Which boolit do you find more useful/accurate-358429 or 358477?

[tazman]

The title says it all.
I have little(358429) to no(358477) experience with either boolit and would like to hear opinions on which is better-more useful/accurate and why.
My use would be plinking, target shooting, small game, and personal defense(possible carry load in 38spcl).
All opinions are welcome.

[beagle]

I'll give you a vague answer. Depends......

Since you say .38 Special, I'd go with the 358429 as I like a heavier bullet. However, the 358477 will be just as accurate for you in the .38 Special.

If you ever entertain thoughts of going the .357 route, either a Marlin Carbine or revolver, I'd go with the 358477 as it will feed through my Marlin and is short enough for all other revolvers I have used. The 358429 is a little long in the nose for some Smiths. If you're a dedicated Ruger man like I am, go with the 359429.

Based on the ramblings above, you have all bases covered with the 358477./beagle

[marshall623]

I've had good results with the 358477 in my GP100 /w 38's sorry can't speak for the 358429

[Piedmont]

I have no experience with the 358477 but would recommend a shorter nose bullet like that over the 358429. I have the latter and have used it quite a bit over the years. It seems to shoot better when run hard. If you have a selection of revolvers or envision such a selection you will eventually run into chambering problems with the longer nose on the 358429 in .357s. It isn't just with the S&W N frames. I noticed Ruger shortened the cylinder just enough on their newer mid frame .357 single action to make it unusable when crimped in the groove, whereas the old model mid size would handle it fine.

For a while then I just crimped them all over the front band, which works but looks strange, then I jumped on an H&G 51 which has a shorter nose so any ammo will go in any revolver and I can crimp in the crimp groove.

[MtGun44]

Both are excellent designs, both work really well. Unless you have a .357 N-frame Smith,
you shouldn't find any problems with either one. If you do, the 357429's nose is too long
for the short cylinders of the N-frame .357s. All the other S&W .357s are fine, not sure about
other makers. A special favorite is a 357429 that was HPed by Erik - perfect boolit for my
snub .38 Spls, weighs right about 158 when HPed.

Bill

[9.3X62AL]

I like both and use both in 38 Special, -477 gets some use in 38 S&W in a snug-bored Colt Police Positive. Very limited use of -429 in 357 Magnum, just some 1000-1100 FPS work driven by Herco. It shot well.

[Love Life]

I have much experience with both. With accuracy it's kind of a wash. Due to my revolver, I use the 358429 in 38 special brass only and the 358477 in both 38 special and 357 magnum. The 358477 over a max dose of magnum splody powder will turn jacks inside out.

[EdS]

I cast and load both designs for .38 Special and .357 Magnum. You asked which is more "useful / accurate" and for me the answer is the 358477, but only by a small margin. The heavier 358495 I consider a "specialty" bullet useful when I want deeper penetration at lower velocity. With everything costing more, I tend to shoot the 150 grain (and even lighter) much more than several heavier cast bullets that I keep on hand. -Ed

[pmer]

Another shorty is my old model Blackhawk. 358429 in a mag case is too long but a tack driver when used in a 38 spl. case.

[rintinglen]

I have a preference for the 477. IME, it shoots a smidge tighter, it uses a bit less lead and I can load it in my S&W M-28, crimp in the groove and not have the nose sticking out the front of the cylinder. That said, either will do.
These days, the 358-429 gets the most use in my .348 Winchester plinkers. I lube it in a .356 sizer then run it through a Lee .351 sizer. Loaded over Ed Harris's "The Load," it makes a great familiarization load for the Big Winnie.

[tazman]

Well I am going to give the 358477 a tryout soon. A 4 cavity mold just popped up on our favorite sales site with a relatively cheap buy it now price so I jumped on it. The mold looks good in the pictures.
It should be here in a few days and I will give it a try. Always interesting to try a new boolit.

[Scout800a]

You might still keep an eye out for a 429. The only gun I've seen that didnt love that bullet is my rossi 92. We've had good luck with it in Dad's Python, several Smiths and Rugers.

[Forrest r]

I've shot both boolits for decades & the only thing I didn't like about the 358429 was that it would bounce back with slow/light loads when hitting hard objects (like bowling pins/heavy steel plates) with a direct (straight) hit.

