Round nose boolits

[lightload]

I understand target and game or defense reasons for selecting wadcutter or semi-wadcutter boolits. For me using round nose versions have always produced great accuracy in .38/.357 mag loads. Have others also noticed this? I've not conducted formal tests so I can't make claims backed by data.

[leadhead]

I've noticed very good accuracy in round nose rifle bullets as well.
Denny

[bedbugbilly]

In my 38/357s I use mainly RN with excellent results - Lyman/Ideal 358-311 (158 gr.), 358-242 (121 gr.), 358-212 (141 gr.) & 360-50 (115 gr.) , etc. I have a couple of Lyman/Ideal WC molds - they sit unused most of the time. I also get excellent results from Lees TL358-158SWC. My preferences though are a good old traditional RN.

I have way too many 38/357s - 1 7/8", 3", 4", 4 3/4", 5", 5 1/2" & 6" barrels - they all like RN.

I'm pretty "low tech". I'm 62 and my shooting is pretty much limited to plinking - paper, cans, etc. I don't have a chronograph and work my loads up using the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbooks I have - #2 & #3. I usually use Bulls Eye as my favorite although I do use Red Dot and Unique once in a while - and good old Black Powder as well. The RN seems to work just fine with either smokeless or BP and put a good round hole in the paper - no muss, no fuss.

Every once in a while, I get the "bug" to get my WC molds out but I always end up going back to the RN molds.

[lightload]

Most interesting, bedbug. I'm sitting on a lot of Red Dot and Green Dot. Any good 9/38/loads using these?

[DrCaveman]

It seems from my own informal tests that the round nose designs didnt give me any better accuracy than the swc or wfn designs. It kinda depended more on the boolit fit, powder choice & quantity, and alloy used.

So i have taken to using flat-nose designs because i think they damage tissue better, if my accuracy is the same either way. Others may chime in about tumbling effects within tissue that can make round nose designs excellent stoppers of living things. I cant really speak one way or the other about that.

All i can add is that round nose designs seem to drop from the mould really easy, and that is something to value. But it is true that plenty of swc and wfn designs also drop boolits very easily. So my vote still goes to flat nose designs.

Id say shoot what you got, if it is working well for you. Far too much emphasis is placed on a boolit's terminal effectiveness, when a well-placed shot will usually do the trick no matter the design...maybe

[FISH4BUGS]

I am experimenting with a Hensley & Gibbs #39 158 gr RN bullet in my Interarms Rossi 92. I am still experimenting with it but I am around 5 gr 231 currently for 357 loads (pretty light actually) and still trying different amounts of powder. Since these will be rifle loads only, I'll keep bumping it up by .2 gr each loading until it starts to lead. Then I'll back off .2 and stay there.

[tazman]

I have used several different round nose designs and they all shot well from my 38/357 revolvers.
I get slightly better accuracy with RF style boolits. Not certain why. I think it may be because they fit the forcing cone angle a bit better and direct the bullet into the barrel straighter. This is just supposition and I have no real way to prove it.
With good fitting boolits, all the boolit styles shoot accurately in my guns. Some are slightly better than others but the differences are not very great.
My 2 best are both NOE designs.
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=35&products_id=896&osCsid=b3lj07evu1342m928v6kimle06
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=35&products_id=146&osCsid=b3lj07evu1342m928v6kimle06
Several of the Lee designs are also very good as is the Lyman 358311 and 358477
The Lyman 358429 shoots well but not as well as the others for me.

[fecmech]

I am around 5 gr 231 currently for 357 loads (pretty light actually) and still trying different amounts of powder. Since these will be rifle loads only, I'll keep bumping it up by .2 gr each loading until it starts to lead. Then I'll back off .2 and stay there.
You have a long way to go. I've shot that bullet with 15/296 for over 1600 fps with good accuracy and no leading. It will obviously lead sooner with the 231 but that bullet carries all the lube you will ever need in a .357. You are about 1100 fps right now.

PS. The H&G #39 was THE most accurate bullet in my K-38 till I started playing with the Lee 121 TC and RCBS 124 TC. They are now the accuracy champs beating out the 39 but not by a lot. The 39 is still my 100 yd. Hunters pistol Silhouette load as the 120's won't always knock the ram over.

[JWFilips]

I Bought an old Ideal single cavity 357311 off Ebay a few years ago. Darn boolits were the most accurate I ever shot in my 38 Special & 357 mag S&Ws......but I was bad and had Buckshot hollow point it for me Wouldn't you just know it .....It got even better!

