Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Lee 358-158-RF

I've no experience with these, but cast a few up this afternoon. Hoping they will work in a 3.5" 27-2.

Your castings look great. I shoot a similar design from NOE & have zero complaints.

Ditto. Alloy?

Thank you, gents.

Gnoahhh, this is 3:1, lead to lino. It's interesting when I blow these pics up... I can see little defects I miss with the naked eye. The bullet on its side has a little chip out of the forward drive band. Anyway, I'm always trying to get better with casting. Will pay closer attention.

Creeker, from what I've read these do best at mag velocity. Have you found the same to be true?

Like I said never used that bullet but the similar NOE bullet loves 1250 FPS.

Good looking bullet Longarm. What diameter are they dropping from the mold at?

Cheers!



Thanks RB. These are dropping at .360

Have you fired these yet longarm? I was considering that mold as well for 38 target loads.

Funflyer,
No sir I have not. Been casting all day! Really need to knock it off for a while and shoot some..

I have poured these with wheel weights for 6+ yrs now in 38 Special and 357....both pistols and levers. Use mostly Titegroup and AA9(max 357 loads) powders. Coat with Lee ALox. Great bullet. I am able to use the same load in either pistol or rifle. I use 3.5 grains of Titegroup for 38's and 4.5 for 357.

I cast these and the tumble lube design of the same weight. These have proven to be easier to get good groups with than the tumble lube design.

I wish Lee made a 180 grain version of this mold!

I've shot over a metric ton of those. I've been casting them for 20 or so years. Wonderful bullet.

Dave, care to share a revolver load?
Today I tried Unique, TiteGroup, and Green Dot - the latter provided the best groups in both this and the Arsenal 358-158 KT

4.5grs of Unique, 38 special. 5 grains works well too.

I like that bullet in my Rossi 357 at moderate velocities in 38 cases. It shoots well.
Rick

You might see if you can find some Herco. It meters horribly, but judging from the pics, a fluffy, bulky powder might be best, even for lighter loads, as there would appear to be a lot of space in the case. Most of the weight appears to be forward of the crimp groove, which gives you a lot of powder capacity over a typical SWC.

I'd be looking for a bulkier powder, personally.