Lee .358 140 SWC

[MSG]

Got a newbie question and probably many more to follow. I'm assembling all the components needed to start casting and I'm looking at the Lee .358 140 swc. My question is can I tumble lube this bullet? Another question I had is do I need to size this bullet? I'm totally new at all of this and I've read the the tl bullets don't need sized and can the tumble lube process seems a lot easier than pan lubing. I plan on shooting this bullet out of a Taurus 608 that has a 6.5 inch barrel and will be using it for backyard target shooting only. Is the bullet I'm looking at a good option? I'm also only looking for 6 cavity molds as I don't have a lot of extra time and want to be as productive as possible. Any thoughts?

[TCFAN]

MSG
I have two of the Lee .358-140 swc. I bought a 2 cav to try out the boolit in my K38. It shot so good that I went back and bought a 6 cav.

As too the tumble lube question I don't see any reason why it would not work if your mold drops boolits the size your gun wants and you don't want to size. If you do need to size the Lee push through system works nice.

In my case my 2 cav drops boolits at .358-.359. The 6 cav. drops them at .361 both from WW.
I lube my boolits in a .360 lyman die and size in a Lee .358 push through die.

Good luck............Terry

[Froggfuzz]

MSG,

I tumble lube a lot of bullets, including the Lee 358-140-SWC. In fact, it's one of my favorites because it's easy to cast good boolits, especially when using two moulds at a time as I do. And it's about the most accurate bullet I use in about 18 different revolvers in .38 Special and .357 Magnum.

Try it; I am sure you'll like it. Just be sure that if you lube before sizing, that you re-lube after sizing. Check the diameter and if it's close to your chamber throats' size, don't bother to size at all. You may also want to cut the tumble lube with mineral spirits, though I don't.

Good luck!

Froggfuzz

[357shooter]

Welcome to the forum,

Yes you can tumble the 140, or any other regular lube groove bullet.

Typically they shoot great without sizing, but you have to try it in your gun.

In my Taurus 66 with a 6 inch barrel the Lee 358-158 TL bullet is the most accurate mould from Lee, and one of the most accurate of any bullet from anyone. It might just work well in your Taurus too.

It works best using 357 brass with a medium crimp into the second lube groove. It's tough to beat for accuracy loaded with HP-38 or 700X.

[casterofboolits]

I used the Lee 358-140-SWC pan lubed and sized 357 for the 38 Super auto back in the 80's. Worked great.

[MSG]

I've been reading some more on the forum and it appears that you can use .358 bullets for 9mm if they are resized. Is this particular bullet a good choice for a 9mm semi automatic?

[Cowboy T]

For 9mm, I would recommend that boolit's slightly smaller sibling, the 358-105-SWC. It's the same as yours, but without one of the lube grooves, and a bit shorter. And yes, sized down to 0.356" (0.357" for some guns like Rugers), it works very well in 9mm Para applications.

I tumble-lube *ALL* of my boolits, the vast majority of which are of the "traditional" lube groove design. Works just great.

[Shiloh]

I love mine. Experimented last year and plan on more this year. Bullseye and Unique. I'm leaning towards Unique.

Shiloh