358156 in a levergun?

[730win94]

has anyone had any luck with this bullet feeding in a levergun?
my first try didnt work too well but since my mould casts .360-.361 the brass was slightly bulged, to the point they would not chamber easily.
my little rossi feeds a very similar SWC that I dont own the mould for quite smoothly. so to cut to the point is it possible that the bulged case keeps the cartridge from feeding? TIA for helping a newb that is already addicted to cast and levers :castmine: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/mrparks/IMG_2043.jpg L to R: bullet barn 158, 358156, unknown that feeds in my rossi, anyone want to guess at the make and model?

[jdhenry]

They fed great in my Marlin 1894c. Try sizing them down a bit. Before I bought a sizer I would have problems like what you are having.

[Linstrum]

Hi, 730win94,

Welcome aboard the board!

I have both a 92 Rossi in .357 Mag and the famed/venerable 358156. I don't have any feeding troubles with that boolit in my 92.

The only troubles I have are from recoil setting the boolit back deeper into the cartridge from not crimping the case mouth hard enough. I got into trouble that way from trying to increase case life by keeping crimping to a minimum but it just didn't work out, so I now crimp them pretty hard.

If your cases are bulged from the 358156 being a bit oversize then when you crimp your gas checks on, do like Jeremy says and run the boolits through a 0.358" sizing die (or whatever size is necessary, slug your bore to find out), unless of course your rifle requires an oversize boolit for accuracy or to prevent leading.

I get decent accuracy with the 358156 in my Rossi with gas check and sized to 0.3580" plus lubed with Lee Liquid Alox (abbreviated LLA). I define decent accuracy for my Rossi as under 6" at 100 yards. My Rossi is one of my favorite little rifles. Darn, I shouldn't say that, any of my rifles are my favorite rifle. Same with my pistolas, they are all my favorite pistols.

I have no idea what that boolit is, it has the general form of the 358156 but a long gas check heel and the grooves are quite a bit different in shape. Thanks for showing it!

[6pt-sika]

I shoot the RCBS 158 grain SWC GC bullet in a pair of Marlin 357's with no problem. I also shoot the HP version of the Lyman 358156 in both these rifles and again with no problem . I have a Lyman 215 grain version of the 358156 that also shoots well in these two rifles [smilie=1:

Incidently all my 357 bullets are sized .359" whether they go in a rifle or a revolver .

[sundog]

Try taper crimp. Lee has one for about 10 bucks.

[Glen]

The 358156 feeds great in my Marlin 1894 and is one of the most accurate bullets I've ever shot in it. I size them .358".

For details, see:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/fryxell/marlin_1894.htm

[730win94]

Thanks for the advice & the welcome. I'll have to drop by the local gunshop and see if my lube &size kit is here yet.

[GrizzLeeBear]

The 358156 shot great and fed just fine in my Marlin 336 35 Rem. Sized to .358 and pushed over 2100 fps it would keep 5 shots inside 2" at 100 yds easy.

[twotrees]

I tried some 357156's gas checked today, with 3031 and used the loads for 150gr j word bullets as a guide line. I'm shooting these out of a Savage 170. I had shot some 200 gr j word bullets first and they grouped great. But the 158 gr GC's sorta stayed on paper, but nothing you could call a group. Went from 33 gr to 37 gr at .5 gr steps, but no joy in mudville.

Any hints for this 35 rem??

Thanks,

TwoTrees

[Blammer]

Nice Pic!

wish i could take such good ones...

[oso]

My mold that casts the third bullet is marked LYMAN 358156ES. The rumor is that ES is for extended shank. It sits a hair shorter than my LYMAN 358156 when each is crimped in the top groove.
Another possible hang up in feeding SWC bullets is the leading edge of the first band - feeding of SWC bullets is my Marlin 94 improved after lapping a radius on this edge in several molds.

[floodgate]

oso:

What diameter and weight does the 358156ES cast out at? (It should weigh something close to 155 grs. in No. 2 alloy; this is one of a very few Lyman moulds whose "cherry number" indicates the weight). If "ES" is "extended shank" (it sure doesn't look like it), it would cast on the heavy side. Of course, there can be noticeable length, profile and groove dimension/position variations from cherry to cherry for a particular bullet.

A second possibility: Lyman used to stamp undersized moulds cut with somewhat worn cherries with a "U-" prefix - e.g; "U311291", and I have read somewhere that even more undersized moulds were stamped with an "-ES" sufiix (presumably for "extra small"). It would be nice to verify this, if your bullets are significantly under .358".

OR, third: since the late 1970's, Lyman has used a two-letter suffix to indicate the number of the cherry and the outside vendor who made it. In this case, 357156ES would be the fifth (A, B, C, D, E...) cherry (not an unreasonable number for this very popular bullet) purchased from vendor "S". We do not have their vendor code list, but all vendors so designated seem to be in the "upper half" of the alphabet (we have seen several "X's" and "V's", and a few others, though this would be the first "S" I have seen referred to).

floodgate

[oso]

My 358156ES (the block number is 487 and on one block there is also W1) originally cast 158 gr WW and I measured at .357" and the shank is almost twice as long as the shank of my 358156 which originally weighed 154 gr WW and I measure at .357".

[45r]

the 358156 shoots good in my 357CB,but it doesn't cycle as well as my 185 ogival flatpoints from MTN Molds.I tried the 185OGF's today that I didn't add tin to or heat treat and ice water quench and they were shooting 3 leaf clovers aound .4 inch at 50 yards with 14.0 grains H-110 and CCI-550 primers.I run them through a lee sizer honed to .359 and lube and gaschecked them .359 in my rcbs lubrisizer.The brass(neck-sized) came out clean and no leading with Carnuba Red.Not going to bother with heat treating and adding tin for this gun anymore.

[730win94]

I sure hope I dont have any problems with the lee 358-180 rf when it gets here.
Why is there so many gas checked SWC designs in .358? Icould apreciate more standard RNFP gas checked designs in 158 grain and up weights

[floodgate]

oso:

Since the 358156ES casts so close in weight to the other mould (and to the nominal weight), and measures the same .357", I think we can rule out possibilities 1 ("extended shank") and 2 ("extra-small"); I think what you're seeing is just an extreme example of variation from cherry to cherry for this particular bullet; the "-ES" being the cherry + vendor code (option 3). The "W1" indicates which machine and operator cut the mould, and the "487" on both blocks is the "match number"

[Cracker]

:bigsmyl2:
tagged for reference