Bullets for 357??

[Big Dipper]

I am getting closer to casting some bullets. I want to shoot my 10" contender 357 mag octagon barrel. I have four molds on hand but I know little about them. I will be mostly target shooting and plinking. However if this works out I would love to shoot a deer with this gun. The molds I have are Ideal 358495 (4 cavity), Lyman 358156LP (HP) (1 cavity), Lyman 3589 (1 cavity), Lyman 358156AP (2 cavity). Is the Ideal mold numbers the same as the numbers listed in the lyman book? Do I need gas checks? This will be my first try at casting. Is the Lyman 3589 pretty heavy to shoot in my gun?

[MtGun44]

358156 (both molds) use gas checks. These are popular for .357 Mag, but my personal opinion is
that GCs are not actually necessary in any pistol cartridges, including full power .44 and .357 mag loads.
Yes, these are the numbers in the Lyman cast boolit books.

Certainly the HP 358156 would be a good hunting boolit, although not my personal choice, there is
no denying that it would do the job, as would the solid version cast of a softish alloy. The 495 is
a full wadcutter, a target boolit, best suited to low velocity plinking or target loads for ranges under
50 yds. The AP and LP are meaningless for our purposes, info about the cherry maker.

Not familiar with and did not look up 3589 (modern number would be 358009) design.

I would suggest that a RCBS 38-150-SWC or Lyman 358477 (nearly identical) are the top choices for all
around boolits in .357, with the wonderful 358429 in there as well, and all without the time and cost of
gas checks.

Bill

[9.3X62AL]

Bill's points are well-founded. Most of my pistol and revolver mould designs don't have gas check shanks--most of my rifle mould designs do.

That said, I do shoot a large number of #358156 castings from my 357s, with gas checks in place. They are ACCURATE critters, clear past 1500 FPS in my Ruger BisHawk. Their principal disadvantage is cost--they add 3 cents+ to the price of every boolit. As Bill indicates, they might be superfluous also. But not always--higher intensity/pressure loads can benefit from the shielded boolit base a gas check provides. I have yet to ever run a gas check boolit of any caliber sans gas check--some folks have, and report good results. In a Lyman 450 sizer, the unchecked shank can really create a mess while applying lube. So too can beveled bases. I use a right-angled plain base design that avoids that scene, or attach a gas check when a shank presents itself.

[reloader28]

The Lee 358 158 RF shoots better in my gun then the Lyman 358 156.
It also has a bigger meplat and drops at 165gr and works excellent on deer. But I did cut the bevel base off the mold and run PB gas checks on it.

[Beerd]

Big Dipper,

Your 3589 (or 358009) is a heavy bullet more suited to a 35 Whelen than a 357 mag. You could probably trade it to someone here for a jillion gas checks and then be happy ever after shooting the 358156.
..

[9.3X62AL]

The Lee 358 158 RF shoots better in my gun then the Lyman 358 156.
It also has a bigger meplat and drops at 165gr and works excellent on deer. But I did cut the bevel base off the mold and run PB gas checks on it.

I have an Accurate Molds round flatnose design (with gas check) for my 44 Magnum lever rifle, but have yet to obtain a RFN of standard weight for the 357s--likely due to lack of a lever rifle so chambered. I do have a RFN 180 grainer, though--it does well from the BisHawk. One thing I recall as written by the great Ken Waters--the "shoulderless" RN or RFN designs are often used in revolvers that don't do well with SWC designs, and his belief was that the RN and RFN tended to self-center themselves in the forcing cone and barrel more readily than the abruptly-angled shoulders of the SWC did--and produce better downrange results. This might be what you're seeing, sir.

[Rex]

I like the 358477 150 grain version. Also really good is a 358665 bullet with it's large bore riding nose.
7 grains Unique and the 358665 does about 99% of all I need to do with a hand gun.

[H.Callahan]

+1 on the 358477. I have an NOE clone of this and it is the best 38/357 boolit I have.

[Larry Gibson]

My opinion on GC'd cast bullets in handguns is different. If you want top end performance of velocity, accuracy and terminal performance in longer barreled handguns, especially the Contender you have, a GC'd cast bullet is best. The 358156HP is excellent for top end magnum loads in Contenders. It is my favorite choice for my own 357 Contenders. 1600+fps, excellent accuracy and superb expansion with through a through penetration on deer is easy to obtain. A 16-1 alloy is excellent. 2400, 4227, H110/296 are excellent powders.

The PB'd bullets are best for lighter loads. Use starting loads a d work up as with the closed breach and longer barrel accuracy, velocity and pressure come quicker than with a revolver. Accuracy will be found at less than the top end loads listed for revolvers.

Larry Gibson

[pmeisel]

I've shot a lot of the 358156 design over the years and I like it a lot. I buy 'em rather than cast myself, so someone else has been paid to put the gas check on.