Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Lyman 358429

Im curious as to what makes the Blackhawk cylinder too short?
The bullet nose should be flush with the cylinder face in this instance.

In either of my Blackhawks, a 50th Anniversary model (a flattop) and a Lipsey's Flattop, seating a 358429 into full length 357 Magnum brass crimped into the bullet's crimp groove produces a cartridge overall length which is just a hair too long for the cylinder, and will hang up as it rotates into battery.

I think it has something to do with a shorter cylinder on the Flattop models?

Must be.

I know in the New Model its not an issue.

The Flattops were dimensioned like the original Blackhawks.

Hard to keep up with!

My Blackhawk is a 3-screw flat-top, and I have no trouble using the 358429 in .357 cases crimped in the crimp groove behind the first driving band. If it's a really close fit for go-nogo, then maybe just trimming cases a few thousandths shorter makes the difference?

I should have updated this thread eight months ago...but "better late than never" will be my defense. I was able to pare my groups down a bit with a little more practice, but in the end the 358156 shoots about a half inch better than the 358429 in my gun. My handgun skills are nowhere near where they were a couple of decades ago due to heavy concentration on rifles at the expense of handguns. My conclusion is that the 358429 shoots almost as well as the 358156, but not by a significant amount and certainly not enough to make an appreciable difference for my uses.

Maybe I'll get back into handguns more this winter...I have an inherited New Frontier I need to wear out and a mold for it that's never even been warmed up, along with a few hundred pounds of good alloy out in the garage. A little more practice could never hurt, and there's going to be a cataract surgery in the next couple of years which may be a blessing (or not, I guess), God willing and the creek don't rise.

I'd try heat treating them, if your still up for it.

358429 .. that's the 170 grain mold? I wonder if it could be a twist issue. I remember Veral Smith writing about selections of one of his designs .. LFN over WFN .. if range was over something like 50 or 75 yards. I think the issue was marginal twist and a possible answer is more velocity. So .. not sure what max is for 2400 with those 170s, but maybe switch to Win 296 and push the throttle a little bit farther. .. a guess, something to try, with no promises made.

Tom

An imbalaced or off center nose requires more stabilization; its even dicier with a long, unsupported nose, which the 358429 has.

The WFN often needs more speed than the LFN and his OWC designs are even more range limited, this due to BC. A std. wadcutter, even more so.

This is why I recommend nose first sizing, for everything.

I suspect its a stripping on the rifling engagement or base deformation as the issue, all else equal.

The Thompson bullet is pretty similar, but uses a gas check.

Heat treating or increasing base hardness cuts down on the stripping and sized correctly, decreases base deformation and increases accuracy, which is what a gas check does, primarily.