Ranch dog 359-175 plain base

[bichettereds]

So I made a trade with a gentlemen on a fbook page for this mold (Lee 6 cavity), forgetting to ask whether it was the GC version (what I really wanted). Turned out to be the plain base.

Can I get good accuracy out of these without leading? I was planning on using magnum powders and pushing the velocity up but might not do that now.

[rockrat]

What caliber? for 357 mag or 44mag or the like, a plain base will work fine. In 20K rounds thru my S&W 29, I doubt it saw 100 gas check boolits or more than 500 jacketed. I used the lyman 429421 plain based boolit over healthy doses of 296 for my mag. loads and a 215gr plain based boolit for lighter loads.

[Echo]

Fit is king - I believe that a reasonable (not too hard) alloy in a boolit that fits the neck of the cylinder chambers will perform well. GC's aren't needed...

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Do you have a Lyman castbullet handbook, most of the data lists pressures. Match your alloy hardness to the pressure you want to load to. You can find out what the common alloys can handle (max pressures) in the LASC "cast bullet notes" link at the bottom of the page.
http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

When you start getting near MAX loads, look to slow powders for less peak pressure.

[bichettereds]

Sorry. I guess I should've provided more info. This is a .359 mold and I'll be shooting these out of my Marlin 1894c .357 rifle. I'm considering trying the powder coat thing with these.

[runfiverun]

you should be able to get 15-1600 fps without breaking a sweat.
ww alloy and the slower powders like 2400 or h-110 will give you all you want.

[Mica_Hiebert]

It will shoot awful! I'll p.m you my address and I will make sure the mould get disposed of properly for you! :-)

[gundownunder]

You don't need a gascheck as long as your bullet is the right size, and your lube is up to the task. I push a Mihec 358, 175gr bullet out of my Marlin cowboy at 1750 fps, using either Lil'gun, or 2205 (4227). These days I coat with Hitec, but when I was lubing I used a mix of 3 equal parts of liquid alox, beeswax, and high pressure lithium grease. I could shoot a couple of hundred rounds and only find a light trace of leading. Out of my rifle I would get groups of about 1.5" at 50, while my loads out of a friends Marlin carbine would do an inch or better. The general opinion is that you should size 1 - 2 thou over your bore size, so slugging your bore is good advice. Mine slugs .356, and I size 358. Mine is Ballard rifled whereas the carbines are microgrooved, and I have read that the microgrooved barrels don't do as well with cast at the higher velocities (my friends carbine didn't read that bit).
If you find that you aren't getting the results you want, you can also get a PB gascheck from Pat Marlin. This will allow you to check a plainbase bullet using gas checks cut from a beer can. The average beer can will net you about 200 checks. The result of using these in mine was to tighten the groups by about 1/4" and eliminate even the little bit of leading I was getting. I would not have bothered with this if I was looking for a hunting rifle, but it was worth it for a target and silhouette rifle.

[bichettereds]

Thanks for all the advice guys. This mold is labeled on the outside "3x3 split", which is what the original owner said it was. I didnt even know what that was when I bought it but apparently 3 are supposed to be GC and 3 are suppose to be PB. I couldnt see a different looking at the 6 cavities so I just cast some. All 6 cavities dropped bullets looking exactly the same. The base all were right at .3595-.3600". Am I missing something? Ive never cast a gc bullet but these dont appear to be what they were labeled. Can someone post a picture of one of these bullets with the gc base, sans the check?

[Mica_Hiebert]

I'm guessing at some point some one drilled the 3 GC cavities out to make them all plain base

[quilbilly]

I have a 357 Max carbine and use a 173 gr. SWCPB. I have had no leading problems at velocities up to 1450 fps after sizing to 358. My best accuracy with that boolit has been around 1350 using Unique powder. I guess your mold wasn't a split as advertised.