Well, after doing some research, I slugged my 357's cylinder throat diameters. And I have some questions.
Surprisingly, they all came out very similar, measuring .3578+-, with one exception, which miked .3581, and, I could have misread the mike. I don't think that is enough to worry about, anyway. My jacketed bullets, all of which measure .3575 drop through the cylinders without problems.
Does lead have some sort of "memory"? My slugging bullets seem to increase maybe .0002-3 after a little while. Actually, i used Hornady swaged 158gr SWCHP for slugging, which may be some sort of alloy, not pure lead.
Now, I am not sure what my barrel diameter is, but it is probably standard, plus whatever wear and cleaning since 1985 has done. Again, probably not significant. Smiths have that wierd 5 groove rifling, and I am not able to buy a special mike, just for that one-time use.
Soooo, will my .358 Lee sizing die do a proper job, or do I need to consider a custom one, closer to .3575? Will that small a difference even be noticeable? I shoot just for fun, but I do enjoy small groups.
Well; I didn't mean for this to go so long, but I thought it was best to ask the experts while it was fresh in my mind. Thanks.