Anyone like the Lee 158 RF bullet?

[black44hawk]

I just purchaced the Lee round flat nose bullet for my new GP100. Does anyone have any experience with it? What worked for you?

[Dale53]

black44hawk;
Just use the Lyman Manual data for the 358311 bullet in both the .357 magnum and the .38 Special.

I REALLY like the Lee bullet. I have their six cavity mould and it is just like shelling corn:mrgreen: (old farmer talk indicating high production rates). I think that you will be very happy with this bullet.

Dale53

[Curly James]

One of my favorites in .38/357 handguns. I have the Lee six cavity and I commonly use 4.5 grains of Unique or WW 231 and have achieved extraordinary accuracy. Uh, the extraordinary accuracy was achieved using a Ransom rest At any rate the load shoots better than I do. This is also the bullet I use when competing with a revolver in my clubs IDPA matches. I use straight wheelweights and air cool them. Sizing to .358 seems to work in all of my pistolas in this caliber. CJ.

[redbear705]

One of my favorites in .38/357 handguns. I have the Lee six cavity and I commonly use 4.5 grains of Unique or WW 231 and have achieved extraordinary accuracy. Uh, the extraordinary accuracy was achieved using a Ransom rest At any rate the load shoots better than I do. This is also the bullet I use when competing with a revolver in my clubs IDPA matches. I use straight wheelweights and air cool them. Sizing to .358 seems to work in all of my pistolas in this caliber. CJ.


I just bought this mold and cast some up.....now for hunting they should be great but for loading fast for IDPA or any action shooting they just dont locate in the cylinder fast enough!

They do shoot good! and the target hole looks like a SWC bullet just went through! nice clean cut .

JR

I am now looking for a 358311 in a 4 banger Lyman. Which is what I should have bought in the first place. By the way I emailed LEE and they told me if I want a different bullet profile I could custom order one.....yeah like I want to spend an extra $100 set up fee! Lee should have a 158gr rn not a 2 ogive in .358".

JR

[Cherokee]

I've had the Lee 158 FN for some time now and find it great in several of my 357's. I use HS6 with this bullet for my pin load and it cleans the table fine. Haven't tried any long rang stuff because I can't see that well any more but 25-50 yds works great.

[imashooter2]

Redbear705, the Lee 150 grain RN loads very nicely in my moon clipped 686 seven shooter for ICORE and steel. Nice and short too. Give it a look.

[Dale53]

I have a four cavity Lyman mould for the 358311. I would trade it for a 429421.

Dale53

[oso]

Smooth loading bullet with speed loaders for me and my wife and no hangups in my lever action. Works in every gun I've shot it through.

[EMC45]

Got a 2 cav in this weight/profile and it is great! Shoots great over 3 Gr. Bullseye lit with a Win Sm Pistol Primer

[Uncle Grinch]

Funny... I asked yesterday about this same mould and only got one reply (thanks Lloyd Smale) Must be a timing thing.

None the less I appreciate the comments you got Blackhawk44 . It serves the same purpose. I believe this will be my next purchase. It sounds like a good boolit.

[Bear4570]

With 4.0 grains of bullseye this bullet is dead accurate out of all 4 of my 2" .38's and .357's. Just about the only bullet I use anymore in this caliber besides a full wadcutter and the Keith bullet. Love it.

[GP100man]

black44hawk
it shoots good in all my 357 &38 spls.
i like the bore riding affect the oglive gives to it .
i push it pretty hard in my gps 15.5grs. h110 with std primer
3.5grs of clays for plinking under a 8 bhn boolit
boolits check at 14.3 bhn for the h110 load.
i also took the little bevel off the base .

GO100man :cbpour:

[redbear705]

Redbear705, the Lee 150 grain RN loads very nicely in my moon clipped 686 seven shooter for ICORE and steel. Nice and short too. Give it a look.


My mold came in an wednesday and I cast with it today...1700 bullets in about 3 1/2 hrs and very few were bad...even from start up!

The six cavity mold I start casting, using the first hole closest to the sprue hinge where I figure the most power is for cutting the sprue. After three or four casts I start adding a cavity at a time as the mold warms up, once all six are in use I start casting from the other end as it is easier for me to observe the flow.

