380 load using Lee 120TC Boolit

[wcp4570]

My question is, has anyone used this lee 356-120-TC boolit in a 380, if so how does it shoot? I cast and load the 9mm using this Lee boolit with great success. My son has a fellow 4H Shooting Sports Leader that wants to get into casting and wants to start with the 380. He is already setup with everything needed to load the 380 so I thought I would give him a couple hundred cast, sized and lubed boolits for him to try. The Lyman #44 load manual lists the Lyman 358242 (similar style and weight) for the 380 as a starting point for load data. Any input you may have is appreciated.

wcp

[bowenrd]

This is my opinion and only that. 120 is heavy for 380. I would use 85 to 105 gr.

[bowenrd]

More on the 120 TC. The 120 is long and the 380 case on the short side. The 120 MAY have to be seated deep to fit magazine. This creates 3 possible problems. The deep seating will raise chamber pressure dramatically and the internal taper of the case MAY swage boolit so it is undersize thus cause severe leading. The 3rd problem is deep seating MAY expand case enough that round will chamber with difficulty or not at all. FWIW.

[wcp4570]

Thanks for the reply. What you say sounds logical to me. I don't have a 380 to play with so I'm at a loss on this one. I'm just trying to help a guy out. Would like to hear from someone that reloads for a 380. I may have to suggest he buy the Lee 105 boolit for his 380. Thanks

wcp

[Carolina Cast Bullets]

IMHO either the Lee 102 RN or RDO's 100 grain RNFL would be better for the 380. I load/shoot both in my 380 and they work well.

Jerry
Carolina Cast Bullets

[wcp4570]

I just realized in my original post I refered to the 358242 as similar boolit but it is a RN design, I was thinking of the 356402 when I looked in the manual for a load. The manual does list the 358242 as the 120gr version of that design. I may hold off on giving the Lee boolit to try. Don't want to suggest anything unsafe.

wcp

[revolvergeek]

I have handloaded .380 with Lee 125 LRN TL bullets, and they functioned fine but velocities were somewhat low and point of impact was rather high at distance. Lyman 47th and 49th both have load data for 120 LRN .380.

That said, I had better accuracy with some of Jerry's Lee 102 RN.

[Cherokee]

I loaded the Lee 120TC (lube groove) for 380 in my guns. Fit and function was fine but .356 was too small boolit size for the guns and did not shoot well; next time I'll use .357. .957" OAL and a lite charge of 231 worked fine.

[wcp4570]

Cherokee
From your experience it sounds like the 120tc may work with a little trial and error. Based on your comment I think I will offer some boolits for testing. This is what I had hoped to find out about this boolit. Thanks to everyone for your input.

wcp

[reloader28]

I aint tried the Lee, but I've used the Lyman. It would only chamber in the bigger HiPoints tho. Anything else and it was too long. It did shoot pretty good tho with 2gr Bullseye.

I really like the Lee 125gr RF(comes out at 130gr) in 380. 2gr BE shoots really good. Chronoed at 650fps. With a hot load of Bluedot it will go 950fps. But its not much fun to shoot in the small guns. With 2gr it shot good in everything. Fig, Walther, Taurus, HiPoint.

My new Ranch Dog 100gr FN is a super sweet boolit. 2.9gr BE shoots good in everything we've tried it in. Not sure of the speed as the weather gave me fits on the chrono that day.

[fecmech]

I shot quite a lot of the Lee 120 tc in a .380 Keltec. Used 2 grs of Bullseye (max load) for 676 fps. Shot well and was comfortable to shoot. The Ranch Dog 100 gr RNFP is way more versatile and can be safely pushed to 900 fps out of the KT.

[leadman]

I used the Lee 120gr TC in my OMC but the point of impact was too high to be usable.

[Hang Fire]

My question is, has anyone used this lee 356-120-TC boolit in a 380, if so how does it shoot? I cast and load the 9mm using this Lee boolit with great success. My son has a fellow 4H Shooting Sports Leader that wants to get into casting and wants to start with the 380. He is already setup with everything needed to load the 380 so I thought I would give him a couple hundred cast, sized and lubed boolits for him to try. The Lyman #44 load manual lists the Lyman 358242 (similar style and weight) for the 380 as a starting point for load data. Any input you may have is appreciated.

wcp
We tried it for wifes .380's and the boolit would have had to be set way deep, gave up on it.