Lee 358- 158 gr. FP

[afish4570]

Been using semi wad cutter Lee for IDPA shooting. I think the FP design would be ok to speed up the loading with speed loaders in my K frame S&W. The semiwad cutters seem to hangup on the shoulder when try to load fast. The round nose bullet while solving that problem won't be a good rifle bullet (levergun) and be poor for small game hunting. Any shooters have any input if the Flat Point is the way to go.

Has anyone sized these FP to 357 so they will function in a 9mm autoloader???Just wondering if that too is doable??afish4570

[RickinTN]

I have the mold and it cast nice bullets, but I haven't had an opportunity to load and shoot any.I'm thinking and hoping it will be a good rifle bullet. I also think because of the wide meplat it should be a good small game bullet as well. If you could get the velocity up in a rifle I don't see why it wouldn't be a "passable" light whitetail bullet.
Keep us informed on your findings,
Rick

[Rex]

They are a very nice boolit. I have that mold in a Lee that is 158 grain and one just like it in Lyman that drops 164 grain. I use them in .38 special and .357 loads. Don't own a 9.
Rex

[Intel6]

I have a 6 cavity of this mould and it makes great bullets for shooting in revolvers. I do shoot a lot of 9mm's and have sized this bullet down and loaded it in my 9mm's. Looks strange when loaded but functions well and shoots good also.

Neal in AZ

[DrCaveman]

I like it well. I have tumble lubed it for light 38 loads, but it seems to really shine loaded up fairly hot with 2400 or h110 in magnum cases, pan or dip lubed with some waxy lube.

Have settled on 14.5 gr of 2400 as my 'shoot all day, any gun' load. It is about the only magum load I shoot in my k frame anymore since I save the full tilt loads for the gp100.

Shoots very accurate out of my 357 handi rifle, gains about 500 fps over the 4" k frame. Last test averaged about 1750 fps which I think would kill a medium sized deer. Never done it though.

Tit for tat, it is more accurate for me than the lee TL-158 swc.

[fcvan]

The Lee 358-158 RF has become my boolit of the moment after many years of shooting a lighter boolit. In 38 sp loads it works fantastic. In .357 Mag loads I'm probably only pushing them 1250 fps using Unique and a plain based gas check. The load probably doesn't need a check but what the heck, I've got a CheckMaker and lots of soda cans!

As far as feeding with speed loaders, this boolit does quite well. I had been using a 125 grain RN boolit since the 80s as my general plinking/speed shooting load. I've had a Lee C358-158 SWC HP mold but rarely used it as it is a single cavity and did not feed with speed loaders as well. The 158 RF boolit surely does. I may have to get the 125 RF mold as well just because I like the profile and the way it prints on targets.

[tiwimon]

I have both the Lee 358-158-RF and 358-125-RF. I have shot the 125 in 9, but the 158 RF doesn't *look* doable, to me at least (but take it for what its worth as I am new to reloading as of last fall and even newer to boolit casting ) I will leave the final verdict to much more seasoned folks around here who continually amaze me at the depth of their knowledge and what can be done (and shouldn't be done!)

I can say the the 158 is nearly as tall as a 9MM case and you would definitely not be able to seat the 158 to the crimping groove with any decent charge

I took a picture (below) for reference, the 9mm case to the left, the 158 in the middle and the 125 to the right for comparison

[afish4570]

Lee doesn't make a 147gr 9mm mold. The 147 gr. bullet in a 9mm isn't much smaller than a 158gr. Years ago I shot a 9mm case in a 9mm Largo (9 x 23 actual size of Largo case) with a Lyman 358477, 150 gr. sized to 356. forgot powder chg. of Bullseye. With a very long OL to function in a 9x23 chamber it fed fairly well for a semiwad cutter.....surprisingly maybe 10% failure rate......With a round nose bullet it would be alot more reliable..... I did size them twice.....358 and then 356 lubing with NRA 50/50 Alox in my Lyman sizer.