[runfiverun]

in the 9 start with 3 grs and move ahead.
I stopped at 3.2 with the red-dot, the green should get you closer to 4 easy enough.
once I started using green-dot in my 45 acp i pretty much dedicated 8 pounds to the cause, when it runs out i'll maybe try something else.

[44man]

True the RN gives a better start at the cone but a RNFP will do the same.
Back when I had my 27, I shot the 358156 HP so good it would hit 1" targets at 100 yards. Don't remember the load except it was a healthy dose of 2400.
Saddest thing I ever did was sell the gun and mold.
The problem I had was the front cylinder bushing would pull and tighten the cylinder. I should have fixed it.
I have never had a .357 or shot any as accurate since. The K38 was very good but I had no use for a .38 after all.
A Keith or Thompson WILL shoot if the gun is fit well.

[FISH4BUGS]

You have a long way to go. I've shot that bullet with 15/296 for over 1600 fps with good accuracy and no leading. It will obviously lead sooner with the 231 but that bullet carries all the lube you will ever need in a .357. You are about 1100 fps right now.

Interesting. 296 is my magnum powder and I intend to try it out also.
But why do you say the #39 will lead sooner with 231? This is a plain base bullet so no gas check.
What is it about 231 that would cause that?

[44man]

Instant pressure and slump with a soft boolit. Skid at the rifling. Too fast too soon.

[fecmech]

Partially what 44man said and IME 296 and H110 seem to protect the base of the bullet due to their volume and slow burn rate. I have recovered a lot of bullets from the snow and the bases look like the powder granuals have been impregnated in the base on launch. My thinking (and it may be wrong) is that there is still unburned powder against the base as the bullet clears the case. I have cleaned lead from the throat in my Win 94 .357 from fast powders using mag loads of 296. Also a friend had leading in the first half inch of his .357 mag barrel and a cylinder full of max Keith's with 296 cleaned it out. Whatever it is, when I want to go fast in the .357 or .44 mag the powder I reach for is 296.

[FISH4BUGS]

Partially what 44man said and IME 296 and H110 seem to protect the base of the bullet due to their volume and slow burn rate. I have recovered a lot of bullets from the snow and the bases look like the powder granuals have been impregnated in the base on launch. My thinking (and it may be wrong) is that there is still unburned powder against the base as the bullet clears the case. I have cleaned lead from the throat in my Win 94 .357 from fast powders using mag loads of 296. Also a friend had leading in the first half inch of his .357 mag barrel and a cylinder full of max Keith's with 296 cleaned it out. Whatever it is, when I want to go fast in the .357 or .44 mag the powder I reach for is 296.
Ditto - I use 3 powders - all Winchester. 231 for standard velocity 380, 9mm, 38, 357 and 45. Even the submachineguns love cast lead bullets and 231 powder. Kind of smoky with cast but hey.....who cares?
The 296 is the magnum powder and I use that with 357 and 44.
748 is for 223 and 308.
See how easy it is?...just 3 powders.
I will be trying some of that 296 with the H&G #39's. I also use an H&G 51 for the 38/357 swc bullet. I have 1500 cast, sized and lubed #39's ready to load.
Any recommendation on how many grains of 296 to start playing with in the 357 loads??

[Tallbald]

I'm still new to the art of casting and my own version of "precision" load development, but I've learned about my guns and loads over the last year. I shoot a Ruger 6 inch GP100, a Ruger 4 5/8 inch Blackhawk and a Ruger 77/357 carbine. They will all shoot SWC into nice groups at 50 yards. They really shine though with round nose flat point slugs (125 grain and 140 grain) ahead of my Trail Boss higher end loads. My little 77/357 will put ten rounds of the 140 grain slugs into less than 3/4 inch at 50 measured yards. I don't know why but the paper doesn't lie to me. I wish I knew why it is what it is. Don.

[fecmech]

Any recommendation on how many grains of 296 to start playing with in the 357 loads??

When I use 296 I go right to max. With the Keith (358429) and #39 I use 15.5 which is what my bushing throws. That gives me mid 1600's with the rifles and1250-1300 with the pistols. Loading in that range has always given me very good to excellent accuracy in any gun I've ever tried them in.

[GLL]

Two of the very best !
http://www.fototime.com/17E47F2BF83493A/standard.jpg

...and they are both 358430's ! :)

Jerry