I need some advice please.

[Hunter]

Yall I have just about got the hang of casting for my .45 ACP and .357 magnum.
I have just bought a Colt hard chromed Special Combat Government chambered in Super .38. I also have a few other Colts in Super .38 so I feel like I should be casting for this caliber. I believe this new SCG will be an accurate Government Model (no I have only shot it a few times but the range trip is coming).
I measured the bore at .353" I drove a soft lead bullet sized at .358 a ways into the bore and then drove it back out and got the exact same measurement. My other Super .38 measures .354 and the ball rounds I have shot were
.355. I would like some advice on what will be my best chance on an accurate cast bullet. I would prefer a Lyman mold. I reckon I should size for the SCG at .354 or .355.
Thanks in advance.
Here is a picture of my newest Colt if yall are interested.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h264/Hunter1911/2006_0525Hornady0007.jpg

[454PB]

Now that's a purdy gun!

[BruceB]

The Government Model is a sublime and beautiful classic pistol.

As far back as my early teens (a LONG time ago) I had already formed the opinion, unchanged to this day, that changing any line on a standard 1911A1 pistol could only DETRACT from its appearance and "just right" ambiance.

I keep an unaltered commercial Colt 1911A1 (mfg 1959, when I was still nearly in my 'early teens') simply because I love it that way. Yours is a beautiful example, and I can surely live with the good sights as a minor change in the appearance.

In your .38 Super and the barrel dimensions as stated, I think I'd start with a .356 bullet and see if it will chamber freely. If it does, that's where I'd start my load testing. If .356 is too large, then .355 would be logical. A bit oversize is not necessarily a bad thing.

Do you have the various sizing dies for the different diameters (.354-.355-.356-.357)? If not, I'm sure we here can come up with some batches of different-diameter bullets for you to test before investing in a sizing die. Let us know. My 9mms are sized as large as I can get them and still have good chambering, sometimes as much as .358 in some guns and brass. Our .38 Special M52 S&W autos seem to need .356", probably due to barrels turned out with 9mm tooling. The Super .38 is a cartridge that has escaped my handloading attention so far.

NICE gun!

[Hunter]

Thanks Bruce and 454PB. I do agree with you about the standard lines being kept on the Government Model. Most of my Colts are not this fancy. I have several 1991A1s (NRM and ORM) and a 1911 from 1918 as well as Gold Cup National Matches.
I wanted a target grade Government Model in Super .38 and my only stipulation was it had to be a Colt so this is what I wound up with (no complaints though).
Sorry to carry on but when it comes to Colts I can get long winded.
I only have .358 sizing die (for my Rugers in .357 magnum) and that is way too large. I reload Hornady 147gr in .355" and that round works well for my other Colt Super .38 (.354).
I am not opposed to experiment but I figured you knowledgeable folks could get me on the right track. Robert Bank has already given me some good advice but this was before I took delivery of this Colt and I did not know the ID of the bore.
Thanks for the help so far, I need it. I would like to order some Lyman molds sometime next week.

[AZ Pete]

As I understand Colt 1911's and the 38 Super. The factory barrels were originally chambered to head space on the case rim rather than the case mouth. This, I have been told and read, can cause lots of frustration in trying to get good accuracy (independant of the quality of the loads). At some point folks began chambering the barrels to head space on the case mouth (as semi-auto's should) and accuracy became less elusive.

I don't know if that will apply to your particular 38 Super. But if you find that you are having accuracy problems, you might want to check it out.

[Hunter]

Pete you are correct on the early Super .38s headspacing off the case rim but that problem has long been corrected.

[Lloyd Smale]

couple of my favorite 9mm bullets are the 120 lee round nose and the rcbs 121 round nose (but not the square shouldered target version) I would size them to 356 and see if they run in the gun before going any smaller. I would think that if you much smaller then 355 your going to run into to little case grip on the bullet with most die sets. IF your gun will run them another good bullet design in 1911 9mms for me has been the 105 lee swc .38 bullet. But by far the biggest stand out bullet in the 9s has been the rcbs 120 and 115 round nosed design. I dont know if they use the same rate of barrel twist in the 38 supper as they do in the 9s though and to be honest the only colt 9 i owned was a goverment that wasnt to accuarate and did its best with the 147 lyman round flat.

[Sundogg1911]

I had a Para-Ordnance in .38 super, but when money got tight I let it go. (Dayum....now I want it back!) :roll: I used a Magma 145 gr. RN bullet. Shot great, but I stopped using the .38 super for IPSC because I had trouble making major power with it. It sat in the gun safe for a while. I switched to an Infinity .40
That Magma mould would probably work well for you, but if you buy one from magma I think you need to have it converted to accept handles.
That sure is a nice looking colt! and as my boolit name says....i'm a little partial to 1911's I just can't seem to get enough of them. Every time I buy a new one my Wife asks "How many 1911's do you need?" My answer is always "just one more" [smilie=1:

[Hunter]

Thanks yall. I had a good conversation with Robert Bank last night and we spent some time talking about casting for the pistol.
He has talked me into Lyman mold 356402 a 121gr LSWC (really more of a truncated cone).
Sundogg I here you on the Government Model just 1 more. Lucky I am still a single man so buying new guns, loading equipment, and casting equipment is not a problem.

