Anyone have experience with Lee 358-105-SWC?

[Alan in Vermont]

I'm planning to shoot a bunch of 38/357 this summer. I don't currently have a mold for anything in .358. In an effort to stretch my lead supply I want to go with a light bullet. The Lee 358-105-SWC is listed as 105 grs which is about as good as it gets.

Does anyone here have one and if so how does it shoot and what loads does it seem to like. I'll be putting them through a 4" Security Six that I have had for years and know that it is capable of good results if fed the right diet.

I know I could go with the NOE group buy for a 75 gr. or 100 gr. wadcutter and would love to do so. Money being what it is at this point that is not going to happen. It's either a Lee or nothing for now. I'm leaning towards a 6-cav. to get some production.

[jmsj]

Alan,
My family probably shoots more of the Lee 358-105-SWC bullets than any other bullet.
I load these for my wife's CCW practice rounds, my daughter is learning to shoot centerfire pistols w/ these and they are my plinking round in 38 Special.
Do a search on the site and you'll find lots of information on this bullet.
Good luck, jmsj

[mooman76]

Great little plinker and shoots good too. I shot it in 38/357 and 9mm. Did good in all.

[Alan in Vermont]

I found a lot more info about this boolit in autos than in revolvers. The one I found that mentioned any distance accuracy siad that it didn't shoot well at 50 yds. I plan to shoot a few 1500 matches on the B27 silhouette target. There is a 50 yd stage in that match. I'm sorta hoping somebody has done some serious accuracy work out to 50 yds with it. I really don't want to use two loads for the whole course, nor do I want to practice with anything other than the load I shoot for score.

I'm going to put an ad in Wanted to Buy and see if I can buy/trade for a couple hundred of these so I can try working up some loads and getting some sense of what I can get out of it for accuracy.

[MtGun44]

This is the first mold I ever got, used it for 9mm, it is like a mini H&G 68. Works real
well.

Bill

[fcvan]

I bought the Lee 105 to try in a .380 many years ago. I have used it for 9mm and .38 loads quite a lot. My wife loves them in a Taurus 5 shot snubby. It was a great plinker in a derringer i once owned. Load data was worked up from 110 grain loads as the boolit ran about 108gr as cast. They print nice holes and do make the lead supply last longer. I even played with placing the 105 over three 25 grain or two 40 grain wadcutters loaded in .357 cases back when multi rounds were the rage. I have always wanted to try round ball gallery loads in .38 because they worked so well in the .45 Colt. I'm sure the round ball loads would even save more lead. Frank

[swamp]

I cast them. If you would like to trade for some give me a PM.
swamp

[Christorbust]

Well if you end up with the mold (6 cav) and don't like it PM me, I'm slowly looking for a used one.

I have a few 9mm molds I'm playing with currently, but that boolit is still the most accurate out of my CZ Phantom to date.

[excess650]

I HAVE shot the 105swc at 50 yards, and it can be as accurate as anything else. My S&W M14 K-38 liked it well enough that it outshot my 6" factory tuned Python at the same distance, and Python with heavier boolits. I used that K-38 for squirrel hunting with the 105 over 5gr Bullseye.

This was my boolit of choice for shooting indoors to 25 yards on scaled down PPC targets(indoor league).

Ben shot some phenomenal groups with this same boolit from his 20" Marlin carbine.

[Thin Man]

I have been using this (105K) mold pattern in 380, 9mm and 38 Spl. for quite a while. It works very well with light loads in the revolvers, many powders and charges to choose from. FWIW, I just today ordered a Lee 358-125RF mold (6X) to complement the 105K, plan to test them heads up against each other for accuracy, so if you could wait I can report back directly to you. Both molds offer light weight boolits, and I have high hope that the 125 will also produce respectable groups at higher veolcity in a 38 Super. Honestly I don't think you could go wrong with either style. If you intend to teach speed reloading a revolver, the RF may give you an edge, otherwise it's a toss-up.