Both boolits do make excellent hp's, have a hp version of both boolits (158g 358439/140g 358477). They are just as accurate as their solid nosed counterparts & hit hard.

I'd keep an eye out for a hp version of the 358429.

[gwpercle]

I have been doing some accuracy testing with all my various 38 moulds in 38 spcl, over moderate charges of Red Dot, in a model 64 S&W . Tried out the 148 gr WC #358091, 115 gr SWC #358345, 150 gr. SWC #358477, 155 gr. SWC #358156, 160 gr.WC #358432, 170 gr. SWC #358429.
So far the 160 gr. wadcutter #358432 is showing the best accuracy in both the model 64 with 4 inch barrel and a air-weight J-frame with 2 inch barrel. Seems to be a good compromise in weight, the wadcutter nose has the flat frontal area and more shooting will prove if the accuracy is as good as it appeared in the first session.
Might be something to look at. I picked the mould up on Ebay for cheap, not much interest was shown in it, I really wasn't looking for this design but I'm glad I got it. I am liking it a lot now.
Gary

[tazman]

I have been doing some accuracy testing with all my various 38 moulds in 38 spcl, over moderate charges of Red Dot, in a model 64 S&W . Tried out the 148 gr WC #358091, 115 gr SWC #358345, 150 gr. SWC #358477, 155 gr. SWC #358156, 160 gr.WC #358432, 170 gr. SWC #358429.
So far the 160 gr. wadcutter #358432 is showing the best accuracy in both the model 64 with 4 inch barrel and a air-weight J-frame with 2 inch barrel. Seems to be a good compromise in weight, the wadcutter nose has the flat frontal area and more shooting will prove if the accuracy is as good as it appeared in the first session.
Might be something to look at. I picked the mould up on Ebay for cheap, not much interest was shown in it, I really wasn't looking for this design but I'm glad I got it. I am liking it a lot now.
Gary

As it happens I have a 358432 in 4 cavity and it shots well.

[Old Caster]

Well I am going to give the 358477 a tryout soon. A 4 cavity mold just popped up on our favorite sales site with a relatively cheap buy it now price so I jumped on it. The mold looks good in the pictures.
It should be here in a few days and I will give it a try. Always interesting to try a new boolit.

Did you also get one from Midway for $61 recently. It was too cheap for me to pass up even though I already have a RCBS 150 which is very accurate out of my 14 Smith and Python. The Lyman though is 4 cavity and I tested a bunch of them years ago in the Ransom Rest so a bunch of we Bullseye shooters would have a good round for the Distinguished Revolver matches where it is required to be 158 grains. Both of these molds were the best that I came up with regarding accuracy and the results were so close I think it would depend on which gun they were tested in as to which would be better.

[Harry O]

I have done accuracy testing on the 358429, 358477, and 357446 in a K-38 Masterpiece with a 4X scope. All were sized to 0.358", used HS-6 powder, and NRA 50-50 lube. All three were close in accuracy. None of them would be a bad choice in the .38 Special. The 429 had a slight edge at 50 yards. The 477 had a slight edge at 25 yards. The 446 was slightly worse in both cases.

[Petrol & Powder]

I lack the experience of the previous posters on this thread but I will say that I've been using the RCBS 38-150 SWC and I'm very happy with that bullet. It is a very good all-around 38/357 bullet. I shoot that bullet out of several 38 Special revolvers and it performs well in all of them. I've never been a big fan of handgun bullets that are heavy for the caliber.

While heavy bullets have their place in some application, I believe the "bigger is better" attitude needs to be resisted when we're talking handgun projectiles. I'm not saying that heavy bullets are necessarily bad but I am saying that in 38 Special, the 150-160 grain bullets seem to be the optimal weight for all-around use.

[tazman]

I lack the experience of the previous posters on this thread but I will say that I've been using the RCBS 38-150 SWC and I'm very happy with that bullet. It is a very good all-around 38/357 bullet. I shoot that bullet out of several 38 Special revolvers and it performs well in all of them. I've never been a big fan of handgun bullets that are heavy for the caliber.

