38/55 Saeco tapered boolits opinions pleez...

[nitroproof]

I have a .38/55 rolling block with 1:18 twist and .379 groove diamenter.
I am presently shoooting Lee 379-250 boolits.
I've never used a tapered boolit, would Saeco's 255 grain .375"-.382" work for breech seating or loaded rounds?
Any advantage to the tapered design?
I shoot 200 yd. target with mild velocities.

Comments please.

[GabbyM]

Just received that mould today in the mail. Saeco #738 255gr rnfp.
Cast up a few boolits out of an alloy that could be called WW plus tin. Although it is 2/6 cut with 1-20 and pure lead to make 2/4.

It cast large enough so one could use alloys with no antimony and still make a large enough bullet. For most rifles. Base cast at .382”. first band under the crimp grove is .375. Band above crimp grove is .373”. I'm calling the top grove the crimp grove but all grove appear the same and could be used to crimp for use in a lever gun.

I use a .379” size die in a Lyman and greased the bottom three of the five groves. The top two groves weren't sized enough to hold lube from squirting up over the boolit. Chances are those groves will be loaded above the case neck anyway. Three groves full of Carnauba Red should be plenty.

Haven't loaded or shot it yet so you have everything I know thus far down to the thousandths of an inch.

[Southern Son]

Nitro, I don't know about smokeless, but the advantage of a tapered design in a black powder load is you get more boolit in the barrel and less in the case, this means that you can then stuff more powder into the case for more velocity. The tapered design also puts the projectile up into the rifling, hopefully (if your chamber is concentric and your case necks are not off center) this means that the boolit starts out in line with the bore, although you can do this with a non tapered design by just letting the boolit kiss the rifling.

[Jon K]

Try it and see.............only your gun will tell you.......what it likes.

I have that mould in a 1 & 4 cavity versions, as well as the #571 300 gr. I size the boolit to fit the gun, .3765-.3805, depending on what will chamber, in which gun.

Jon

[Buckshot]

.............I have both the Saeco 638 & 738. The first is a 225gr FNPB and the later the 255gr FNPB. Both are tapered designs, and both drop at .382" on the base band with WW metal. Both are very accurate in a 1893 Marlin I have, and I tend to use the lighter slug more often as it's just as accurate and it's less lead going downrange. If I were to be hunting, naturally I'd use the heavier slug.

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