Range Results: Lee 356-105-SWC in .380

[pt4u2nv]

OK, bit the boolit today and took a chance ( at least in my mind ) and shot some of these in my S & W Bodyguard. In a previous post I questioned whether this boolit could be used for my .380. Several concerns were with me as I had to seat the boolit extremely deep to get it to chamber. Final OAL was .915" which by all the info I could gather was way too deep for my comfort level. I actually got a bulge midway down the case by the boolit starting to push out the case from being too deep.

Well I finally decided to try this combo by sizing at .357 ( barrel was .356 ) , BAC lube and took a semi educated quess at 2.0 grs of Unique to start since there was no listing for this boolit or any even close with the depth I had to set them at. Well, 1st shot at 7 yds... dead center in bullseye, very mild recoil, chrono said 560 fps. Checked all my fingers and face and all was well. Retrieved case and absolutely no signs of high pressure at all !!!!! Wooohooo. Gun even cycled great with no signs of an issue. Had 7 more loaded just in case I got lucky and filled the clip up and shot 3 more in succession.......holy cow....ended up with a 3/4" group with 4 shots at 7 yds, all 4 just about touching each other. Just doesnt get any better than this so I shot the last 4 semi fast just to check the cycling with this load and worked perfect. No need to go any further at this point with any load development just run home and load up a bunch more just to prove it out a second time.


Boolit gods were with me today. Also, no leading at all even though it was only 8 shots but a good sign none the less. I also picked up about 20 lbs of range scrap in about 15 mins while I was there. Had a hard rain last night and they were just laying there at the base of the mound waiting for me to give them a new home.

[jdgabbard]

Yeah, I made a trade several years back for a couple thousand of those. Love to shoot them. When I run out I'll go back to my lyman 92gr RN mold.

[NSP64]

When I had a Taurus TCP in .380 it loved them. Still use them for 38 spcl and 9mm.

[fcvan]

I first read about using the Lee 358-105 SWC in .380 and bought the mold just for that purpose. I've always shot that boolit sized to .358 over 3 grains of Bullseye. The boolit is seated to where the case mouth was between the crimp groove and the front edge of the driving band. This is also where I seat this boolit for the 9mm.

I have shot this through a Beretta 70S, Walther PPK, FEG PA63 (Walther PP clone) and a Browning BDA. I haven't had the opportunity to launch from my wife's Walther PK380 or our Taurus TCP 738 pistols. I've held off on some load tinkering until the pipeline of primers and powder opens up again. I have no reason the believe this boolit won't feed in the PK380 or the 738. I really want to load some up specifically for a friend's Taurus .380 revolver. I was able to shoot that weapon and it was pretty cool being that it used moon clips.

People have compared the use of the 105 SWC as a baby H&G 68. I've always enjoyed the way it prints pretty holes when punching paper. My brother is kind of a traditionalist stick in the mud and doesn't like the 'look' of SWC boolits in .380, 9mm, .40 S&W, or .45 ACP. He's a fuddy duddy sometimes.