[Rattlr]

I cast quite a few of the 358-158-RF. Shoots nicely out of my Ruger Security Six. But I ran into a feed problem with my Rossi 92/357 lever. When loaded in 357 brass it would hang up on the ramp and not load into the chamber. And this was at OAL of 1.575. The bullet fattens out much quicker as you can see in a previously posted picture and would hang at the point of entering the chamber. I tried the same bullet loaded in 38 SPL brass and it chambered without a problem. I've had no problems feeding with Lee's 140 SWC, 125 RF and 158 RP TL with either 357 or 38 SPL brass.

[Intel6]

found a pic of the bullet loaded into a 9mm. This is the length I came up with that worked well in my Glock 17L with a Storm Lake bbl. It is a little blurry but you can see the crimp groove in relation to the case neck. I wasn't going to try to seat it any deeper.

Neal in AZ

[tiwimon]

found a pic of the bullet loaded into a 9mm. This is the length I came up with that worked well in my Glock 17L with a Storm Lake bbl. It is a little blurry but you can see the crimp groove in relation to the case neck. I wasn't going to try to seat it any deeper.

Neal in AZ

Wow, okay, I gotta ask - what powder and charge did you use?! Any signs of over pressure? Was that a compressed load as it looks to be at the base of the crimp groove which means a whole lotta boolit inside that brass. I'm new at casting and reloading so sorry if I ask in wrong terms.

[Intel6]

I used a charge of a fast burning shotshell powder, WST in fact. Not a compressed load (slightly mabey) and there were no overpressure signs as I extrapolated the load from established 147 gr. data. If you look you can see the bulge halfway doen the case that indicated the base of the bullet so there is still some decent case capacity.

Neal in AZ

[rsrocket1]

An additional thing to worry about with the Lee 358-158-RF is that the vertical part of the boolit extends a long way up before it starts tapering in unlike the TC bullets that get narrow quicky. If your barrel throat is tight or the rifling starts early, the loaded cartridge may not chamber unless you seat the already deeply seated bullet even further. Here is a pic of the Lee 356-124-TC, the boolit seated in a 9mm case, and a dummy round with a 358-158-RF in a 9mm case. The unsized 358 dummy would feed, but would not chamber in my M&P 9 barrel. I may test this with sized boolits later on if I decide to experiment.
Attachment 63091

[1Shirt]

Have both molds and both shoot well in my revolvers and 94 Win. The savings in lead with the 125 is appreciable if you are going to shoot a whole whoop on paper.
1Shirt!

[greenwart]

I tried to get the 358-158-rf to work in my new Hi Power.(Argentine Mfg) I made up dummy loads sized to .357 and they cycled OK in my pistol. The surface that is sized is about 1/3 to 1/2 of the exposed bullet. So I loaded up 50 round with unique in charges 3.4-4.2g. Got out to shoot and they would not chamber!! When I got home I checked the bullet size and they were .358+. My guess here is that I have a compressed load and there is enough resistance that the bullet bulges 0.001+. Looks like I might just wait until I can get a 358-125-RF. Another option is to get a sizing die that is .355 or .356 and see if that works. The J's that I had performed flawlessly. The previous owner had had the pistol since the 90's and had put less than a box of ammo though it. He said that Hollow points he had would not feed. I put 7 out of 10 round through a quarter sized hole at 12yds. The missed shot where the shooters fault. The finish on the gun is rough in areas, but it is a military pistol, so it is to be expected. Now to find out what Boolits it likes.

Bob

[rsrocket1]

greenwart, I assume you load for 38/.357. Do you have a set of Lee Deluxe dies for that cartridge? If you have the FCD, you could experiment by partially post sizing the loaded cartridge just to iron out the bulge.

Start by taking a magic marker and "coloring" the entire case. The chamber it and see where the ink is rubbed off. If it's just near the top, you can iron out the bulge with the FCD just barely screwed in. Don't try to use it all the way down because a .38 case is smaller at the base than a 9mm case. While both are .379 at the top, the 38/357 is straight, but the 9 tapers out to .390 at the base.

I use the 38/357 FCD to take out the flare after the 9mm bullet is complete. It's much easier to just "kiss" the top of the case to straighten it out rather than adjust the seat/crimp die to remove the flare.