Lyman 358495

[Heavy lead]

Is this a good wadcutter design? It appears that it is no longer made and is designed to cast about 140 and is flat based. Anyone that has one please chime in. I have a chance to buy one and it looks like a good design to me. Any information would be appreciated.

[Echo]

This is probably the second-most WC cast boolit (H&G50 being the most) and is a very good target boolit. Can also be driven up, but not a ballistic gem. Great for 25/50 yds, though.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

This has been a very popular WC design for many years for the 38 special. I don't understand why Lyman discontinued it, or for that matter why they discontinued quite a few other designs. If you can find a used one in decent shape (probably on E-Bay) and for a decent price, grab it. A very popular loading for it was/is 2.7 grains of Bullseye. Another famous design, as mentioned by Easy Ed, was/is the Hensley & Gibbs #50, also a WC which came in flat base or bevel base version. it came in 2,4,6 and ten cavity molds and they were and still are...pricey. But they are the Rolls-Royces of bullet molds in every way. If you are a serious target shooter in 38 special then the 358495 or the 50 is definitely the way to go. One bit of advice; If you find one and cast/size it, and use an alox lube do not put lube in all of the grease grooves....one groove is sufficient. Putting the lube in two or all three grooves will make for a lot of smoke and crud up the gun. LLS

[Heavy lead]

Thanks for the input guys, I think I will jump on this.

[EDK]

I bought a 4 cavity Hensley & Gibbs #50, San Diego address, with handles, off Ebay for $50 plus shipping awhile back. Some minor burring on the bolt heads. I haven't fired it up yet....got to correct that this week end if it isn't too cold...I cast in the garden shed during the winter.

This sounds like "even a blind hog finds an acorn once in awhile!"

[missionary5155]

Good morning Heavy Lead
I cannot speak for that particular weight.. but the 160grwc model 358432 cast soft SMACKS with real authority out of my 3 inch 357 S&W (model13). 6 grains of Unique is what I carry out in the desert (or a winny 44-40). I no longer am over concerned about the 4 legged wild pack desert hunters. They seem to have decided to give me a wide berth.

[9.3X62AL]

Missionary--

It has been at least 15 years since my Lyman #358432 has been heated up. That may be changing shortly, 'cause it occurred to me after reading your text that I used to shoot these quite a bit in thew past, and recall hitting jackrabbits at distance with the loads. Well, DUH--it seems that these particular wadcutters might not tumble at distance as readily as some other designs. And that bluff-fronted profile whacks the daylights outta whatever it hits.

Has this been your experience also?

[Heavy lead]

It's on the way. Found a 358495 on a closeout in the 4 hole configuration. Have been buying my wadcutters and only casted for a 358429. I think I'll get some casted up this weekend and just lube the bottom groove and see how they shoot Sunday am. Hopefully it'll be here by Friday. This is the weight I've been looking for. Supposedly they weigh at 140 grains, I'm sure that's with the Lyman alloy. I will cast them with 2 parts pure and 1 part ww with a might of tin.

[beagle]

The first mould that I bought for pistols was the 358495. That old SC is long gone and a DC had replaced it. I'll bet I have fired 20K of them through various .38s and .357s and taken not a few rabbits with them and untold bullfrogs and thousands of rats at the city dump when that was legal and they used the old method of dumping trash and then burning.

I've used it for bullseye shooting and you'll not go wrong.

Takes a little getting use to when casting. Mould has to be good and hot for the front wadcutting band to fill out and not too hot or you'll break pieces off the wadcutting band when you dump the bullets. Get it just right and get your casting tempo down and it makes good, accurate bullets like shelling peas./beagle

[Echo]

+1 for LLS - Only lube one groove. Seems like I remember some author showing that one groove lubing was most accurate. I hadn't done it before, so I heated up my 4C 50 and turned out a few, just to see how they turned out. Outstanding, of course. And I got it off eBay. You will be very happy with your -495.

[Heavy lead]

Mould arrived last Friday, it is brand new packed in a shell holder case that will hold 50 rounds of 308 length and diameter cartridges, the QC sticker was from 1995, well before I started casting, kinda cool. Nice, nice mould, took about 100 boolits run through before it started dropping real nice, just like butter, I ran 300 through it last night, I'll size and lube only the first lube groove and give them a spin this weekend. One thing I noticed compared to the newer Lyman's I have bought, the blueing in the cavities seems a lot deeper in color and better quality than the new ones.

[TAWILDCATT]

just for info Lee has what I belive is the same bullet as 358-148 WC.I used the H&G and I belive it also is 148.

[crowbeaner]

I use 2 Lyman designs; the 358495 and 35891. The 495 is a great boolit because it doesn't have the bevel base of the 35891. That %%%% bevel base fills with lube and I have to wipe the bases of every boolit. I DO like the 2 crimp grooves of the 35891 though.

[Heavy lead]

I was happy to find it because of the bevel base because of that, I figure the lube on the bb doesn't help none. I just love blowing wadcutters out of my K-38, never even shot anything else out of it. Thinking about looking for a GP-100 38 special just for another wadcutter gun. Kinda wish Smith would make a 7 shot in the special.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

My first pistol bullet mold was a combination 358429/358495 DC that I had made to order in 1965, when I became a cop. Since then, I've somehow manged to buy two more 358495's, a two, and a four cavity. I guess it's time to stop. I think it's a great bullet for Bullseye, both the powder(2.7gr.), and the sport, I used to cast it at 30-1.
Morgan

[Doug Bowser]

I have a 2 cavity 358495 and it makes the most accurate .38 wadcutter loads I ahve ever fired in my S&W Model 14. I used to have a Lyman single cavity with hollow base but it was too difficult to cast very many bullets with it. My favorite load is 2.7 gr Bullseye.

Buy it.

[dale2242]

My K38 loves 358495 and 3 gr Bullseye.---dale

[Paul B]

I have a two cavity and two four cavity Lyman #358495 molds, and a recent addition to the clan, a Hensley & Gibbs ten cavity #50BB that I literally stole for $20. I got it so cheap because the wood part of the handles was missing, and I had to cobble up a set. I dunno just how well that mold is gonna cast as I've been too busy to sit down and run a few. Dang thing sure is heavier than hell though.
My pet load with the #358495 is 3.0 gr. of W-231 or 3.0 gr. of Bullseye. Either load will shoot groups the size of a two bit piece at 25 yards when I do my part from a good solid rest. Most of the time though 3.0 to 3.5" is more the norm, but those smaller groups pop up often enough that I have to figure it's the shooter that's screwin' up and not the boolits.
I've got roughly 600 pounds of wheel weights to clean up and 100 pounds of pure lead that has to be taken care of before I can start to cast.
Paul B.