need some help casting 4 a 380 super

[yman]

Need some advice, I picked up a 380 super. I would rather shoot it then look at it but as everyone knows they aren’t giving bullets away. I cast for several cal. but this is a horse of a different color. With head spacing on the rim & high velocity & heavy for cal bullets I would welcome any advice. I am looking at something around 120+ gr round nose . I see some diff. bullet designs but I was thinking I should stick with the round nose to minimize bullet jump. I can add linotype to harden them up as I need to so that should take care of that part, I think. So anyone got any suggestions pls let me know. Thanks

[HeavyMetal]

I think your talking 38 Super, another of the dreaded typo's!

Helped a bud get his up and running a few years ago. Used the same boolit in it that I was loading fo my 9MM, the Lee 125 grain round nose. Lee has this in a six banger so you can make a lot of them if you need to.

We sized .357, so the leading edge was a bit larger than normal, we were then able to headspace on the boolit itself, by seating the boolit out to just touch the rifling, and did not have to depend on that dinky semi rim for headspacing.

Got the gun to shoot reasonably well, no jamming, happy guy!

[bobthenailer]

i guess you mean 38 super ? i have 2 on the 1911 platform, mine shoot the saeco bullets #115 /122gr rn ,# 377/ 122gr tc , #929/ 145 gr swcbb and a rcbs #09-124=cn/ 124 rngc. all feed reliably! size bullets to 0.357 dia your group size will be cut in half over useing 0.356 dia sizing, at least that is the results i got , and i used a ransom rest for testing.

[yman]

380 super-look guys I invented yet another new round, next week I'm going to load for the 380 mag. [smilie=1: Yes i did mean the 38 super, sorry about that. I never dreamed of using a 356 or 357 size bullet, I was going to buy a new 355/356 sizer die? Well I might go back & take a look at some 357 molds. I also like the idea of head spacing on the rim or setting them just short of the lands. Does anyone else have any ideas about anything but RN bullets. I think lee has a new 125gr RN Flat point I could see that working. I have a 1911 style 38 super also & cant wait to give it a good run thru. Has anyone tried installing one of the Bar Sto ballels. I think bar sto barrel head space on the rim but they are kinda pricey & I dont know if they would be worth it. Thank for your help guys. :castmine:

[KYCaster]

What kind of gun and how old? I think you'll find that most of the 38 Super barrels made in the last ~15 yrs. or so are chambered to headspace on the case mouth rather than on the rim...like all the other ACP cartridges.

Like Heavy Metal said, try to seat the boolit out to touch the rifleing. If it's an older Colt barrel you may have trouble finding a boolit that will fit the magazine and reach the rifleing to control the headspace. If that's the case, an aftermarket barrel would help a lot. Bar-Sto isn't the only option, there are plenty of others, some for quite a bit less.

You shouldn't have any problem getting your super to shoot well with lead. Try boolits of 135 to 160 gr. sized to .357-.358 with Blue Dot, Herco, Unique.

Jerry

[Buckshot]

................Slug your barrel first. Easy to do on an auto loader. Next upset a soft lead slug in the chamber. Check the wall thickness of your 38 Super brass. R-P and W-W are different enough to cause problems if you need a fat boolit or your chamber is tight. There are only a couple other common Super brass suppliers so if you have any mike those too. You may or may not be able to size all your cast the same for all the headstamps.

I have a Tanfoglio Witness in 38 Super and I size my boolits to .357" as it has a .356" groove. As was mentioned, most 38 Supers or fairly recent manufacture were made to headspace on the casemouth.

http://www.fototime.com/731C07902ADA533/standard.jpg

As you can see in the above photo there is no provision for the rim to do anything.

http://www.fototime.com/94E23D0AC147FC1/standard.jpg

The above is the RCBS 38-162 SWC and the Witness feeds them without a hiccup. All you can do is try what you want and see if the pistol will handle it. You might have to fiddle OAL and powder charges to make it work. At the OAL in the picture the front band is fully engraved.

...................Buckshot

[bobthenailer]

all of the moulds in my last post will cast large enough to be sized to 0.358 when cast from wheel weights. one of my pistol has a nowlin comp barrel the other a ez fit kart barrel. i have ww / r&p /midway / pmc / starline brass in 38 super and all work fine in both guns and with all of my cast bullets