Accurate 38 Special RN

[.44 Swede]

Hello.

I need a really accurate boolit for my Taurus revolver. It has to be a round-nose since I´m going to use it for PPC shooting. I have an old Ideal mould, but it´s so damaged that the base of the boolits are ´nt straight.

Any suggestion?? I want the mould to be made of iron and I also want it to have 4 cavities and most important, I need really good accuracy.

I´ll be greatful for all help!!

Peter

[9.3X62AL]

Lyman's #358311 has a reputation for pretty good accuracy, and is available in 4-cavity configuration. There's a good chance that your existing Ideal mold is of that same pattern. It is a classic 158 grain RN design that was standard from the caliber's development in 1902 through the 1970's, when SWC designs and jacketed hollow-points started making inroads on the old design.

[Dale53]

I have a Lyman 358311 four cavity mould that I used when shooting PPC. It is an excellent bullet for target use. The mould casts well and I can recommend it without reservation.

Mine is NOT for sale.

Dale53

[Bass Ackward]

If you have liked the mold in the passed, have someone grind or make a skim cut to get the mold level again. Won't take as much as you think. It will be slightly lighter, but chances are it will work.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got the nei the saeco and the lyman and they all shoot fair. My ppc gun has a tight chamber and unless cast reloads are perfect fast reloads can be a problem. I lucked into recipe that works for me. I was fooling with my 9mm 952 (that wont funtion worth a beans with anything but jacketed) got sick of the headaches and sold it and bought an sti trojan that shot cast real well. Well i had a big pile of jacket bullets left (about 3000) that i needed to blast up. Well ow and behold the 121 .357 tap bullet shot little tiny one hole groups at 25 yards with 3.7 grains of bullseye. It shot even lighter loads just as well but after sticking a few bullets in the barrel i settled on 3.7 That little hp drops in from speedloaders like greased lightning and recoils about like a .22. Ive got a 3 position rib on the gun that isnt needed for ppc here because we dont shoot 50 yard ppc here so i leave one position for 150 round noses for practice and shoot the jacketed in comp. Ive got a pretty good selection of 9mm round nose molds too and sometime this summer want to give them a try in the gun. The taps arent that expensive but a trophy would mean more to me if i was using my own bullets to win it and it allready mad e me admitt i use jacketed bullets for something on this fourm!!!!!

[LAH]

I really like this bullet. A Saeco #928. It uses a front & rear driving band of equal length. There's no crimp groove but this hasn't hindered my K-38. We sold it as the Dry Creek 38-147-RN.....Creeker

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/1.jpg

[9.3X62AL]

Creeker--

That design might be even better than #358311 for speed-loader use. The "shoulder" on the Lyman RN design--or any SWC--can complicate fast refill sequences. Your "shoulderless" design, with a mild crimp set over the front edge of the forward driving band, should run like water into charge holes.

[utk]

Would this Lyman boolit be ok for PPC? Mold number is #358665. I´ve just bought it for magnum use (not PPC).
(It has a very small bevel on the base, doesn´t show up on the drawing).
It is a flat roundnose which should work fine with a speedloader.

Anybody have any experiences with it?

[Lloyd Smale]

a truncated nosed or round flat bullet works but not near as well as a true round nose without any shoulder on them and if you want the altimate for speed loading a jacketed round nose is the bullet. The copper jacket is slicker then lead and slides by any sharp edges on your cylinder. I guess a guy has to keep in mind that for ppc shooting anyway the time you have to shoot even in the rapid fire is plenty and really fast reloads arent nessisary anyway.

[fecmech]

UTK--I shot PPC years ago with wadcutters and Safariland speedloaders, reloads were no problem at all. Your round flat should do just fine as far as reloads with a decent speedloader. If you really want to game the system get the Lyman 356402 Tc 9mm bullet. Load it over 3.5-3.8 of Bullseye, it will run about 800fps, recoil about the same as a .22 and stay inside the "X" ring on a PPC target at 50 yds.

[Char-Gar]

Lyman 358311 is the most accurate bullet I have fired through the 38 Special revolved in 50 years of shooting the 38.

[LAH]

Creeker--

That design might be even better than #358311 for speed-loader use. The "shoulder" on the Lyman RN design--or any SWC--can complicate fast refill sequences. Your "shoulderless" design, with a mild crimp set over the front edge of the forward driving band, should run like water into charge holes.

Deputy Al it does just that..............Creeker

[.44 Swede]

Thank You all. I think I´ll try to get the Lyman 311. The Ideal looks exactly like that profile. As a comment to Bass Ackward, the boolits base is OK, it´s the lower part of the boolit that isn´t straight, I dont know the English word for it.

The Saeco looks interesting and the other Lyman too.

I´ll put an ad in on the Swapping & selling page.

Thank You all.

[bobthenailer]

ive had excellent results with the saeco 390/391 in various 357 mags & 38 specials it will shoot 20 shot groups at 25 yards under 1 inch with 4.0 be in 357 cases and 4.6 universal clays in 38 special cases. all testing was done in a ransom rest or with a scope. bob

[LAH]

Would this Lyman boolit be ok for PPC? Mold number is #358665. I´ve just bought it for magnum use (not PPC).
(It has a very small bevel on the base, doesn´t show up on the drawing).
It is a flat roundnose which should work fine with a speedloader.

