New LEE design: 358-200-RF

[castalott]

I just became aware of this new mould.

I'm interested in shooting it in a .38spl with .38spl safe data.

Does anyone find this type of load practical for anything?

If I remember correctly, the British loaded their Webley 38 caliber revolver with a 200 grain bullet at ~700 fps. They thought it fine for it's intended purpose.....

Dale

[castalott]

If I remember correctly, the British loaded their Webley 38 caliber revolver with a 200 grain bullet at ~700 fps. They thought it fine for it's intended purpose.....

Dale

I was wrong...Webley data is 5-600 fps.... I have no idea what you could do in a 38 special.

[gpidaho]

Two new moulds arrived in todays mail from Titan Reloading, both 6cav. They are the Lee C312-155-2R and the Lee C358-200-RF. Very happy to see Lee starting to cut 6cav. rifle moulds, they rain pretty boolits. Also I would like to send a thank-you to Dennis and Robin at our sponsor Titan Reloading, their customer service is top notch and E-mail responses quick. I ordered the moulds early Thursday morning and had them in hand today (Saturday) hows that for quick? Thanks again Titan, you've earned a new and satisfied customer. Gp

[Whistler]

Now I have the six cav.
Beautiful water hardened boolits!

(click it)


The new vent lines seem sensitive to high temperatures, I get smelt leakage between the mold halves when the mold is too hot and this causes finning.

[P Flados]

I am declaring victory! The Lee 200 is now my best shooing boolit. Repeatable sub 3 MOA when I do my part (I think I contributed at least 1 MOA to the spreads below).

The photos below are from 20 yard shooting. I have not fired my best loads at longer ranges. However, from past experience I expect no surprises from this combination. I have fired lots of 357 max loads at various ranges up to 200 meters. I have always had linear MOA responses from heavy loads in my 357 maximums.

Now for the details.

My PID is now working good for both casting and PC toaster oven control.

I am through playing with BLL and through with alloy experimentation for now.

I joined the local indoor range (20 yards max, but only 5 minutes from the house), such that I do not have any excuses to keep me from trying out small batches of loads.

All of the above, allowed me to settled down and focus on a decent round of load development for the Lee 200 in my TC Contender 10" maximum.

• Full load velocity is probably close to 1500 fps based on what I was getting from 19.9 grs of win 296 under a Speer 200 j word.
• The boolit works equally good both soft (1xPb, 3x COWW, AC, 8.5 BHN) and hard (COWW water dropped, 20 BHN).
• Checkless and BLL only did not work (leading), but checkless and PC works great.
• Fed 205M bench rest rifle and Tula Mag pistol primers both do fine with no detectable changes when I swap.
• I did just a little better with I 4227 than with Win 296. This is good since I have almost 8# of the former and less than 1# of the latter.
• Primers look good and I can tilt the gun up and have cases fall out of the chamber with 19.9 grs of I 4227.
• Accuracy is just as good anywhere from 18.4 grs to 19.9 grs of I 4227. I will load the lower value as my standard load. This will probably be in the 1400 to 1500 fps range. 1300 fps and up is plenty for my goal (return to IHMSA shooting with 0.85 lb-sec of 200 meter momentum)

[P Flados]

I was happy with the 2.35 MOA I shot off a rest with a scope as noted in the upper left in post 65.

I pulled the scope off and was sighting it in with iron sights today.

I started off very low and a little left. Several adjustments later, the elevation looked good & I was just 1/2" to the left.

Fired four more and managed a 2.35 MOA group at 20 yards with iron sights using a 10" TC

[P Flados]

Just an update of an old thread with new data.

I made a trip to an open range last weekend & set up my Chrony.

Out of the 10" Contender 357 max barrel, I got 1432 fps with 19.3 of 4227.

I got 1665 fps with 20 grns of 296 and the Lee.

Just for compasrision, I shot some of my old IHMSA max loads. With my Speer 200 Jwords (I have a stash) I got 1511 fps with 19.5 grns of 296 and 1615 fps with 20 grns of 296.

As I loaded up these up I did some checking and noted that the Speer sits a full 1/8" deeper in the case.

With 20 grns of 296, and the Speer, the primer appearance told my I was too hot. Not a problem for the gun, but sure to loosen primer pockets over time. With the Lee, the primers were no where near flattened and the velocity was higher (1665 vs 1615). The 20 grn load of 296 with the Lee looks like a keeper

The extra 1/8" space with the Lee makes a real difference. I need to try pushing the 4227 a little more to find out what velocity I can get at a similar pressure as the 20 grn 296 load.

Just for reference from my other 357 max options:

- I got 1410 fps from 19.3 of 4227 out of my 8" Dan Wesson
- In my 14" contender I got 1760 fps from the 20 grn 296 load and 1532 fps from the 19.3 grn 4227 load.

[bluejay75]

Another update to an old thread.....

In 357 magnum cases the test guns were a 357 Magnum Handi Rifle and a Ruger 77/357.

I started by building a test bullet that was the maximum length that would fit in a ruger rotary magazine and came up with 1.639.

Then to powder...it was a toss up between H110 and 300 MP. H110 got the nod and I started with 13 grains and worked up to 15.5. 15 is the max for the Ruger as the bullets are a hair off the lands and I think you could probably go up to 16 grains in the Handi Rifle.

Load:
Gun: Ruger 77/357 Stock + bolt shims topped with a Weaver 2x7
Bullet: Lee 358-200 RF, powdercoated in Harbor Freight Red, weight from 203-205 all others are culled.
Powder Charge: H110 14.5 Grains
Average Velocity: 1522
SD: Standard deviation was 14 or less for all loads from 14-15.5 grains. Standard deviation for 14 grain load was 6.
Group size: 1.25 inches @50 yards 10 shot group. Fired at Wake County Firearms Training Center 100 yard indoor range.

[mwells72774]

Anyone tried this in a 357 Max?

Sorry just went back and reread. Good info!