Lee 38-125 RF

[DHurtig]

I just won one of these on fleabay. Normally I prefer to go to the heavy side with my cast boolits, but thought I'd give this a go. Then I got to thinking that this might work in my son in laws 9mm Ruger. Anybody have any experience or thoughts on this matter. Any input will be appreciated.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e69/c_latrans/p-81_zps122f1066.jpg (http://s37.photobucket.com/user/c_latrans/media/p-81_zps122f1066.jpg.html)

It looks like it should feed ok. I read a few reviews and several people complained that the bullets were dropping at .361 or .362. Guess I'll just have to wait til it gets here and give it a try. Thanks, Dale

[theperfessor]

I use it in my HiPower sized .358 over 6.8 to 7.0 grs Blue Dot. Works fine.

[Outpost75]

For pleasant, low recoil Cowboy load in the .38 Special, I load this one with 3.5 grains of Bullseye, and it shoots OK, 2-1/2" groups at 25 yds. from my 4-5/8" Ruger, and under 3" at 50 yards from the Marlin 1894 Cowboy. Velocity approximates the Winchester 130-gr. FMJ range ammo or the old Army Ball M41, 830 fps from the revolver and about 1000 from the carbine. Less accurate than the 158-gr. Saeco #358 with the same charge, but adequate for the close range steel targets, lightin recoil and frugal in lead.

[runfiverun]

you'll have to determine your oal with a dummy round to insure feeding.
airc it comes in a little short, work your loads accordingly.
other than that it shoots fine.

[Ron in PA]

I use it in my Armi sport 1892 Lever action 24" .357,over 4.5 Promo.

[jameslovesjammie]

It is stellar in revolvers and leverguns, but in some 9mm's it has to be seated quite short. To use it in my CZ, it has to be seated 0.988", IIRC. That is very short.

[bones37]

Like others have mentioned, this boolit is great in revolvers and leverguns, and I use it often myself. I too was going to use it to load 9mm, but about the time I started getting geared up for load development, I stumbled across a like-new 80's vintage H&G 10 cav. #115 - 9mm. mold for a ridiculously low price, and never got around to fooling with the lee boolit. However, I see no reason why it shouldn't work, except maybe for being a tad short on cartridge OAL.
bones.

[Ben]

I took my Marlin 1894, CBC, 38 Spec. to the range. Fired 7 rounds at 50 yards into roughly a 3/4 " group ( + or - ) with the Lee 125 gr. RF bullet, sized .3575 ", using Wolf small pistol primers and a mild crimp. Powder charge was 5.5 grs. of Russian Unique ( Salute ).

I think this bullet is going to get a lot of use at my loading bench now !

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/880.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/01042011.jpg

These bullets run through my Marlin like water through screen wire. Here they are sized and lubed with Ben's Red, ready to load :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Lee%2038%20357%20%20125%20gr%20RF/PICT0007.jpg

[NSP64]

I use them for 38 & 9mm sized .358 for both. Taurus PT 111 g2 gobbles them up over 4 gr ww231

[GabbyM]

Shot piles of them through several 9mm's.
Shoot good but they hold a pile of lube. If your lube is on the smoky side they are real smoke poles in a rapid fire 9mm or an indoor range. Mine weighs in at almost 130 grains so is a good heavy for the nine. Notably slower than the 122 grain boolits when using medium for cartridge burn rate powders. Slower powders like AA#5 or #7 should get them going over 1,100 fps.
I used Alliant 20/28 at 4.9 grains C.O.L. of 1.020” Vel 1,100 fps from 4” S&W. SD of 17. I tested 5.0 grains at 1,119 fps but backed off a tenth for my bulk load as that looked like enough. No head expansion as measured with a mic. Cases used were Federal, which is an important load factor. Since 9mm cases vary al over the place. Similar result could be expected using Unique powder.

5.0 grains of 20/28 yielded 1,142 fps under the Saeco #377 boolit of 122gr TC.

As for accuracy. My S&W 659 is a bit of a scatter gun so I can’t tell any difference. They hold a pie plate at 25 yards. One of these days I’ll trade that 2x4 off on a CZ-75 variant.

[jlchucker]

These make for a nice plinker in a Rossi 357 carbine. Kinda like a poor man's 32-20, but a little bigger. If you load them in 38 special cases, they may jam in your Rossi unless you seat them out a bit--like to the leading edge of the crimp groove. No problems using 357 brass--at least not in my Rossi.

[moptop]

I use them in my Browning HP's sized to .358" and tumble lubed. They work great, no feeding problems and NO LEADING like the 124grn TL design I was using. I set them to just above the crimp groove. I haven't tried them in my .38 revolvers yet but I'll heard good reports from those who have.

[Mike Hughes]

I took my Marlin 1894, CBC, 38 Spec. to the range. Fired 7 rounds at 50 yards into roughly a 3/4 " group ( + or - ) with the Lee 125 gr. RF bullet, sized .3575 ", using Wolf small pistol primers and a mild crimp. Powder charge was 5.5 grs. of Russian Unique ( Salute ).

I think this bullet is going to get a lot of use at my loading bench now !

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/880.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/01042011.jpg

These bullets run through my Marlin like water through screen wire. Here they are sized and lubed with Ben's Red, ready to load :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Lee%2038%20357%20%20125%20gr%20RF/PICT0007.jpg

Hey Ben, you might be able to tighten that group with a different lube. LOL, nice shooting!

[redgum]

As well as 38's & 357's I use them in 3 different Glocks and a Ruger P89DC
seated with the crimp grove just inside the case mouth.
excellent boolit !

[Ausglock]

G'day. I run these sized to .356 in my Kimber 38 Super and Glock 34 9mm.
I coat with HI-TEK Supercoat red/copper or Black coating. Very accurate and no smoke, leading etc.
The black coated bullets look great in Nickel 38Super cases.

[Moonie]

I'll be loading this boolit very shortly but what COL is everyone loading it to? I saw a figure of 1.020 that seems to put alot of boolit in the small case and another post that shows less than 1.0.

[Pooch]

It's a great bullet & a great shooter. At 25' with a Taurus 2" barreled snubby revolver, I'm putting shot after shot in a 1" circle (on a rest). 4.6 grains Unique. My problem is that my mold fell apart after casting 400 bullets!!!!!