Hi everyone. I am new to the forum. I have some previous casting experience and am getting back into it because Ohio now allows straight-walled pistol cartridges for deer hunting. I got a Ruger 77/357 which has worked out fine. I am planning to order an LBT 160 grain FN mold for it pretty soon.
I had purchased firelapping supplies from LBT and Beartooth Bullets and recently ordered more lapping bullets from Beartooth (apparently Ruger stainless barrels can require hundreds of lapping rounds), but I read somewhere that the Stantons are busy taking care of a family member. Since I'm also doing that too, I completely understand why they might not be able to ship orders quickly.
I apologize for the long introduction but felt it necessary to give context to my question: Can anyone suggest a factory/non-custom mold that will drop sufficiently oversized bullets (sorry, boolits) from COWW (or other alloy so that I can get the desired 12-14 BHN) so that I can keep lapping the barrel? Bore slugging suggests that groove diameter is 0.358", but I measured that with a dial caliper, not a micrometer. Part of the reason (I think) that I've needed so many lapping rounds is that I squeezed the boolits too hard to get them embedded with the (LBT) lapping compound and reduced their diameter somewhat, possibly too much to be effective. I realize that I could just use the LBT mold when I get it, but wonder if I need a larger diameter for lapping rounds than regular shooting ones? If so, I'd prefer to buy a second, less expensive mold since I expect to be done with lapping in maybe another hundred (lapping) rounds and then hopefully get to shooting cloverleaf groups with the LBT mold boolits. Thank you. I've found a lot of valuable advice and information here before I registered.