Thin Man

[Wally]

I have been using the Lee 105 SWC for quite sometime in my .38 Spl loads--using 4.5 of Red Dot and I use a tuft of poly filler. I found out this makes the velocity more consistent. Also I seat the bullet almost flush with the case mouth and apply a light roll crimp. The bullet casts very large and when sized to .358/.359" their is little left of the tiny crimping groove. Very accurate and economical.

[Elkins45]

I have had great success with it in 38 special, and it is my absolute favorite practice bullet in 357 Sig when sized to .356

I really appreciate that it uses almost 1/3 less lead per bullet than a 158, yet sacrifices nothing in accuracy.

[theoldsarge]

I bought the Lee 105 to try in a .380 many years ago.

How did it work in .380? I've been finding good comments on this mold for 9mm and .38 loads, all over the web; this is the first reference about .380s I have found. It's been a long time since I reloaded, now I want to get back into it, and plan on casting my plinking rounds. I'm on a fixed income, so want to keep it simple. I want to use one of these for .380, 9mm, and .38. Lee says you usually don't have to size before loading, but I'm thinking this should probably be sized for .380 and 9mm, at least. Do you size for any, or all, these calibers, or what? Thanks.

[Chihuahua Floyd]

I've loaded them for SASS for my daughter, With a light load of Clays, you need some filler to get consistant ignition. I just used a little wad of cotton pressed down on top of the powder and a good crimp. Out of a 6" Blackhawk, looks like snow. I'ed recommend a bulkier powder than Clays or Red Dot. Might be a good place to try Trailboss.
Never did try serious target work with them. Might do that, still got a few hundred loaded up,
CF

[Greg in va]

I used to shoot these in some PPC matches back in the day, they were great out to 25 yards, but I switched to the 148 HBWC for 50 yard work. They would group inside the 10 ring, on a B-27, but the 148's would group well inside the X-Ring. The 105 have Low recoil and are fast to reload, give them a chance they will do well.

[Ben]

I really like the bullet, it shoots well out of my rifle and my revolvers :

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=83154

[thegreatdane]

4gn of Titegroup in a 38 special makes for a polite, but not too weak, shooting load.

Just for fun, I loaded up some real flame-throwers in 357 mag. 10gn Power Pistol. Should be a real light show!

[RKJ]

How did it work in .380? I've been finding good comments on this mold for 9mm and .38 loads, all over the web; this is the first reference about .380s I have found. It's been a long time since I reloaded, now I want to get back into it, and plan on casting my plinking rounds. I'm on a fixed income, so want to keep it simple. I want to use one of these for .380, 9mm, and .38. Lee says you usually don't have to size before loading, but I'm thinking this should probably be sized for .380 and 9mm, at least. Do you size for any, or all, these calibers, or what? Thanks.

I loaded some up for my Ruger LCP (IIRC) ahead of 2.5 Unique sized to .356 with WW. They shot very well at about 7 yards. I don't figure I'll use that little gun at much more than that but if I have to it was plenty accurate. I ran them all through a Lyman lubrisizer and some needed sized but others didn't. It's a pretty nice little bullet that can be used in a lot of different guns.

[Larry Gibson]

I cast them of WWs + 2% tin and 40-50% lead. I size at .358 and lube with Javelina or BAC. In 38 SPL cases I load over 4.7 gr Bullseye. They run 1025 fps out of my 5" M15 or 6" Ruger Security Six and shoot sub 1.5" at 25 yards.

For a bit lighter load at 750 - 800 fps with a bit bulkier powder 3.5 - 4 gr of VV N32C Tin Star works as well.

Larry Gibson

[Jal5]

Works great for 38 spl over Bullseye in my M66 Smith & "Wesson. Now I am trying it for 9mm but need more tests on that one yet.

Joe

[Boolseye]

I just ordered one in 6 cav., and I plan to use it in all the calibers mentioned.
I've been looking forward to getting this mold for a good while.

[subsonic]

It's a good mold, especially for lead conservation and plinking or for practice where recoil is a concern. I don't think it's the right mold for top level magnum type loads or serious accuracy work, but I havn't shot very many yet and only have tried 1 load in 1 gun.