[Sundogg1911]

Hunter,
My problem is that my Wife is just as much of a shooter as I am, :roll: so I can't just buy one. If I pick up a new one I have to also pick one up for Her. That get's pricey after a while. Why can't she just like diamonds like other Women. It would probably be che[smilie=1: aper

[Hunter]

When I got home from work today I was happy to see a Midway box on my front porch. My Lyman mold number 356402 120gr dual cavity mold came along with the top punch and .355" sizing die (with a few sticks of Lyman lube).
I casted and lubed about 300 tonight and all I checked (about every 10) weighted withing a grain of 126gr after sized and lubed.
I like the profile of this bullet and am optimistic on it's accuracy

[BluesBear]

I get great results with the Lyman 356402 in both 9mm and .38 Super.
It's my #1 practice boolit. I shoot several hundred of them every month.
Sized to .356" I use it in single stack and double stack 9mm pistols, S&W 9mm revolver as well as a Colt Super .38 Combat Commander.
Very accurate and it feeds in everything.
My Colt Pocket Nine gobbles them like candy.

[Hunter]

I slugged the bore on the SCG at .3535" (as best as I could measure the slug) so I went with the .355" sizing die. Robert Bank helped me out with this.
I see you are the same Bluesbear at Club 1911 (I saw your signature and recognised your screen name).

[BluesBear]

Yeppers that's me I'm the same name everywhere I go.
I never understand those people who use a different name on every board.
It's good to see you hunter. Thanks for suporting the other board as well.

[Hunter]

That is me at the Club1911, I agree abouts folks changing screen names.
I am Hunter everwhere I go except Beartooth Bullets. Hunter was taken so if that happens I go by Hunter@m1911.
I really enjoy quality discussion forums. Do you post on m1911.org with Robert Bank?

[waksupi]

Yeppers that's me I'm the same name everywhere I go.
I never understand those people who use a different name on every board.
It's good to see you hunter. Thanks for suporting the other board as well.

I'm surprised Bluesbear doesn't go by other names, since he apparently rips people off. You guys give him a nice goodbye, and watch out for him on other boards.

[fatnhappy]

#1. Don't fry bacon naked.
#2. Don't do business with bluesbear

[45nut]

That is me at the Club1911, I agree abouts folks changing screen names.
I am Hunter everwhere I go except Beartooth Bullets. Hunter was taken so if that happens I go by Hunter@m1911.
I really enjoy quality discussion forums. Do you post on m1911.org with Robert Bank?

Hunter, apparently registrations at Club1911 are at the convenience of the admin. I tried registering first thing this morning and still nothing.

Can you please let those guys know what is going on here regarding Bluesbear? See the deadbeats forum for details.

[Hunter]

I do not think that registration to Club1911 is provisional.
After I saw what was said about BluesBear I did read the post concerning him. I hate what happened as I have exchanged many ideas at Club1911 with him. He has always been cordial to me.
Well on a lighter note how about giving me your opinion on my Hornady L-N-L progressive press review on the m1911 e-zine please.
http://ezine.m1911.org/HornadyLNL.htm

[45nut]

Excellent Job on that Article. Very well written. With minor details changed those can be applied to any progressive out there. Nice job.

[Hunter]

Thank you sir. I have a review coming up on my new Colt Special Combat Government. Most of the test will be conducted with the cast bullet I am using thanks to Robert Bank and yall here. Thank you for the help on that. I will keep you posted.

[Club1911Admin]

[...] apparently registrations at Club1911 are at the convenience of the admin. I tried registering first thing this morning and still nothing.
I am the Admin and the owner of Club 1911.com. First of all, the registrations at my forum are not "at the convenience of the admin", whatever it means; I simply chose to have to approve every single account due to the overwhelming number of spammers registering daily and trolling the board. Manually approving each and every account allows me to filter out 95% of spammers before they can even post. It a fairly common practice on many boards these days. Second of all, your account was activated within 3 minutes of you registering yesterday morning. Finally, I see that your are the owner of this site, so you of all the people should know better than going to someone else's forum to troll just to achieve your personal agenda. Had you approached me privately and explained what the situation was, I would have been more than happy to listen and see if there is anything I could do to help; instead, you chose to take the juvenile approach to the matter and just start crapping on my forum, or "stirring the pot" as one of your buddies put it, which I will not tolerate. I'd be more than happy to have you as a member, but if your only reason for posting will be "cooking this turkey", then I'll have no choice but to ban you. Again, as someone running his/her own forum, I thought you would show better judgment that that.

[twotrees]

Yeas ago ( over 20 years) I shot what I believe to be the first 38 Super in IPSC at the Eastern Regional.

It was a Combat Commander with a Bar-Sto Barrel.

The mold ( I still have the mold, like a dummy, sold the 38 super to a friend that couldn't do without it) was 358-140-SWC Lee Mold. It is a single cavity and I cranked out the bullets with it. using that mold and Unique powder I could make Major. It fed and functioned well for me. I started with the same Lyman mold you now have and it too is a great boolit, but will not pack the punch you can get from the 141 gr boolit.

For $25 bucks you might want to give that boolit a try too.

Good Shooting,

TwoTrees

[Hunter]

It looks like the Lyman mold 356402 120gr trunciated cone works. It drops at 125gr with w-w.
500 rounds later using the Lyman bullet, 147gr Hornady JHP, and a few other FMJ and nary a hitch.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h264/Hunter1911/SCG38.jpg