded ammo probably amounts to a couple hundred bucks at least. You can pay for a progressive press in about 2000 rounds I'd guess.

i have the lyman mold but also the lee which was for 9mm.
it ran find for me in a walther, and memory might be wrong but a keltec p3at. Aroun 124 grain i think. i had a number of boxes of 380 intending to mess with the walther, and put them away.
for some time i have been gravitating to the wheel guns which is what i started with anyway.
i had the 380 out to run through a cz83 but never got around to it. cz in 380 the 83, or 9mm mak in the 82 are mighty fine pistola's.

that alox works pretty good and i have used a bunch of it.
but on another level i hate it. Once seated i take something and clean it off the bullets. In 115degree heat here it is kind of messy.

I pulled out an old model ten this evening that came from a east coast police department. Probably made in the 60's. I was thinking what a sweet trigger pull it had on it. 38special is kind of antiquated in peoples minds but i was thinking that pistol with those 170 grain loads would work just fine. I have some 200grain round nose that i need to run into some water jugs or something too.

Funny you should say that Ron, because I have too and probably for the same reason. I think those of us who came up doing the kind of shooting you and I did at the level that we did it are always going to gravitate to revolvers and most of us are going to Smith's because that is what we shot. Many PD's back then issued model 10 Smith's with a heavy 4 inch barrel. It is bullet proof and dang near rooky cop proof. It still is and it will always be.

I have never felt under armed using a revolver and when I leave the gate where I live headed outside anywhere, I always have a revolver handy somewhere in addition the the 380 auto, which at that point, becomes the back up.

BTW, I started this thread because Sean (4ager) mentioned it over on the Handgun forum and I thought this was a more approprate place for that discussion.

Most interesting.

i was messing with an old model ten marked from the boston police dept. it was bought used at the time for about 75bucks.
reall slick light trigger, some would pay money today to get a trigger like that.
just feels good. It is on the agenda to fire some of those 35829 170gr bullets, and some 200gr round nose i have. Still think it's pretty capable even compared to all the wunderkind.

Bob W. That Lyman 90 gr. is the mold that I'm trying to make my old Charter arms 2" 38 spcl.
Udercover shoot to POA. Any suggestions other than banging the barrel up w/a block of lead?-Muddy

Can't help you muddy. I never tried to load that little bullet in a 38/357. But I did manage to bend the barrel on a 6 inch model 19 Smith by banging it over a drunks head one time. I don't recommend that method. I had to send that Revlover back to Smith for repairs.