A good 125 grain 38 special boolit?

[crabo]

Does anyone have a really good 125 grain boolit for use in a 38 special. I did the math, and if I cast 125 instead of 158, I get one free boolit for every 4 I cast.

4000 158 swc = 5056 125 boolits All of a sudden, this becomes a big deal, particularly if you are just standing and blasting at steel targets which only require a splat mark to indicate a hit.

I keep being drawn to the H&G #81 which is a 127 swc that is pattened after the H&G 68. We know that the 68 is one of the all time greatest bullets for a 45 acp. Theoretically, I could shoot this bullet in 9mm, 38 super, and 38 special. The big problem is Ballisticast is the only way to get this mold. No one has this mold or has ever seen one for sale.

I am having a problem taking a $180 gamble that it will be a good bullet when the mold comes in.

I guess what I am really asking is, do you think the #81 bullet would be a good bullet for all 3 purposes?

http://hgmould.gunloads.com/molds/81.jpg

Thanks,

Crabo

[9.3X62AL]

The only caveat I would advise in a 38/357 revolver concerning shorter boolits like the 125-130 grain-class involves their shank shortness. In revolvers, it is desireable for the front drive band of a boolit/ogive of a bullet to be well-engraved into the leade and rifling origin before its base clears the cylinder face. This follows with jacketed as well as cast projectiles. The 110 grain bullets in my agency's old 38 Special +P service loads were great for report and recoil (for a 38, at least......), but weren't much for accuracy at 25 yards+. My own experience with 125 grainers (jacketed) is a little better, but 38/357 revos really come into their own at the 140 grain level or heavier, owing (I believe) to the support and direction of the system given to the longer bullets/boolits. Looking at the boolit diagram you provided, I think the front drive band would be well-installed in the leades of most 38/357 revolvers prior to cylinder face clearance, but that is just a SWAG.

Yer call on the "more boolits/lb" question. If fine accuracy isn't required, no problem. If jackrabbits at 40+ yards are on the agenda.......I'd go heavier. The lightest boolit I use in 38 Special is Lyman #358477, a 150 grain SWC. It is a jack-flattener of the first order, and has been VERY accurate in over a dozen revolvers. It has a rounder nose profile that gets along better with speed-loading than the more angular profile of the Keith or Thompson SWC designs. My only "light-boolit" work in revolvers with castings involved the 100 grain Makarov slugs I tried in a S&W Victory Model in 38 S&W. Not impressive.

[oso]

I'd worry that mold may cast too small for 38 Special. I haven't been impressed with 9mm/38 Super boolits in 38 Special without Beagleing the mold.
My wife likes fast light bullets so I had a 125 gr with a long nose band and wide meplat Mountain Mold cut for her; then Lee came out with their 358-125-RF, which may be worth a try in 38 Special, but wonder about FTF in 9mm/38 Super.
One I recommend for your consideration is Lyman's 358-480, 130-131 gr SWC with two lube grooves and no crimp groove (but may be hard to find) since this might work well for you in 9mm or 38 Super. I have used it in 9mm myself but prefer the Lyman 356-634.
We like the light bullets in our snubbies for close work, but for anything else in 38 Special the lightest I go is the Lee 358-140-SWC, but this takes up a lot of a 9mm case as it has to be seated deeply to chamber.

[Bass Ackward]

Crabo,

Think for a minute, every bullet mold sold today, is sold because someone is buying them. Someone is buying them because of a reputation for success. Yet not everyone can shoot every design in every gun and get accuracy.

If you are not flexible enough to load for short bearing area bullets so that you get good case neck tension to get good ignition while establishing and maintaining good bullet alignment in the case, then I don't care what the design, it ain't gonna shoot well for you.

My recommendation would be for you to either bum some of these to try first or look for a commercial caster that molds that design and buy some bullets before you buy the mold regardless of what you read printed here.

[Cherokee]

I use the Lee 358-125 FN or RNF or RFN whatever. It shoots well for me in practice for SASS shooting and not bad at 25 yd. Also used as my plinking/blasting load in 38 Sepcial. Try to keep 500-1000 on hand for that reason.

[HORNET]

The 358480 is usually hard to find, but Lee makes a 140 swc and their 110 swc seems real popular according to other posts in the past. Either way, your not out much and if they work well you can get a 6-banger for real volume.

[smkummer]

I use this as my primary 9mm bullet with a 6 cavity mold. Then I discovered that 2 cavities are almost too slow for the 3 ammo cans of 38's that I load. So now its my standard pressure 38 load with 4.3 grs. of bullseye. I was running it through a .358 sizer and noticing very little resistance so I don't size for .38 revolver with this bullet. You can crimp the last TL groove and it works.

[kawalekm]

I Crabo
I've got a Lee 120g TC that casts out at 124 grains with Lyman #2 alloy. It mikes out to .3585 or so before sizing. I size it to .356 for my 9mm, but have never tried it in my .357 yet. Eventually I'll get around to it. It seems though that bullet selection should be based on something other than just how many you get out of the pot. Another way to look at is: that it takes that much longer to finish a casting session when you've got other important things to do, like assembling finished ammo!
Michael

[mooman76]

If you want to go lighter Lee makes an excellent shooting 105g SWC. 90316. I've heard good comments from people that don't care for Lee moulds too much and I have 2 myself!

[GSM]

Crabo:

Have you looked at the Lyman 358345? It's a 115 gr. SWC if you wanted to try even lighter than 125 gr.

[imashooter2]

Since you've done the math... How much do you pay for your alloy, and how many shots to make up the $180 for the mold?

And don't forget you are getting less than 5K of those heavy 127 grain boolits for the same weight as 4000 158s.

[garandsrus]

Crabo,

I would suggest getting in on the group buy for a 75 gr WC in 38/357, which is still open. It would probably do well for short range/low power shooting. You get 2 for the price of 1...

I ran a group buy of a 38/357 105gr WC a year or so back. It shoots great for short range plinking/target shooting, which is what it was intended for.

John

[MT Gianni]

If you are just blasting plates the 358242 122 gr rn is a good shooting boolit. They show up on the auction sites for not much more than a lee. Gianni

[lead_her_fly]

I use this mold. I ran onto one on ebay and snatched it up. If I remember right it was about $80 or so. In fact I just got in from casting about 10lbs. of them!

My mold throws them @ .357 which would work in any 38 spl. In 357 mag they may lead because of size. I know they work well in my 9mm for sure. I have a video on here somewhere shooting pins and plates with this boolit.

http://hgmould.gunloads.com/molds/7.jpg