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View Full Version : Needing to pick a Lee mold for .38 Special



DaveInFloweryBranchGA
11-23-2009, 02:47 PM
Howdy all,

The wife just decided to switch to a lighter carry weapon and picked a S&W Model 642 Airweight. Appears to be a five shot, aluminum frame, stainless barrel/cylinder pistol with rubber grips, not sure what type. Real shorty barrel.

I picked up some Federal Personal Defense for her carry cartridge, but wanted to create some reloads and cast my own. I'm concerned with powder burning efficiency and Don't want to burn up the forcing cone of her new pistol with practice ammo.

What would be a good mold from Lee to cast a boolit with to load for her gun? I want to keep powder quantity to a minimum so as to protect the forcing cone and get complete burn in that short barrel, so I'm assuming a larger boolit.

I have these powders on hand: Clays, Titegroup and Winchester Super Target along with a couple hundred brass and several brands of small pistol primers.

Regards,

Dave

Rex
11-23-2009, 03:03 PM
I like Lee's 158 RF bullet. Son in law just got a 638 S&W for his back up gun and I'm just starting to load this bullet with 4.4 grains of Unique. Haven't got to play with them yet but don't want to go over a standard 38 special load for an alloy frame revolver. I'd suspect either of your Hodgdon powders will make you a good lite load for parctice.
Rex

docone31
11-23-2009, 03:07 PM
I like the Lee 158RF casting.
I load it in my .38, over Blue Dot.
Good performance.

Poygan
11-23-2009, 03:17 PM
I also like the 158RF. I haven't had the mold too long so my experience is limited. I have found some chambering difficulties in the .38 spl. Recovered boolits show rifling marks beyond the driving bands so it appears its the diameter that causes this. I don't recall problems in the .357 but my use is limited. It has been accurate for me.

Farmall 1066
11-23-2009, 03:36 PM
Hands down my favorite general purpose 38/357 boolit is the Lee 358158RF.
Looks like I'm not alone on this!

Andy

Rockchucker
11-23-2009, 03:54 PM
I'm going to go along with everybody else an say go with the 358158RF. It chambers thru my marlin 1984 quite well also. I'm using 4.0 grains of Unique for plinking loads.

EMC45
11-23-2009, 04:04 PM
I'm not sure if it was mentioned here, but I like the Lee 158gr. RNFP. HAR HAR!!!

awaveritt
11-23-2009, 04:38 PM
I shoot cast exclusively in my S&W 638 and load 3.5 gr. of Bullseye over Lee TL-358-158-SWC with LLA lubricant. Nice soft-shooting, cheap alternative to store-bought practice rounds. I do load factory Speer Gold Dot 135 gr. Short Barrel Hollow points for HD application. These little Smiths love 158 gr. bullets and you probably can't go wrong which ever style you choose.

BrianB
11-23-2009, 04:45 PM
I have a Lee wadcutter mold that works well. It is the TL358-148-WC. Quite accurate out of my GP100 using about 2.5 grains of Clays. Quiet also. Bullet needs no sizing, so that makes it even more appealing to me. PM me if you want the exact load, I'll have to check in my notes. I prefer Clays over some other powders because it burns so clean.

Wally
11-23-2009, 04:49 PM
Yes, the Lee TL with 3.5 grains of bullseye is very hard to beat. With lead prices going through the roof and the eventual loss of WW metal..I have experimented with lighter bullets. The LEE 105 SWC and 125 RNF bullets also work quite nicely, using a load of 3.5~4.0 of Bullseye. In the past have also used their 140 SWC and 148 WC-TL with excellent results.

I like LEE bullet molds as they are light and easy to handle compated to a heavy iron mold; although I have a no. of them as well.

Not to confuse you, but the 158 SWC-TL is hard to beat and if I had a choice of just one, I'd go with that one.

Rocky Raab
11-23-2009, 05:32 PM
Not to be redundant, but that 358-158-RF is a sweet bullet. I tumble-lube it and use it exclusively in my 38 Special loads.

Wally
11-23-2009, 05:42 PM
I use it as well..I lke to size my bullets large (.359") in all my .38's & .357 Mags...on some guns the nose will not easily enter the chamber of a revolver. It is also a nice bullet, but due to the ogive, I use it the least.

oso
11-23-2009, 10:21 PM
Yep, I like that Lee 358-158-RF in most snubbies, but in a light gun my wife and I prefer the lighter 358-140-SWC, SWMBO prefers the 358-158-RF for her heavier 357 Mag. Haven't damaged any forcing cones yet with either boolit.

