Beagle333
08-13-2012, 04:50 PM
These are from a custom mold (not my own), based on the 358430. This mold is a little different in that the original Lyman had 3 lube grooves and no crimp groove, and this custom one has 2 lube grooves and a crimp groove. It's a pretty neat looking bullet and weighs in at a whopping 195 grains as cast in 50% WW and 50% Pb. (drops at .360)
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/DSC03396.jpg
I discovered immediately that they are a real bear to size to .358 while unlubed. So I tumbled them in some Alox and let that dry overnight, then sized them in my Lee push-thru sizer in my hand press. I thought I was gonna have to go shove em through the Challenger press, but after the Alox they were really easy to do and it was comfortable to size a bunch of them with the hand press while sitting around watching the Olympics.
I also discovered that I should have spritzed the Alox in the tub before putting in the bullets to tumble, because some of it dripped into the lube grooves and is wasted, because it doesn't tumble back out. I think it would have coated just the driving bands if I had applied it to the tub first. (I only used one quick swirly squirt of it anyway) Sorry, volume of "one quick swirly squirt" not available at this printing.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/DSC03449.jpg
After they were sized, I dip lubed them in some TAC#1 bullet lube and cooled them on some wax paper. I double dipped em to make sure the grooves were full, but probably could have gotten away with a single dip. It didn't really matter, all excess went back in the melting pot anyway. This was the first batch that was dipped before sizing. I quickly learned that it is less messy to dip after sizing.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/DSC03416.jpg
I had to make a "cake cutter" because I didn't own one, and I discovered that the bullet seating stem on my Lee Whack-a-mole loader is exactly the right size to stretch a case out to accommodate a .358 bullet. I drilled the primer and added the high tech nail. Perhaps maybe later I'll fancy it up a bit with a ball point pen spring over the nail and a wooden knob on the sharp end. It works though.
If you try making one like this...... Do NOT drive the seating stem very far into the case at once. Lube it well and tap in, pull out... repeat. If you drive it all the way to the bottom, you ain't gettin it back out.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/DSC03428.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/DSC03427.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/DSC03396.jpg
I discovered immediately that they are a real bear to size to .358 while unlubed. So I tumbled them in some Alox and let that dry overnight, then sized them in my Lee push-thru sizer in my hand press. I thought I was gonna have to go shove em through the Challenger press, but after the Alox they were really easy to do and it was comfortable to size a bunch of them with the hand press while sitting around watching the Olympics.
I also discovered that I should have spritzed the Alox in the tub before putting in the bullets to tumble, because some of it dripped into the lube grooves and is wasted, because it doesn't tumble back out. I think it would have coated just the driving bands if I had applied it to the tub first. (I only used one quick swirly squirt of it anyway) Sorry, volume of "one quick swirly squirt" not available at this printing.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/DSC03449.jpg
After they were sized, I dip lubed them in some TAC#1 bullet lube and cooled them on some wax paper. I double dipped em to make sure the grooves were full, but probably could have gotten away with a single dip. It didn't really matter, all excess went back in the melting pot anyway. This was the first batch that was dipped before sizing. I quickly learned that it is less messy to dip after sizing.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/DSC03416.jpg
I had to make a "cake cutter" because I didn't own one, and I discovered that the bullet seating stem on my Lee Whack-a-mole loader is exactly the right size to stretch a case out to accommodate a .358 bullet. I drilled the primer and added the high tech nail. Perhaps maybe later I'll fancy it up a bit with a ball point pen spring over the nail and a wooden knob on the sharp end. It works though.
If you try making one like this...... Do NOT drive the seating stem very far into the case at once. Lube it well and tap in, pull out... repeat. If you drive it all the way to the bottom, you ain't gettin it back out.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/DSC03428.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/DSC03427.jpg