Please help me choose a .38 WC Mould

[Argentino]

Hi all,

Newbie here. I have been reloading .38 spl with my own .357" 158 grain SWC boolits for a while. So far so good.

However I would like to try to another different boolit design so I´m looking for a WC mould.

Right now my only choices are Lee designs: the tumble lubing/microgrove
design and another one also from Lee but with a small button nose and 3 square cut grooves for lubing plus one crimping groove.

Both of them have the same weight (148gn). I would like to decide for one of these.

For those who might be familiarized with Lee´s parts numbers: the designs are #90279 and #90312.

I think I like the look of the classic design (with the button nose and lubing grooves) but despite of that I really don´t have any good reason to choose one or another.

Which should be the pros and cons of each design?

I asssume that the microgrove design should be easier for casting without defects and maybe no sizing is required after casting with this design.
But I´m not quite sure about that.

I would aprecciate your opinions please.

Thanks in advance.

[Buckshot]

...............If you're going to be shooting loads normally associated with the 148gr WC's, choosing between the TL or conventional 3 groove design would be a matter of flipping a coin. Heads for one and tails for the other. I have both Lee designs and have found the conventional design the more accurate of the 2 in my M14 S&W. Accuracy difference isn't huge, and considering both designs get tumble lubed, I'd go with whatever strikes your fancy.

However your milage may vary from mine, (so far as accuracy goes) but I'd say that if they both drop from the mould at a correct diameter why not tumble lube the conventional design also?

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

[Argentino]

Thanks Buckshot.

I think I´ll go for the conventional design then. TL with LLA should be enough for the normal loads that I´m planning to use with this boolit (2.7 grains of Bullseye seems to be a great load to start with).

If I get good results with this mold then I´ll buy the TL design just to compare them in terms of accuracy.

Many thanks again for your answer.

-Argentino-

[DrCaveman]

I faced the same dilemma a few months back. I could not find any general agreement. Since I was familiar with TL bullets, I decided on the TL version. That day, however, Midway was out of stock in the TL, but had the standard in stock.

So now I own the standard lube groove, and am very happy with it. I do use the recluse lube formula (45/45/10 JPW/LLA/mineral spirits) and like it better than straight LLA.

I think you will probably be equally happy either way.

[MT Gianni]

I would use the standard WC as LLA might be harder to find than beeswax lube ingredients. La diferencia en el questo de esto quizas puede comprare te un bife a caballo.

[runfiverun]

the regular groove mold is quite the copy of the 358091 lyman mold copied from the H&G #50.
lube only the lower/bottom lube groove for best results.
you may find that no crimp gives the best results also.

[John in WI]

I have the WC mold with standard grooves. I've been using WW with a bit of solder in it and it throws very nice boolits. I'm really amazed at the penetraion these things have--I got through almost 16" of wet pack phone book with just 4.4gr Unique. And it shoots better than I do.

[StrawHat]

I used to shoot a lot of WC through a couple of S&W revolvers when I competed in PPC. Buying boolits was not doable on LEOs wages so I ended up casting. I had a 2 cavity mold that cast the traditional button nose from Lee and liked it. To keep up with the demand for boolits I used a pair of two cavity molds. Eventually I switched to a pair of two cavity double ended WCs from Lee but I see they do not offer that style anymore. Too bad, that was also a good boolit.

Either boolit, loaded with target recipes and soft lead were accurate enough to win matches.

Cast a bit harder and shot faster, both are good hunting boolits.

[NoZombies]

Having shot both, I will say that it's a toss up for me.

I am not generally a fan of TL bullets, but the lee TL .38 WC bullet does so well that I put up with it. Not many TL designs I could say that about, but the WC is probably the best.

Their standard lube WC does well in my guns as well, so it would be hard for me to decide between the two if saving them from a fire.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Just my own preference. If you can locate a Lyman #358495 WC .38 you will be getting a mold that untold numbers shooters over the years agree is one of the best.Robert

[Tonto]

The six cavity Lee in the standard wc design will keep you up to your armpits in great bullets quite quickly. Not sure you mentioned a lubrisizer and if you go that way you would be set.

[Argentino]

Thank you all for your answers. I finally ended up buying the Lee 158 WC standard design. It should arrive in a couple of weeks.

I would love to get some Lyman moulds as well but they are pretty expensive around here. Just to give you a picture: u.s. imported products normally costs as much as twice or even three times the price in origin.

So double cavity Lee molds ends up costing near 40$ (I can live with that) but Lyman moulds can get as expensive as 140/150u$! That´s a lot of money for a mold IMHO.

I do have the Lee sizers as well so I´ll be swaging my WC boolits at .357". I made some NRA lube (50/50) as well so I plan to use it if LLA is not enough.


Thanks again folks.

[Miata Mike]

I have the same Lee 148 grain mould and it throws some nice boolits. I think normal sizing is .358. I cast a whole pile of them and loaded up a dozen to test, but haven't got to the range yet. Too many personal irons in the fire at the moment.

[MtGun44]

H&G 50 is a nice one. They were built in such larg quantities that they haven't gone
nuts on price, yet.

Bill

[Argentino]

Finally I´ve received my Lee WC mold a couple of weeks ago. 158 grains WC standard design (button nose). Lee Code # 90312.

I´ve casted some boolits using a soft alloy-85% pure lead + 15% Linotype.

Sizd them at .357". Tumble lubed with LLA and loaded with 2.7 grains of Bullseye on .38 Spl. cases.


I was able to shot 2 1/2" to 3" groups at 20 yards from my S&W M10 (4" bbl). Maybe not super accurate but that´s enough for me. I´m happy with the results.

