Light weight boolits

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

Does anyone shoot some of the really light boolit designs. I'm specifically asking about molds such as NOE's 100 gr. .358 wadcutter or Lee's 358-105-SWC. As lead gets increasingly expensive and/or difficult to find, I'm thinking about lightening up some of my plinking loads. So I guess the question is at what point is a boolit too light?

[fcvan]

I bought the Lee 358-105 SWC way back when for use in a .380 ACP after reading about its use in an article. Later I tried it in 9mm which worked well. I wish I had never tried it in a .38 sp J frame. Well, I wish I had not let my wife shoot that boolit in that gun. She won't give it back!

The little 105 weighs out about 110 with range scrap. I load it over 5 grains of Unique and it shoots to point of aim in my 4" K frame. It prints pretty holes on paper and rolls tin cans nicely. Heck, if you want to save more lead for fun plinking load up some .36 cal round balls. I don't know what range you can shoot the round balls but I used to shoot soda cans at 100 yards with the 105 SWC. Try it out, you'll like it. Frank

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

Thanks Frank,
I just ordered the Lee 358-125-RF to see how my Blackhawk likes lighter boolits with the idea that if I don't like it I can use it for 9mm, if the Blackhawk takes those well then I will probably try the 105-SWC. I just like the idea that even with the 125 RF I can get 9 more boolits out of a pound of lead than I can with a 148WC. And with the 105 SWC I can get 20 more boolits out of a pound than with the 148WC.

[Got-R-Did]

I have shot 2K of them through a S&W Mod 60 since I "discovered" them. I absolutely love them, and they are far more accurate than I am at 25 yds out of this little 2". I shot them in a 4" revolver belonging to a friend and at 50 yds they all struck the silhouette and made crisp clean holes. I imagine they would cut flesh just as cleanly if one had to use them for self defense, or against critters.
Got-R-Did.

[ChuckS1]

I think it's a trade-off since you may be saving on lead, but you've got to add more powder, assuming you want the same point of impact and/or velocity. For example, I shoot a 200 grain H&G 68 with 3.8 grains of Bullseye. When I switched to a 160 grain H&G S242-style bullet, I had to up my powder charge to 4.4 grains of Bullseye to get the pistol to cycle and to get the point of impact back to where it should be. So, I guess I should figure out the difference between 40 grains of lead and .6 grains of powder and see which is most cost effective. Seriously, talking pennies here, so I say shoot what makes you happy, I guess.

[Catshooter]

You can also try round ball. Hard to get much lighter in whatever caliber.


Cat

[runfiverun]

i can buy powder at the store....
i shoot a lot of 125gr rnfp's in the 38 case and use the same boolit in my 9m's.
i made some squishy lead up for my m.i.l. to use as home defense rounds in the 38 case with the 125's.
she can't handle a whole lot of recoil, but a 125 at 750 she can shoot quite well.

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

I have shot 2K of them through a S&W Mod 60 since I "discovered" them. I absolutely love them, and they are far more accurate than I am at 25 yds out of this little 2". I shot them in a 4" revolver belonging to a friend and at 50 yds they all struck the silhouette and made crisp clean holes. I imagine they would cut flesh just as cleanly if one had to use them for self defense, or against critters.
Got-R-Did.

By "them" do you mean the Lee 105 SWC or the NOE 100 WC?

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

. Seriously, talking pennies here, so I say shoot what makes you happy, I guess.

For me its less about money than about lead, I only have so much time to chase down WW and range scrap and smelt.

[fecmech]

The Lee, Lyman and RCBS 120 gr 9MM TC bullets are all high accuracy performers in the .38/.357 platform as is the Ranch Dog 100 gr RNFP for the 9MM. The Lee 125 RF is a solid design also. The only downside to the light weights as target ammo or plinkers is they shoot low with fixed sight guns.

[williamwaco]

For me its less about money than about lead, I only have so much time to chase down WW and range scrap and smelt.


You can buy all the lead, already smelted, and delivered to your front door from members here.

I Never buy scrap wheel weights any more.

[kir_kenix]

At one time there was a GB for 70gr DEWC (double ended wad cutters) in a Lee 6 banger. These were intended to be double or triple stacked in the .357 mag and max, respectively. I use mine single stacked for very light plinkers in j-frame size guns mainly. Sometimes I'll load up a few hundred .38's with this boolit if I'm going to be taking new shooters or kids out and fire them through a K-frame. In fact I have one model 15 with the sights set up excusivley for this boolit.

Light for caliber boolits can be alot of fun, and can save alot of lead. This is a great way to practice fast double action shooting in revolvers, while still making clean holes in a target.

The lee 105 is an excellent boolit and I think you will enjoy how long it takes to drain a pot pouring those little pills. My 105 pours about 110 or so with wheelweights and remains stable out to about 100 yards.

[Blammer]

The lee 105gr truncone is nice I like it in my 357mag. :)