Lee 148wc ?

[dualsport]

I'm going to buy a Lee 6 cavity 358-148 wc mold, either the standard or the tumble lube design, still deciding. Either way, I will tumble lube without sizing, using Ed Harris' method of using unsized brass and finishing up with a Lee Factory Crimp Die. For this to work I need a .360 or as close to it as possible, as cast. What are you guys getting from your Lees and will one or the other likely cast bigger? Thanks.

[Dave C.]

I size my Lee TLWC down to .358"
As cast is .3585"
Load them backwards for best results.
I tell people that I have a custom nose pour mold.

[Buckshot]

..............Several years ago I was involved with 4 other board members in a kind of 'Shoot Off" deal using 38 wadcutters. We all had K38 Smiths, and to make it simple we decided to use the venerable 2.7 gr Bullseye load. Amongst the 5 of us we had about 8 different wadcutter moulds. We all swapped boolits around. I had the Lee 358-148 cast up in 2 different alloys so that was 9 boolit variations.

We all used Bullseye, but of different lots I'm sure, if not of different epochs :-) Then you have the different case makes, primer differences and brass treatment differences. The K38's varied in when they were made, as were the shooters :lol: We shot 10 round groups at 25 yards.

As you might expect no one particular boolit stood out in all 5 revolvers. However the Lee 358-148 did well for most, as did a couple others. There was also no well defined stinker either. The majority of the designs had button noses, the balance true flat nosed wadcutters. No HB's in the bunch. The only other variations was between having 3 or 4 lube grooves, and a crimp groove or no crimp groove. Some of the designs produced some really praiseworthy results, but there was no definative best.

One thing about light 38 Wadcutter loads is that too much lube is not a good thing. There was an article done some time back using a wadcutter having 4 lube grooves. Accuracy increased each time a lube groove was left dry, with one LG filled proving best. Then it was tested as to if the top or bottom LG filled made a difference and it did. You might think that the top LG would be the winner as is preceeds the boolit as it travels down the barrel? Turns out, at least for the author, his boolit design, revolver, lube, and charge, that having the bottom LG filled proved best of all.

..................Buckshot

[cajun shooter]

Buckshot, I posted the article on the lubing of the wad cutters a while back as a newbie was asking about if all his grooves did not fill.
While shooting the PPC matches many years ago and testing different bullets and lubes we could never find one that out shot the factory Speer. I know you remember that this bullet was a HB design and covered in a proprietary white powder type lube. We had two groups that always had difference with the load to use. One, myself included used as you posted the stamped in stone load of 2.7 grs of Bullseye and the other used Winchester 230 which preceded the 231 of today. One Mississippi State Trooper shot more than one 1500 which was something to see. After being there and seeing the targets live I never have used anything but the factory Speer when I want to shoot a serious target. Plinking may be covered by many with no difference other than the amount of lube used as you noted. Later David PS I have sent a lot of the new members to you for the fine Kate Cutters that you make. I hope they took my advise.

[Buckshot]

I have sent a lot of the new members to you for the fine Kate Cutters that you make. I hope they took my advise.

.............I've had a couple recently, so maybe that was you? :-) Regardless, I appreciate it. As you mentioned there were a couple factory 38 Wadcutter target loads that it would have been an almost impossible feat to duplicate their accuracy, via handloading. IIRC Remington had one (like Speer, using swaged pure lead slugs) and the brass was different then standard 38 Special. It's walls remained thin farther down to accomodate the deep seated WC's, so the thickening walls wouldn't size down the bottom of the soft slug.

I also understand that since the sport of Bullseye isn't as popular as it used to be, and the demand not being there, ammo of that pedigree is no longer available? However all my 38 Wadcutter loads are still put up with the std lube grooved Lee 358 - 148 button nosed design, cast of very soft (if not exactly pure) lead over 2.7grs of Bullseye :-)

.................Buckshot