While heavy bullets have their place in some application, I believe the "bigger is better" attitude needs to be resisted when we're talking handgun projectiles. I'm not saying that heavy bullets are necessarily bad but I am saying that in 38 Special, the 150-160 grain bullets seem to be the optimal weight for all-around use.

As I understand it, the rcbs38 150 swc bears a really close resemblance to the lyman 358477. I suspect it would shoot the same.

[Petrol & Powder]

As I understand it, the rcbs38 150 swc bears a really close resemblance to the lyman 358477. I suspect it would shoot the same.

My point exactly. I should have noted that similarity in my post. I intended to convey that the RCBS 38-150 is very close in design to the Lyman 358477 and that the 358477 is an excellent all-around bullet for that caliber.

[tazman]

I got my 358477, 4 cavity mold in today. Cleaned it up and cast 264 boolits with it. They drop at .359-360 and weigh right at 158 grains.
I have sized them to .358 and tumble lubed them with White Label X-lox. In a day or two I will load some of them in 38 special cases and see how they perform this weekend.
I have a feeling they will do well.

[GP100man]

Hey tazman , do you prelube before sizing (thru a lee sizer ??)

Been thinkin of TLing my wadcutters & X-loxing em.

[tazman]

Hey tazman , do you prelube before sizing (thru a lee sizer ??)

Been thinkin of TLing my wadcutters & X-loxing em.

No, I don't. I just size them, then lube them as I don't want to lube them twice. I haven't had any problems with leading my barrels or my sizing die. I haven't used my lubesizer in months, just the Lee push through.
All my boolits drop within 2 or 3 thousandths of my size anyway so there isn't a lot to shrink down. More just rounding them up. Many of my boolits I don't even need to size.

Since I water drop, I try to get the sizing done quickly so they don't harden and get difficult to push through the sizer. Then I wait a few days to load the cartridges. Usually by the time the lube dries the boolits are hard enough to work with and shoot.

[41mag]

What little experience I have with them is with use in two different GP-100's. The one has the full underlug and the other doesn't, and looks like a mini Redhawk.

I have only done up a few trial loads but they have all been in .357 cases. Either of them loaded over a dose of Bullseye or Unique has shot well from either of the two revolvers. I do however had plans to run some though a Colt Army 38 SPL. I just haven't gotten to them yet. As far as the length, I already know that I will have to seat the 429 below the front band to be able to chamber it. I found that out the hard way with some DEWC's I seated out just a pinch too far.

[shooting on a shoestring]

I see the OP got his answer and got his 358477. However, there will be some folks finding this with the search function, hence my 2 cents.

I have 358477 and the Group Buy 358429 knock off. The GB 358429 has not given me good results like the 358477 in either 38 or 357, run light or hard. I have flat given up on it. The 358477 I have drops a bit undersize with most of my alloys, but shot decent enough, light leading.

The NOE 360477 has become my first choice for 35 cal SWC. Shoots better than either of my 358477 or 358429 knock off, at any velocity. It does drop right at 0.360" with most of my alloys and I size 0.359. It makes very round, well fitting boolits.

I also have the NOE 360180 WFN which works well in my SP101 to bring the POI up to the POA. Hard hitting boolit and groups better than my 358429 GB and loads into the cylinder easier.

I'm thankful for NOE and Accurate that provide us with moulds that cast large enough to work well. It amazes me Lyman, RCBS, Lee and Saeco don't get it.

[Low Budget Shooter]

Old-style 358477 is working very well for me, from very mild plinking loads up to 1200 fps. The Fryxell 358477 HP conversion by Erik Ohlen is also working very well for me. Both of these old molds drop bullets about .362, and I size to .359. I have not tried the 358429, so I can't help with the comparison. LBS

[catboat]

I found the lighter, shorter 150 grain SWC (I have the NOE 360145 version of the 358477) bullet is more accurate than the longer/heavier 358429 in my S&W model 14 38 special and model 586 357 mag. My hypothesis is that the S&W has a 1-18ish+" rifling twist. It's been oft stated that the Colt 38 special match revolvers with their 1-14" twist barrels were more accurate in bullseye shooting (148 grain wadcutters) than S&W's 38 special revolvers with their slower 1-18 (18.25? 18.75?) twist barrels.