.348 from .358

[flounderman]

just looking at how small ten one thousands is, I am wondering if I can size a cast 357 down to a .348. .348 stuff is almost non existant and I could use a .357 pistol bullet as well as a 200 grain rifle bullet. could possibly use a 348 gas check? could you size a .357 with the 35 cal gas check down to .348 in one pass? anybody tried anything like this? flounderman

[ktw]

I ran a accidentally ran a 323 through a 311 die the other day. They will go through but I don't think you will be happy with the results.

The noses on the 357 bullets are going to be smaller than 348. What you will end up with is a smooth column of lead, a pointed nose and little or nothing in the way of lube grooves. Given the large amount of sizing you are doing it will be difficult to get them to come out concentrically sized in a base first sizer setup.

I do have a 287 as cast loverin for the 7mm and an as cast 282 for 270, both of which I size down to 278 for the 270. Works best to size/lube first at 284 then size down to 278 in a nose first sizer.

-ktw

[flounderman]

the pointed nose would probably be a plus, because the gun is on a siamese mauser action. the commercial bullets are all flat nose for the model 71. I was thinking of something with deep grease groves, rather than the louvrin design. my old lyman reloading book lists the cast bullet as a .350 and the 35s at 358, so I would only have to come down .008. does this sound more like it would work?

[ktw]

Worth a try...

The best advice I can think of is that you will likely get the best results by:

- staying away from bore riding nose designs
- lube at something near 'as cast' diameter before sizing down
- Size down nose first (Lee/Star) rather than base first (RCBS/Lyman/Saeco).

I think success is going to depend a lot on the design of the 357 bullet you start with.

-ktw

[badgeredd]

I agree with ktw 100%. I found that if I lube first and then reduce the size through a sizing die, I keep the lube grooves although they are shallower.

I'd suggest that if you look for a deep lube groove bullet particulaly with square grooves, you would have the best chance of success.

I sure wish I could afford a CNC mill because I think I could make custom boolit molds, particularly single cavity to fill need/wants for cases like this at a reasonable price.

Edd

P.S. I tried this for a couple Argentines an started with a .321 boolit. I used a hard lube too. It did work!!!!

[Razor]

Give it a try..
You may be pleasantly surprised.
Like KTW, I ran a .323 thru my Lee .314 sizer..
It was a plain base box of 100 I got for $2 at a garage sale, labeled as .314.
About half turned out to be .323..
Best shooting boolit so far in my SMLE 4 Mk 1..

[ktw]

.348 stuff is almost non existant...

If this was a rifle I planned to shoot quite a bit I would simply invest in a mold from Mountain Molds or LBT rather than spend a lot of time trying to make 357 bullets work. Either of them will make you a 348 mold to order.

If I wasn't planning to shoot the rifle much I would simply buy a couple of hundred 348 bullets from Bullshop. That is usually cheaper than investing in all the tooling for casting a new, lightly used caliber.

-ktw

[woody1]

I don't think you'll have any problem sizing from .358-.360 or so down to .350". My recommendation is run 'em thru nose first and already lubed and be sure there's a little lube on the nose to help guide it thru. I size .452's down to .407 for my .38WCF because the bore is too big for any of the std. .38WCF boolits to be used. I pan lube 'em before sizing. I've also sized plain base .358's down to .323 and .375's down to .360 using pretty much the same process. Never tried anything with gas checks. YMMV Regards, Woody

[stocker]

You can probably size the main body of the boolit down to .350-.351 without too much problem. Most 348's have little to no throat although your Mauser may be different. If it is typical of Winchester or Browning 71's you are going to have to reduce nose size to about .340-.341 back to very near your crimp location. I'm sure you can do this by two stageing your sizing process but why bother. There are quite a few 348 moulds available including RCBS, LBT , NEI, Mountain Moulds as well as used Lymans found occasionally. Unlike some other posters myself and a friend are absolutely happy with moulds purchased from NEI in the last 2 or 3 years. I have a nice mould from Dan (MM) but it is a little nose thick to crimp on the groove so have to crimp on or over the front band. A Lee factory crimp die would work nicely but I haven't bothered to see if they make one for 348.

[jtaylor1960]

I size my 348 bullets at .351.So going from a 358 isnt all that far.Molds for the 348 aren't all that hard to come by.Custom and production molds are available.Asking around this forum could help you with finding bullets to try before selcting a mold or so.On the casting fellows web page there is a story about using a .358 RCBS mold and sizing it down if you can't buy a mold right now.

[beagle]

Nose first size lubed bullets. Use an intermediate staep and it will work. Avoid bore riders as the sides of teh nose will be shaved a bit. Expect elongation of the bullet.

It will work if you just have to but I don't think you'll like teh results./beagle