So Many Different Shapes & Weights???

[Sam Casey]

Just getting back into metallics; mostly pistol. Looking at available bullets; 38 Special for example. What is purpose of 100g +/-round nose? Or 115g+/- cone shaped? For older 38 guns? For small game?

[Yodogsandman]

Maybe for 380 Auto or 9mm use.

[jsizemore]

Light weight basement or general practice. Sometimes you just get tired of dry firing.

[runfiverun]

sometimes you just want to make a hole in some paper at 25 yds.
I long ago settled down on rnfp boolits with one lube groove for everything.
it might not make nice clean round holes in the paper but it makes them where the sights are pointing.
and I sure like them for my lever guns and to hunt with and the revolvers shoot them pretty dang well too.

[reddog81]

I don't know... Maybe super high velocity, maybe lots of bullets from 1 pound of lead, maybe light recoil.
Personally I'm not too interested in 38 caliber bullets smaller than 125 or 9mm smaller than 115.

[Wayne Smith]

Why the 45-70 Collar Button? Indoor gallery range shooting. Think about the northern part of the country, winter training. Indoor ranges in most or all of the Armorys. Back before radio and TV people needed something to do in the winter.

[Calamity Jake]

The 100 gr rn and 115 gr TC are mainly produced for the Cowboy action shooter, two.5 grains of a fast pistol
powder and the light boolit makes for fast shooting.
If you likeem shootem, I, like others prefer a 125gr min. weight for the 38 sp.

[gwpercle]

Lee makes a 38 caliber 105 grain SWC mould that I have used in 380 , 9mm and 38 special. Lighter weight = less recoil, powder and lead.
Most mould charts indicates what each can be used for, but there can be a good deal of overlapping use. That 105 grain mould could be used in any round that takes a boolit from .355 to .358 inches. When my supplier of free wheel-weights retired, I got the 105 grain Lee for 38 special, low cost lead saving reloads. Then started using it in 9 mm Luger. Next was 380 auto, I'm sure there are more uses for it.
Gary

[bedbugbilly]

For 38 as an example . . . I cast and use a wide variety of boolit weights from 90 grain up to 160 grain. Some serve dual purpose for me out of the 9mm as well. Lighter grain weights I use in my 38 Colt Short loading - usually 90, 115 and 120 grain weights - in SWC & RN design. For general plinking in my 38s . . . depends on what distance I'm shooting and what I'm shooting at.

In the end though . . . it also boils down to getting some cheap shooting . . .I gave up on 22 RF a long time ago with the scarcity and gouging. Pretty simple . .

In theory . . .

90 grain boolit = 77/pound of lead
120 grain boolit = 58/pound of lead
158 grain boolit = 44/pound of lead

Primer cost is going to be the same regardless - I have to pay roughly $35/K for small pistol primers

But . . . if I'm feeling "stingy" . . . I can use a 90 gr or even a 120 gr boolit in a 38 Colt Short over 1.8 to 2.0 grains of Red Dot . . . which makes for some pretty cheap shooting. I had to pay $25 a pound for powder the last time I bought any (1 pound container). I just bought a 8 lb jug of Red Dot for $150. At that rate, a pound of it ran me $18.75 per pound. Using 2 grains of it in a 38 Colt short in theory gives me 3,500 loadings - or rounded off, about a half a cent a load.

38 Spl is going to take more powder for sure but the different weights/designs gives a person a wide variety of things to play with . . . which is what I enjoy doing. Certainly a person can get by with just one mold/design/weight. If I were just going to plink with one design, I'd probably stick with the 358-311 RN. which would give you roughly 43 per pound and the traditional style boolit for the 38 Spl. I use Bulls Eye a lot as well and with my standard 3.5 grain load of Bulls Eye under the 358-311, you are still talking just a little over a penny for powder - figures out to about 5 cents for primer/powder plus whatever you have in your lead. Still cheap shooting.

I don't shoot any competition but I would imagine that folks have their favorite design/weight that they like to use for Bowling Pins, IDPA, etc. The problem is that it gets "addicting" when you cast and you want to try different designs/weights. I have quite a few .358 molds but I have found that I am now pretty much casting just a couple of them as they give me the best weights, etc. for the shooting I do . . . and we all know how hard a pop can is to kill!

Good luck with your casting and reloading . . . enjoy and have fun!