Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting #358315 Lyman ideal mold

200 gr rn gc picked it up with a Lyman
. 350 rb mold for $45 the other day at a gunshow. Anybody used the 358315 in a 35 Remington? Mb

Yep. Should be a 204gr RN. Lubed and gas-checked mine weigh 215grs. 32.0grs IMR-4198 has been my huckleberry in the 35 Remington. Scoots these along at 2150fps and great accuracy. I need to make more.

Gaschekt, how hard a alloy you running?

Don't have a hardness tester, but they can't be fingernail scratched. I drop them from the hot mold into ice water for some quench hardening. My alloy contains tin and antimony, but I don't go overboard with it. My castings weigh fairly close to specs, that is around 204grs from this mold. I bought three bars of tin and a 10lb bar of superhard from rotometals years ago and have my own mix going. It's close to the lyman #2 alloy

With a good lube and gas checks the exact alloy isn't as critical. I actually prefer something slightly softer than the #2 alloy

Cranked up my pistol pot (RCBS bottom pour) which was loaded with alloy a little softer than #2. It took that small Ideal mold only about 8 bullets to start throwing good casts. The mold Is in really good shape for 50 to 60+ years old . I run 60 thru it and looks like they will average right at 206 .2 grns. Will start on the low end of powder charges with imr 4198 as I have it. See how they run and harden the alloy if needed...mb

Good deal. I use a Lyman 450 to lube and seat gas checks. I stopped with 32.0grs of IMR-4198 in the 35 Remington with this cast bullet because it equals factory performance. They run 2150fps from my barrel. As always it's best to start lower and work up in a different barrel. Primers are always nicely rounded. This is not a high pressure load.

I shoot a fair number of them in my .357 Maximum. That rifle has a very generous throat and they didn't work very well until I got off my butt and did a chamber cast. Turned out the throat is .360", no wonder the .358 bullets didn't fare too well. Luckily the mold drops bullets right at .360 so all I needed to do was open up one of my bullet sizing dies to .360 and presto. I push them with 21 gr. 1680 for a bit over 1800fps in my 26" barrel, the same charge I've settled on for all the 200 grainers I shoot (have a lot of room to go higher but that velocity level is sufficient and it suits me). As well as the 358315 shoots, I hate to say that the humble 200 grain flat nose Lee bullet shoots a little better.

Alloy: 1/20 tin/lead, Javelina lube. Next step is to jockey the alloy to find improvement, not that it needs much. I'm weaning myself off of antimony/arsenic alloys and sticking mainly with tin/lead only as my days of pushing beyond 2000 fps are behind me - what's the point in creating hard bullets that withstand high velocity/pressure but don't expand for crap on soft tissue, and aren't any more accurate? Perhaps if this .35 rifle were used for match shooting, especially at 200 yards and farther, I would change my tune, but for me it's an informal target/plinker gun that sometimes goes into the deer woods where a 100 yard shot is unheard of.

Been running the RCBS 200 gr. FNGC . Probably pretty close to your bullet. Been having good results with lead around 11 BH. Currently getting real good accuracy in 3 different rifles using max loads of 748 Win. and magum primer.

I tried the RCBS 35cal 200gr FP, but they don't feed well in my 760 pumps. I ordered 100 samples from Montana Bullet Worx. I would have considered purchasing the mold if they fed well. It's a great Bullet otherwise. Actually edged out the Lyman in accuracy tests, but no dice if they don't feed.

I push that bullet cast to .359" (by Maplewood Bullets, Brattleboro, VT) with 29 grains of AA5744 in my 20"-barrelled .358 Winchester bolt gun. Just under 2000 fps. Highly accurate at 50 yds and more than acceptable at 100 yds. Also 27 grains of RL7 works well. Both loads straight outta the Lyman 49th Edition. Sorry....I don't cast. I'll just show myself out....