Best LEE mold for ROSSI '92 .357mag

[357shooter]

I have always thought that something in the 140 gr range would be perfect for the Rossi's with their 30" twist and your design looks great to me. I have no interest in the higher velocities as I don't hunt so the 130 Lee works fine for me plinking and hitting swingers. Good luck with the boolit and post your results once you get the mold.

We think alike, I keep coming back to this boolit. I was considering a plain base verson too. The tradeoff being how much it drops at 100-150 yards because of lower velocity.

I worked up a 135-SWC too. I used a chamber casting for the critical dimensions for several designs. I'm thinking of getting this on too, the thicker top band should fit the Rossi just right.

Here's the 135-SWC:

[fecmech]

We think alike, I keep coming back to this boolit. I was considering a plain base verson too. The tradeoff being how much it drops at 100-150 yards because of lower velocity.

I've done quite a bit of shooting at our range which goes to 200 yds so using my tang sight and receiver sighted levers, I just crank the sight up and down for the range I'm shooting. That is obviously not the answer to hunting with unknown ranges. In regards to SWC's my experience with the Lee 158 TLSWC has been excellent in the 1100-1200 fps range in my 2 Rossi's and a Winchester. The Rossi's will average ( not just occasional fluke groups) between 3 and 4 moa out to 200 yds. The Winchester will average about 1 moa better with that bullet.

[357shooter]

OK, so this thread is pretty dormant. But I just found out Lee has shipped my two custom 357 moulds. Both designed to use a Lee Rifle FCD, and to have enough bearing area to touch the Rossi throat loaded in 357 brass.

The 145 on paper has the potential to retain more energy out to 150 yards than heavier or light bullets. It's also a great length for the 30 in twist, slightly longer than the Lee 125-RF. The 168 is same length as the Lee 158 SWC TL or the Lyman 150 SWC. Both very accurate. If they get here tomorrow, I can shoot some on Sunday.YEAH

PLEASE GET HERE!





OK, I feel better now.

[Cowboy T]

You and your custom mould designs...geez...well, I can't say anything since that 170gr Keith boolit mould group buy, now, can I?

Looking forward to seeing your results on these new styles.

[357shooter]

Hi Cowboy. Yeah, these bullets are workin' out, with a twist or two.

I've only shot some of the 145's without a gas check. They are as accurate as the Lee 125 over the same HP38 5.2 load. More testing this weekend, and I image the next couple of months.

They cast great, and the LEE RFCD works great with them. This is all in the Rossi 20inch lever rifle.

I just cast some 90 grain bullets for my 380acp. They look great, hope they feed! Another custom design that I'm working out.

[TCLouis]

If I can ever find a 92, I plan to use my Lar45 or Ranch Dog 180s to hunt or the old 160 RNFP PB GB to plink and play

[MasS&W]

I love me a SWC. TCs are also good.

[357shooter]

If I can ever find a 92, I plan to use my Lar45 or Ranch Dog 180s to hunt or the old 160 RNFP PB GB to plink and play

Buds has them in stock, FYI.

[BCRider]

Well, I see we're 9 pages of postings into this. So forgive me if what I'm about to say is old hat. I simply haven't read down through ALL the posts.

I'm using a Rossi '92 for my cowboy action shooting events. By all rights it's simply not the best option but I'm still working on it before I admit defeat.

What I have learned along the way is that it does not like being fed SWC bullets fast or fatter round nose shapes fast. The bullets that work best are regular ogive shaped round nose or the same profile with a SLIGHT flat point. And in fact here's a picture of the bullet used for my reloads which is working out very nicely for fast lever cycling;



As far as weight and accuracy work out I can't comment other than to say that my standard cowboy load of this Bullet Barn 130 gn RNFP cast lead pills managed to hit my targets nicely even out at 150 yards. I didn't go beyond that but only because I ran out of "sights" to work the amount of hold over I needed with the very slow velocities of my match ammo.

[fecmech]

As far as weight and accuracy work out I can't comment other than to say that my standard cowboy load of this Bullet Barn 130 gn RNFP

That is a dead ringer for the Lee 125 RNFP and mine weigh 130 grs out of WW metal. They probably use the Lee mold.

[BCRider]

You're probably right.

The 158RNFP that doesn't feed well is this lumpy looking thing. These are horrible as the fat nose catches and jams on the edge of the chamber far too consistently even if feeding them at a slower non-match sort of pace.

[alamogunr]

357Shooter, Any chance that 145 gr mold would be available without a new special order? Maybe with a refund to you?

[357shooter]

Hi,
The 145 is shooting great in both my 20 inch Rossi, and six inch revolvers.