They measure at appx .360 and I size down to .359 then lube with 50/50 white label lube but I am going to change to a harder lube as I dont like the fact the lube runs all over and sticks to everything. I am gonna try the red carnuba lube or maybe something even harder...there is a guy on ebay selling lube that looks like it may be the ticket (lube) for me.

The bullets are dropping between 150.9 to 153.2gr as cast using a wheel weight mixture plus about a three inch piece of body solder which seems to make a harder bullet and a better finish also, I think the heavies are because I was having an issue with the sprue plate handle closing farther then it should causing torque on the mold which in turn caused the mold to be slightly open on one end....but once I got it figured out I had already cast a bunch...but next time I will do better.

I loaded some up tonight with 4gr titegroup to try out next shoot. I did notice that I had to seat them deeper because the crimp groove is so far towards the tip of the bullet oal was 1.430" where as I usually use 1'450" col. I will be sure to take the chrono out and check 'em for speed....gotta make the power floor plus dont'cha know!

I hope these work well and load fast as this is the reason I bought it.....although I like the 160gr rnfp It is not for speed loading that is for sure!

Well....Time will tell! :)

JR

[Blammer]

I got this mold too!

I can make bad bullets 6 times faster now!

had to pretty much scrap my first and second run as they were all bad and sorting out the few good ones was just now worth it....

I made another run on this mould today so we will see if I learned anything.

I too can't wait to shoot them to see how they do.

mine seem to have a small bevel base, does anyone elses have this?

[redbear705]

I got this mold too!

I can make bad bullets 6 times faster now!

had to pretty much scrap my first and second run as they were all bad and sorting out the few good ones was just now worth it....

I made another run on this mould today so we will see if I learned anything.

I too can't wait to shoot them to see how they do.

mine seem to have a small bevel base, does anyone elses have this?


If you are talking about the 160 rnf yes mine has a bevel base but the 150 rn is flat....


JR

[imashooter2]

My mold came in an wednesday

-snip-

I hope these work well and load fast as this is the reason I bought it.....although I like the 160gr rnfp It is not for speed loading that is for sure!

Well....Time will tell! :)

JR

The short OAL on the 150's is a good thing for speed loads. They work great for me in the moon clipped gun, plenty of ogive to correct alignment on less than perfect attempts. You'll be happy.

I cast mine from range scrap and they go 152-153 grains and .359-.3595 diameter.

[redbear705]

imashooter2...I recognize the moon clip as a great help while reloading but I shoot a security six and a s&w 65 so I am currently using the HKS speedloaders.

I am currently checking out the safariland comp3 but dont want to spend $20 a piece. I have 13 HKS loaded and ready to go in my range box which makes filling between stages a little easier especially if I am the last shooter on this stage and the first shooter in the next!

Hopefully these will work well....I dont know if this is a benefit or not but do you lube both lube grooves or just one of them and which one? I am gonna start with both lube grooves filled with white label 50/50 and see how much smoke I can make! :)

JR

[Blammer]

mine wt on ave 163 gr even though the mould says it's suppose to be 158.

I guess I'm using a purer lead alloy.

but to me it's just WW's....

[imashooter2]

imashooter2...I recognize the moon clip as a great help while reloading but I shoot a security six and a s&w 65 so I am currently using the HKS speedloaders.

I am currently checking out the safariland comp3 but dont want to spend $20 a piece. I have 13 HKS loaded and ready to go in my range box which makes filling between stages a little easier especially if I am the last shooter on this stage and the first shooter in the next!

Hopefully these will work well....I dont know if this is a benefit or not but do you lube both lube grooves or just one of them and which one? I am gonna start with both lube grooves filled with white label 50/50 and see how much smoke I can make! :)

JR

I used speed loaders for a couple of years in a six shooter before I bought the 7 shot. I used Comp III's and I'm not sure I wasn't faster using them than the moons. The big advantage in moons (to me) is the positive extraction and no lost brass on field courses. Anyway, shorter is better in speed loaders too. Less wobble to misalign the cartridges.

I'm trying to make Rooster Jacket work with mine, but the ones I do send through the lubrisizer get both grooves filled with Lar's Carnauba Red.

[redbear705]

mine wt on ave 163 gr even though the mould says it's suppose to be 158.

I guess I'm using a purer lead alloy.

but to me it's just WW's....

Blammer sorry about jacking your thread!

My LEE 160gr rnf casts about 162.4 to 164.7gr I use mixed wheel weights and a little body solder for my brew.