DaveInFloweryBranchGA
11-23-2009, 11:58 PM
Well, the Lee 358-158-RF it is. Placed an order for the mold, the Lee Deluxe die set and a Pro Auto Disk and a LnL shellplate. Should be here by the end of the week. Any suggestions related to the powder and a load? I have most every brand of small pistol primers.

Thank you for your help,

Dave

IllinoisCoyoteHunter
11-24-2009, 12:07 AM
I use the Lee 358158 RF in 9mm, 38 spl, and 357 mag. Love it!

tactikel
11-24-2009, 02:52 AM
+1 on Lee TL 158 gr SWC tumbled in LLA. Very accurate, cuts nice holes, and casts easy. For heavy .357 loads I finish tumbling with Johnson's paste wax.

Recluse
11-24-2009, 02:56 AM
Probably just as well that you already placed your order. . . :)

I'm going off the beaten path here. My numero uno boolit out of all the moulds I own and cast with is the Lee TL158SWC. I like it better than even the RF (but I've always been a SWC man anyhow).

For my wife's S&W AW .38, I cast the Lee 105SWC and put it in front of 2.8 grains of Bullseye. Fast burning powder, short barrel, mild load (kick and bang-wise), and no damage whatsoever to forcing cone, cylinder, barrel, or otherwise. Gun is still as tight as the day we bought it.

:coffee:

JIMinPHX
11-24-2009, 03:18 AM
125 RF & 105 swc have both worked well for me in the .38 spl. Tight group should be a good performing powder in that little snubbie.

evan price
11-24-2009, 04:35 AM
I load the 158-SWC with 3.5 grains of Titegroup for my .38 specials, and I can shoot them all day long in my old Colts or my S&W model 10's. Clean, no leading to speak of, and economical.
In fact I pulled my 4" 10-8 HB S&W out of the safe this evening and saw I had forgotten to clean it from the last range trip a few months ago, we shot over 500 rounds of my .38 158-swc with 3.5 titegroup through it, it was dirty- powder carbon- but zero leading.

Rockchucker
11-24-2009, 08:08 AM
I use it as well..I lke to size my bullets large (.359") in all my .38's & .357 Mags...on some guns the nose will not easily enter the chamber of a revolver. It is also a nice bullet, but due to the ogive, I use it the least.

I have trouble getting a full .358 out of my lee mold, Feel lucky to get .359 out of yours. What's the trick?

truckmsl
11-24-2009, 12:55 PM
I have trouble getting a full .358 out of my lee mold, Feel lucky to get .359 out of yours. What's the trick?

I beagled mine .

Recluse
11-24-2009, 01:28 PM
I have trouble getting a full .358 out of my lee mold, Feel lucky to get .359 out of yours. What's the trick?

I have two Lee TL .358 moulds--one is a SWC and the other is a RN.

First thing I do with ANY Lee moulds is Lee-ment them, which includes lapping them with a polishing compound. That probably gives me a fractionally larger cavity right off the bat.

Secondly, I cast my TL boolits hot--never less than 825F, and usually 850 up to 900F.

Thirdly, I water drop them straight from the mould.

All of this seems to result in a ever slightly larger diameter. I'm fanatical about sizing every single boolit I cast. It's one area in which I can control and guarantee consistency. So, for the TL designs, I make sure and do the above, then run them through the push through sizers and then I know for a fact that the boolits are sized at whatever diameter sizer I am using.

So far, this has worked well for me.

:coffee:

Echo
11-24-2009, 03:55 PM
For my wife's S&W AW .38, I cast the Lee 105SWC and put it in front of 2.8 grains of Bullseye. Fast burning powder, short barrel, mild load (kick and bang-wise), and no damage whatsoever to forcing cone, cylinder, barrel, or otherwise. Gun is still as tight as the day we bought it.

:coffee:

+1 - for the reasons given. That light little gun will bounce all over with standard .38 Spcl loads. I load that boolit with 3 grs PB for popcorn for new shooters.

Wally
11-24-2009, 04:42 PM
I have trouble getting a full .358 out of my lee mold, Feel lucky to get .359 out of yours. What's the trick?

That's how it came...I have done nothing to enlarge the mold.