I wan to thank you all for your suggestions regarding which mold should I buy. I´m happy with my results :grin:

[StrawHat]

...Finally I´ve received my Lee WC mold a couple of weeks ago. ... I´m happy with my results :grin:...

And that is really all that matters. Good luck and keep shooting. The Bullseye recipe you are using is a standard up here, for nearly as long as the powder has been around.

[Wayne Smith]

At those prices you ought to look at the goup buy molds. No real difference in shipping from Slovenia to us or to you, I would guess.

[captaint]

Not to be over simplistic, but any wad cutter I have shot shoots well. I have the H&G 50 and the Lyman 35811. Very similar looking boolits and both shoot great.. Never had a tumble lube version. enjoy Mike

[Argentino]

Not to be over simplistic, but any wad cutter I have shot shoots well. I have the H&G 50 and the Lyman 35811. Very similar looking boolits and both shoot great.. Never had a tumble lube version. enjoy Mike

Thanks Mike. I finally bought the Lee standard design (with lube grooves) not the TL design. I hope to add some new WC designs soon.

This is my first WC mold and truly I didn´t know what to expect from it. I knew the WC designs have a good reputation regarding accuracy. However my experience wasn´t good: before I started casting I used to buy WC hollow base boolits by the hundreds. Those 113 gn LWCHBs were the only commercially available design here. This design seems to be pretty popular around here with people that shoots FBI revolver matches. But I never could reach the accuracy level that I expected.

[Argentino]

And that is really all that matters. Good luck and keep shooting. The Bullseye recipe you are using is a standard up here, for nearly as long as the powder has been around.


Thank you! I learned about that recipe in this same forum actually. Seemed to be a great load so I decided to give it a try and I got good results. I´ll be trying some recipes for Unique and ww231 as well.

[Argentino]

At those prices you ought to look at the goup buy molds. No real difference in shipping from Slovenia to us or to you, I would guess.

Well, that´s interesting. To be honest with you I didn´t pay much attention to the group buys since I didn´t knew they can be delivered outside your country.

I´ll take a look now. Thank you very much.

[dubber123]

I suspect you may get a bit better accuracy if you size at .358". I have many S&W's, and that size works well in all of them. Some like a little bigger, but none did their best any smaller than .358". I have many different wadcutter molds, and the LEE standard groove design shoots with the best of them. My M14 ran right around 3" at 50 yards from the bench. I found a RF design shot better than any WC at that range or more. The BRP 150 RF was the best tried, averaging under 2" at 50 yds.

[MT Gianni]

At those prices you ought to look at the goup buy molds. No real difference in shipping from Slovenia to us or to you, I would guess.

I suspect that it is the import duties as they will pass through Argentine Customs. In the 70's tax was equal to US cost on clothing, so one new shirt costing $20 was taxed @ $20. Used clothing was not taxed, so shirts were opened and washed before shipping. I think a mold shipped with a casting from NOE or Mihec could be called used but have no idea what th customs would wnt as duty.

[Leadmelter]

Look at the RCBS 150gr bullet. I have used it for year and it is the best. It has a modified Keith nose and drop into the cylinder with speed loaders. Even crank it up a bit in the 357 mag.
Leadmelter
MI

[shooting on a shoestring]

Argentino, Give them a try "as cast", not sized. Just cast, TL, load. I'll bet you'll like the results.

[Argentino]

I suspect that it is the import duties as they will pass through Argentine Customs. In the 70's tax was equal to US cost on clothing, so one new shirt costing $20 was taxed @ $20. Used clothing was not taxed, so shirts were opened and washed before shipping. I think a mold shipped with a casting from NOE or Mihec could be called used but have no idea what th customs would wnt as duty.

That´s the problem indeed. Actual taxes on Argentinean customs for imported products are 50% of the total value (the value is considered as cost + shipping). This duty applies to almost any product except for books and other forms of information (such as DVDs, CDs).

[Shiloh]

Do you have a 9mm??

If so, the LEE 125 gr. RF would be your mold.
Both get tumble lubed, both give great accuracy.

Shiloh

[Argentino]

Do you have a 9mm??

If so, the LEE 125 gr. RF would be your mold.
Both get tumble lubed, both give great accuracy.

Shiloh

No I´m afraid I don´t. I have checked their website and all of their 9mm. molds seems to be .356". I know they would drop out of the mold bigger than that but should it be OK for using in .38 Special?

Thanks.-

[Argentino]

Argentino, Give them a try "as cast", not sized. Just cast, TL, load. I'll bet you'll like the results.

I will. I was thinking about it. I need to measure my boolits as they came out of the mold just to have an idea of their nominal size. Don´t know yet but I assume they must be around .359"/ .360".

I´ll give it a try and let you know my results.

Thank you.

[Argentino]

OK I took a couple of Lee 158 gn. WCs as they came out of the mold and I made some measurements with a micrometer.

I´ve measured 6 boolits; each one of them was measured in two perpendicular edges: one of them coincident with the axis where the two halfs of the mold make contact.

-Boolit diameters along the longitudinal axis of the mould runs about .360"

-Boolit diameters across the longitudinal axis of the mould runs about .362"

So I have a difference (ovality?) of .002" between the 2 axis. Alloy was made of 85% pure lead plus 15% linotipe.

However I will load some of them without any sizing and see what happens in terms of accuracy.

Many thanks to all of you for your help.

[StrawHat]

Using them unsized and lubed should help with accuracy. Take an unsized bullet and pass it through the chambers of your Model 10. It should require slight pressure to push through the throats of the chambers. If it needs a lot of force, try the same test with one of your sized bullets.

As for the oval shape of the casting, firing it through the throats of the revolver should round them out. Good luck and keep us posted.