JR

[Blammer]

no sweat here, it's all good info if you ask me!

btw, ain't my thread... :)

[redbear705]

no sweat here, it's all good info if you ask me!

btw, ain't my thread... :)


Well then....I appologize to black44hawk then! [smilie=1:

JR

[redbear705]

I have shown the booloits I cast of the LEE 160gr RNF .358 around and my hunting buddies want to borrow (?) some of the boolits to hunt with. They seem to think that design will really put a thumpin to what ever they use it for...mostly deer or hogs. So I 'Borrowed' them some! :)

I do like they way they shoot and they make nice holes in IDPA targets...the holes look alot like SWC holes.

JR

[LarryM]

Here are a few Lee 158 RNF bullets that I cast. They were shot into wet magazines from 25 yards. load was I think 15 grains H110, cci 550 primer. Alloy was 2/1 WW/linotype. pistol was a Ruger vaquero 5-1/4" barrel. ( no chrono so no speed)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/FLHRI-OK/casting/expansion_357mag.jpg

Jacketed bullet is a 158 Gr Hornady XTP FP shot into same media and from same load for comparison.

[Tristan]

Larry, those are some pretty 'mushrooms'!

Has anyone recovered one of this style boolit from game, say a whitetail or hog?

I have a bunch of these that I purchased from another member; and have just started using for plinkers in revolvers and a leveraction. So far, so good... over 3.7 gr. of WW 231.

- Tristan (who's planning on purchasing one of these molds, someday)

[Blammer]

that 4the one from the left didn't expand, musta been a squib load.. :D


I couldn't stand it! I finally finally got to load up some of my lee 358-158-RF's.

Mine were sized to .358 and wt'd 163 gr.

I loaded some in my R-P nickle hulls, with CCI 200 primers and 6 and 7 gr of Herco, seated to canneleur.

They flowed like hot butter through a big screen sive in my Win 94 (24" tube). I shot at 25 yards and had 2, 3 shot groups at one inch, both with 6 and 7 gr of Herco.

I switched to my ever abundant Bluedot with 9 gr and put 2, 2shot groups into a 1/2 inch at 25 yds.

I like it!

now for chrony and water jug testing with video!

It's sprinkling here now so I'll have to wait.

Today is turning out to be a GREAT day for me!

[Blammer]

I THOUGHT I cast up about 150 bullets the other day with this mould, (that were good...)

WHERE did they go!

man this bullet casting thing sure is saving me money! (on buying bullets that is....)

[black44hawk]

No apologies please. Only the experiences and ideas are important. Those pictures posted by Larry M speak 1000 words. I was surprised at the expansion given the relatively hard alloy: if you notice they seem to outperform the popular hornady jacketed bullet. You seem to be getting good results with h110. Do you need a magnum primer for the .357 load?

[35remington]

Straight wheelweights will expand down to around 1300 fps in wet phone books, depending upon what you call "expansion." At or below that speed they'll bump up the meplat some to a cylinder or weak mushroom.

Since the bullets shown are harder (around BHN 15 for a guess) I promise you that load was cooking right along. Should be well over 1400 fps.

[LarryM]

Don't have a hardness tester or a chrono so there is some guess work involved on that part. I always use magnum primers (CCI550) with H110. Just the way I've always done it.
I also have to correct my original post, I had to go back and check my log book. The alloy was 3/1 ww/lino and the charge was 17.5 gr H110 which "books" close to 1400fps. Leading was also not to my liking with this load. I've still got about 500 of these bullets with this alloy and need to see what I can do with them out of my Marlin 1894C. But this shows what is possible....

[utk]

If you're thinking of buying the Lyman 358665 to avoid Lee's bevel-based 358-158-RF - forget it!
The picture on Lyman's homepage shows a flatbase boolit so I ordered the mould.
But, what a disappointment! It had a bevel base, just like Lee's version.
And Lyman's customer service were not very helpful either, or gave any explanation.

I do not like Lyman...

[KCSO]

This is what I shoot in my 1913 Colt Army Special. I hold it to 3.4 of B/E in deference to a gun nearing 100 years old. I like it a lot. As to not locating in the cylinders, hey how about loading 6 from a dump pouch all full wadcutters. Been there done that got the T shirt. In 1971 I would have danced for joy to see the Lee in a speedloader.