new lee 380 boolit

[w0fms]

Lee has a 6 cavity in the 100gr range for 380 ACP now? Sweet.. I should be mad about having "settled" for the 2 cavity a few months ago.. but.. hey it was $20. Good thing I saw this thread. I need that.

Say what you want about "Lee".. but.. sweet...

[xacex]

OK, you talked me into it. Ordered the 6 cavity for this one. If it shoots as good as people report with the Ranchdog 380 boolit I will be happy. I will have to try it in 357 sig, PC'd of course.

[FergusonTO35]

What are you guys lubing this boolit with? My mold came in today, I'm thinking it would be best to paint the sides with LLA. Looking forward to trying it in my Kel-Tec PF9!!

[tazman]

I have been using this boollet for a couple of weeks now with very good(for me) results in my Taurus pt92 afs. I have been lubing it with LLA and sizing it to .357 with a LEE sizing die. No leading excellent function and good accuracy. About all I can ask of a light weight, lead stretching slug.

[reloader28]

I run mine at .358 thru the lube sizer with the NRA lube.

[FergusonTO35]

My mold came in yesterday, I poured a bunch of 'em today. Half I pan lubed with 60/40 alox-beeswax like all my other pistol slugs, other half I painted the sides with LLA as I do my rifle boolits. Didn't size them, if they feed and function there's no need to. I don't have a .380 so I'll load up some 9's with Titewad and 700X and see how they do!

[tazman]

Titewad worked well for me with this bullet.

[saguaro]

Are you guys loading these as cast or sizing them, and if so to what?

Saguaro

[saguaro]

Never mind, I didn't see there were three pages of posts. Sorry.

[FergusonTO35]

Pan lubing works with this one but I get more Boolits than average with insufficient lube in the tiny grooves. I'm not a huge fan of tumble lubing because I don't like lube all over the boolit but maybe that's just what I'll have to do. Perhaps I'll give Ranch Dog's dip lube a try.

[tazman]

I warm up the LLA bottle so the lube is very liquid before I use it. I get a nice even thin coat that doesn't gum up things in my loading die or pistol.
I fired 70 of these a couple of days ago with no leading at all. I sized them .357 with a Lee sizing die.

[FergusonTO35]

Tried these Boolits today in the Kel-Tec PF9. They work great! Feed and function 100% and accuracy and point of impact is the same as my usual 3.2 Bullseye/Lee 356-120 load. Another bonus is the brass only goes 4-5 feet instead of into the next county as with other loads. After shooting I immediately poured a bunch more. I think this pistol and boolit were divinely appointed for each other and so shall they remain.

[tazman]

If you get the chance to run it over a chronograph I would like to know what velocity you are getting.

[NSP64]

I started a tread before I saw this one. I ordered a DC for trial with my 380,9mm,38,357's.
I should have it Monday and will cast some up and shoot over my crony this week.

I just got a 380. My go-to boolit was the Lee 125gr rf in 9,38,357, but It don't fit the 380 case very well.

[a.squibload]

I would like something like this shape in a .401 for 40s&W, any suggestions?
(Hope it's not too off-topic.) Didn't see one on the Lee site for 40s.

Had some trouble feeding the Lee TL 175 (truncated cone) in my Kahr, it has a really steep feed ramp.
Feeds better "slingshotting" the slide instead of using the slide release, but has an
occasional failure to feed (or completely come to battery) when shooting.
Thought maybe the curved ogive might have a better chance to make it into the chamber.
(Edit: just saw a 402-105 rnfp on NOE site but it's out of stock.)

The Lee 105gn round nose 380 works fine but I like the looks of this new one,
might have to get one.

[dkf]

Take a look at some of the Accurate designs. He can also work with you to make a different design for your needs. He just can't do the 3 degree front draft angle that is on the .380 Ranch Dog design because he doesn't use a cherry to cut the molds. His molds are made to order but lead time is usually only a couple weeks.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=4

[a.squibload]

Yeah, some of those look pretty good. I don't have trouble with jaxketed,
and most of them have either a small meplat, small dia. hp, or curved ogive.
Guess I just have to get more molds and see which one works best!

[Bosshaug]

For those of you using the RCBS Lube-A-Matic, what top punch are you using?

Thanks in advance..

[a.squibload]

Think I got mine from The Perfessor, the flat one works fine for all my
pistol boolits. It leaves a small flat on the round nose 380s but that's OK with me.
I haven't set up the other ones, they are like a cup, supposed to fill with epoxy
& push a greased boolit into it for a custom fit. I'll do that sooner or later for my
HP boolits but the flat punch works fine so far, minimal distortion
of boolit noses.

[FergusonTO35]

Well I finally got me a .380 to try these boolits in, a Kahr CT380. I'm still planning to get a Glock 42, the Kahr just had a certain appeal to me and is almost $100.00 cheaper. Last night I loaded up some sized .357 dip lubed in LLA/mineral spirits over 2.6 grains HP-38 at .958 OAL. One thing I noticed immediately is that the Lee seat and crimp die produces a very consistent OAL with this boolit, even though the seater plug uses a round nose style cavity. Hope to try them out soon.