Lee 158 grn swc gas check mould

[Kermit2]

I'm looking for anyone who has experience with the Lee 158 grain semi wadcutter gas check mould. It is a two cavity mould and it produces .358 bullets. I believe it is #C358-158-SWC. Could you please give your thoughts and experience with this mould? I'm curious if this mould will produce gas check type bullets as good as the Lyman #358156. If so it much less expensive than the Lyman. Any help will be appreciated. Thank you!

[462]

I'm not sure what you mean by "...as good as the Lyman #358156...".

However, I do have that Lee mould and it works.

I've found, though, that each mould, regardless of manufacturer, is unique and requires its own bit of TLC and understanding.

[azrednek]

I've found, though, that each mould, regardless of manufacturer, is unique and requires its own bit of TLC and understanding.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Seems every mold regardless of brand has its own personality. I have a single holer 38156 that will drop an under-sized slug if I'm not careful about the mix. My Lee C358-158-SWC will drop a proper sized slug regardless of the formula. The double cavity Lyman 38156 I foolishly traded away never gave me a problem with under-sized slugs.

[Tim357]

The boolits work pretty well in a buddy's 3" SP101. They do seat deeper in the case than the Lyman tho, so if you are loading redline or near redline loads you'll want to reduce the charge a bit from whatever load you are using for a boolit that has more nose outside the case. Check the crimp groove locations and you'll see what I'm talking about.

[rintinglen]

My personal 2 cents is that Steel Molds always are better than aluminum. I always get more rejects from an aluminum mold than with a steel mold. However, 60 bucks buys a 6 cavity Lee and handles, while it won't even cover the cost of a 2 cavity Lyman, much less the superior RCBS 162-swc. It takes a lot of rejects to outbalance the increase in productivity.
But the iron or steel molds will still be making boolits long after the Lee has fallen apart. I have a 4 cavity Lyman 358-156, two RCBS 162-SWC's, and since I don't use Gas Checks for plinking or blasting ammo, I usually go with the RCBS. If you contemplate casting hundreds of pounds of boolits, I'd go with an iron mold. If not, then the 6 cavity Lee might be a beter choice.

[cabezaverde]

Kermit2

I was just going to post the exact question. I have a 358156, and would like to increase my production rate.

[Intel6]

I have the 6 cavity Lee version and have been happey with it. i got it because it has a shorter nose and lets me load them to the crimp groove and still shoot them in my magazine fed Coonan autoloader.

Neal in AZ

[cabezaverde]

Would anyone be willing to sell me ( or trade) some of these before I go out and buy yet another 357 mold?

[cabezaverde]

Try it again.

Would anyone be willing to trade me some of these before I go out and buy yet another 357 mold?