Anybody have any experiences with it?

I cast the little bullet. It comes out 'bout 165 grs. from W/W metal. I think you will find it accurate and hard hitting...........Creeker

[3sixbits]

Lyman 358430, in the lighter weight. when cast with pure lino it throws at 146 grains about a 1.5 to 2 ojive, shoots like a wad cutter. Great killer of mule deer, from my old .357 mag when loaded with 16 grains of 2400 powder. 12 1/2" barrel does not hurt either. I may have poured more than a 1000 pounds of bulleto metal down the bore with this shape. Love it!

[9.3X62AL]

3 Six Bits--

That is interesting info on the light-version #358430. I have the heavy-version (195 grain) and it has always shot well in my 38's and 357's--but I balked at using it on game with that domed nose. It does well on muleys, eh?

[Lloyd Smale]

did a little shooting yesterday (very little with my back problem) but i shot a varity of 9mm round noses out of my 38 ppc gun and low and behold the same bullet that shoots the best in my sti trojan 9mm did in the ppc gun too. The rcbs 115 round nose with 3.8 grains of bullseye shot under an inch. Loads great and has vertually no recoil. I think it will be my new ppc bullet

[slughammer]

... The rcbs 115 round nose with 3.8 grains of bullseye shot under an inch. Loads great and has vertually no recoil. I think it will be my new ppc bullet

What diameter does your mold drop at? What did you size them to for the 38?

[Lloyd Smale]

didnt measure them as cast but a 358 sizer lightly wipes them and seals good enough that there is no lube leakage with the star.

[garandsrus]

Ivan,

The only thing I don't like about a round nose bullet for PPC is that you don't get a "clean full caliber" hole in the target. The round nose makes the target hard to score...

Most of the guys that I shoot with use full wad cutters for PPC. I use the group buy 105 gr Wad Cutters from a while back for indoor (50 ft max distance) PPC.

There is no problem getting the one fast reload done. Many of the PPC guns have the cylinder edges chamfered a little to facilitate getting the bullets started. I can take a picture of my revolvers cylinder (after I clean it) if you want to see what the chamfer looks like.

John

[Dale53]

When I was shooting PPC, we used mostly WC's but used the Lyman 358311 for the "quick reload" stage. I have one of those "boxes" that hold loaded "speed loaders" in place, so keeping them separated was a piece of cake.

The PPC course of fire is excellent hunting practice when you use full bore magnums. It utilizes a variety of field positions and requires some accuracy with a measure of speed. That is exactly what hunting can require, whether large or small game.

It is sure a different game when Big Bore guns are used (as compared to target wadcutters), but LOTS of fun.

Dale53

[Lloyd Smale]

I guess im more of a nervously wired competor then most. If i fumble in anyway during a reload it effects my state of mind for that whole round. I once talked with a buddy of mine that got me started in it. He shoots on a national level. I was shooting my 625 at that time and was getting 2 inch groups with swc and 1.5 inch groups with a round nosed bullet. I asked him what he would go with the better accuracy or the better holes punched in the target that would give me a few more on the line points. What he told me was first i had to get a more accurate load then either and he would go with the accuracy everytime. I dont know about the places you guys shoot but it takes a good 295+ out of 300 here to win anything and that means it takes a gun that shoots one inch at 25 to win it. So the first step in finding a bullet to shoot ppc is to accomplish that. Me personaly the way i get it is an accurate gun and smoothness and consistancy. Like I said if i stuggle even in the smallest amount with my reloads i will cut points off my score everytime. Even in the auto class ive found for myself anyway that i shoot better scores with my trojan 9mm then i do with a .45. Just the fact that theres about half the recoil to recover from makes me keep my consentration better and my scores higher then if im getting a couple points from a larger target hole hitting a line. I could care less about a target being harder to score. Id say 9 times out of ten if theres a questionalbe shot they will rule toward the shooter anyway. When matches are won by an x count with a score of 300 accuracy and consistancy are the name of the game. Blow the x ring out of the target so its about impossible to score line hits is what i want to accomplish. I really believe he turned me on to the biggest trick of ppc shooting. About 75 percent of the guys that shoot around here come with a colt kimber or spingfield auto and a model 15 or 19 smith and use store bought ammo and dont even know how well there gun acutally shoots. Some of them arent bad shooters but handicapped like that are never going to win. I can introduce you to 3 of them that i sat down with and worked up loads for there guns that knocked 10 points or more off there score. To me shooting pins or plates isnt a precision shoot as isnt cowboy action shooting. But when it comes to ppc its as important to me as it is in bullseye shooting. When I squeeze the trigger im looking for an x ring hit and it takes smoothness and consistancy for me to get one. I really dont care if it puts a 45 or a 38 caliber hole in the x ring as long as its there.

[686]

in ppc rev matches the only weight other than for the 1500 match is 158gr rn or swc. the service - off duty-- and dist is only 158 gr. nei makes a grate 158 gr swc mold. i use it in my 686 6in dist. and 4 in duty matches.

[Lloyd Smale]

were i shoot they dont have different revolver classes and as far as calibler its just 9mm or bigger with any weight bullet