I only have the one custom 145 mould, so there's no way to get second without another custom order. Every custom order with Lee has the custom setup fee, plus a fee for each mould block. Ordering more than one at a time spreads the fee over the moulds. However, I only bought one each for the 145 and the 168.

[jlchucker]

I loaded ten of these this afternoon.
It seems I will be using them up in my SP101 though, because they will NOT cycle through my Rossi. The cartridge is presented at such an angle that the bullet clears the top edge of the chamber, but the bottom hangs up. Almost seems like the cuts in the cartridge guides are too far forward - or that they were made specifically for the .38 Special. Rim doesn't get to the cut-outs before everything binds up.









I loaded some 158 RNs (old Lyman mold) and they slide through slicker'n snot.
Ran out of daylight though, trying to get the first few 125s out of the gun.

I had that very same problem when I first got my Rossi. After much consultation with my gunsmith and a couple of emails back and forth with Steve at Steve's Guns, the problem was solved. Instead of seating the 125 grainer into a 38 special case all the way to the crimp groove, try seating them out to crimp into the leading edge of the grease groove, leaving the crimp groove exposed. After doing this, you'll end up with a cartridge that's a bit longer. It solved my problem using those 125 Lee RNFP's in 38 special cases. When you load that boolit in a 357 case you can crimp into the crimp groove. For me, at least, the problem with that jam--and as we both know it's a real PITA of a jam--is the overall length of the cartridge.

[searcher4851]

I too have found that feeding difficulties are often easily remidied buy experimenting with OAL, especially when using .38spl cases. alonger is better with the .38's.

[DEVERS454]

The best mold I have seen for shooting reliably the 38spl through a rossi92 is the big lube bullet develped by snakebite.

I bought a few hundred of hem when I used a 38spl for CAS and it cured my feeding issues.

They make the OAL very similar to the 357mag with a 158gr bullet. And a generous enough lube groove to prevent any black powder fowling.

[robertbank]

Something you might want to think about. Ranch Dog works mainly with Marlins and their 16" twist rate and designs great molds for them. I'm not sure how well 190 gr bullets will work in the 30" twist of the Rossi but I have not tried any. Maybe some of the board members who have Rossi's and shot "heavies" in them will comment. Whats great in a 16" twist is not necessarily great in a 30" twist.

I tried to make the Lyman 358429 work in my Rossi 20" with no luck at all. I have found my rifle prefers boolits 150 - 160 gr. Heavier and I get patterns not groups. The 1 - 30 twist is very slow for the 38/357 cartridges IMHO. I really hoped the gun would handle the heavies as I want to try develop a revolver load using a 200 gr boolit for IDPA ESR Division. Shooting a major load using light 357 mag boolits/bullets is not for the faint of heart or weak wrist-ed. It would have been nice to have one boolit for both rifle and revolver. I do hope somebody can report a load that works in the Rossi's usng the heavier boolits.

Take Care

Bob

[357shooter]

I tried to make the Lyman 358429 work in my Rossi 20" with no luck at all. I have found my rifle prefers boolits 150 - 160 gr. Heavier and I get patterns not groups. The 1 - 30 twist is very slow for the 38/357 cartridges IMHO. I really hoped the gun would handle the heavies as I want to try develop a revolver load using a 200 gr boolit for IDPA ESR Division. Shooting a major load using light 357 mag boolits/bullets is not for the faint of heart or weak wrist-ed. It would have been nice to have one boolit for both rifle and revolver. I do hope somebody can report a load that works in the Rossi's usng the heavier boolits.

Take Care

Bob

I just bought a NOE 180 FP mould. They are a lot shorter than the Keith and might like the slow twist Rossi, so far they are awesome in a revolver. I'll try them in the lever rifle next week, with full magnum loads. 13.5 grains of H110 with a 1.575 OAL.

[LynC2]

I'm very interested in this thread as I recently ordered a Rossi .357 with a 26" Octagon barrel. I'm going to blame NOBADE for the new disease I have acquired regarding cast bullet silhouette shooting even though I did a bit of it 30+ years ago. I have a few different 9mm and .38 molds to try and I will update my results. I sure wish Rossi would have used a 1x20" or 1x16" twist in their rifles as this definitely limits what will shoot accurately. If worse comes to worse I will rebarrel using a faster twist and the .357 NRA chamber reamer. Hopefully I won't have to go that far.

[fecmech]

If worse comes to worse I will rebarrel using a faster twist and the .357 NRA chamber reamer. Hopefully I won't have to go that far.

What is an "NRA Chambering reamer"??