First Wheelgun Purchased Today

[Silvercreek Farmer]

+1 on that

+2

If economy matters to you, pick up a jug of Promo. I've sent a lot of lead downrange with it and I can always find a decent load as long I am not looking for top velocity.

[wyrmzr]

I just had a bit of luck finding some cast boolits; it seems that one LGS went to an estate sale and bought a lot of stuff they don't know what to do with. This includes a large batch of .357/.38 special boolits weighing in at around 161 grains. The owner of the estate was actually a competition shooter, which helps me to trust his casting skills. That, and I've weighed 25 of them so far and found less than 2 grains difference among the batch. I picked up 75 of these boolits for $5. I'd rather cast my own, but I'm not passing that up, and the owner of the shop knew he wasn't going to find too many people with any interest in cast boolits. I should probably check and see if the guy had any lube in one of those totes, and/or a spare reloading die set.

[JoeJames]

I'm old school. I use Bullseye for 38 Special, and Unique for 44 Special and for that matter 44 Magnum tolerable loads.

[wyrmzr]

Well, I'm using what's on hand for now, and have finally gotten out to practice with some cast boolits. I only took 14 rounds with me, the first seven had 13 grains of IMR4227, the 2nd group had 14 grains. It certainly likes the 14 grains at 15 yards; I pulled left on 2 shots but all other shots hit the bullseye.
It does seem I'll want to replace that grip; it's not terrible, but I did find that a little more meat on the grip, and perhaps some covering of the back of the trigger guard, seem like they'd help. It's a big gun, I've got big hands, and comfort is certainly important.
Now it's time to load up some more cast boolits and make sure I remain consistent. Probably some dry firing is in order so I develop good grip habits.

[lar45]

Excellent, I'm glad it's shooting well for you.
I have a Raging Bull in 454 and really like it. It's well made, has a smooth trigger and can hold 1.5" at 50yds with several loads.

[gwpercle]

My favorite , all time accuracy champ boolit in both 38 Special and 357 Magnum for paper punching , tin can perferating and all around general use is :
NOE #360 - 160 - WC - PB .
This is a 160 grain wadcutter that is not designed to be deep/flush seated in the case .
It is sort of a cross hybrid Semi-wadcutter and Wadcutter .
It's a great design that works . The cost of a 4 cavity NOE mould in this design may seem pricey but trust me ...it's worth every cent . Since getting this mould ...I have cast no other 38/357 boolits , this one does it all .

Taurus has come a long way in quality...my MOST accurate 45 acp is a Taurus Revolver...it's scary accurate!
Gary

[tazman]

The mold gwpercle refers to is a copy of the Lyman 358432. It is designed to be loaded to the same OAL as a 150-158 grain SWC. This gives you the option of loading the boolit to full power 158 grain levels.
He is also correct that it is a superb performer.
Lyman made them in 160 grains and 148 grains. I have the 148 grain version from Lyman and the 160 grain version from NOE. Both are excellent molds and great boolits.
I cast my NOE mold as a hollow point which gives it a weight of 148 grains.
I can't find the NOE mold on their website at the moment. Not certain if that is just a temporary thing or not. I got mine from them as a group buy.

One of the fun things about wadcutters in a revolver is, you can seat the boolit so it is crimped into one of the grease grooves instead of the crimp groove. This accomplishes the same thing that the 358432 does without the need for an additional mold.

[wyrmzr]

Right now I'm not even sure which mold was used to cast the bullets I'm using; they were bought off an auction. Of course, I've gone through and weighed them, and the average is about 160 grains. So far a little xlox and they're running great. My next test is perhaps a bit of overkill, but it's a 180 grain XTP that I plan on using for deer season. If that doesn't bring them down, it's my fault.

[facetious]

When I couldn't find 2400 I tried some BE-86 and and found I kind of like it. In .357 it uses about half the powder as 2400 or H110 and sill go fast enough to be useful . 4227 is to slow for any thing under 160 gr . 2400 has to be the best , I'v tried it from 140's to 160's and I think it will get the most out of the .357 but for a general purpose load BE-86 has shot good and is a lot cleaner. I use it with lighter boolits like My LBT 150-OWC's and save the 2400 for 358-156's in my BH

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Was talking to an old shooting buddy recently and we decided that revolvers and 1911's were more satisfying to shoot than our plastic pistols. Feel the same about bolt and lever rifles.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Was talking to an old shooting buddy recently and we decided that revolvers and 1911's were more satisfying to shoot than our plastic pistols. Feel the same about bolt and lever rifles.

I agree 100% I also would rather not pick up brass and find myself shooting revolvers and my Contender more

[wyrmzr]

Yep, the revolver just plain feels better overall to me. Plus, the simpler the better in case you have to troubleshoot something.

[pocketace]

how is the porting dealing with the leading?

mine is good gun, accurate, even with crappy swaged factory ammo. However it would be nice to have a nice smith or ruger, but with the cost of the guns astronomical.....