Keith bullet mold for the .357 mag.?

[S.B.]

Does any company still make a mold for the heavy Keith SWC bullet, 180grain I think it was?

[Murphy]

S.B. the mold you are looking for is a Lyman #358429. Depending on what alloy you use, it will give you between a 168 to a 173 grain boolit.

You can find them new online at places like http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/ ... http://www.wideners.com

You may also find one here on the board from someone.

Good luck!

Murphy

[RSOJim]

Murphy, the group buy mold 358429 you sold me is working really well so far. It seems that the faster it is driven the better it shoots. My bullets ready to load weight 178 grains. I loaded some with 13 and 1/2 grains of wc 820 powder and they really shoot out of my old 6 and 1/2 inch flat top ruger. I haven't gotten around to chrony these yet, but it has to be fast. Thanks for selling me this mold, you will probably be wanting it back soon. thanks again Jim

[Dale53]

The Lyman 358429 is a Classic Keith bullet for the .38 Special. It is too long (when the crimp groove is used) for the S&W Model 27 and any other .357'a with a "short" cylinder. It works beautifully with a Model 19 S&W and a Model 686. It also works very well in all of the S&W revolvers in .38 Special (both solid point and hollow point versions).

I have two cavity Lyman mould for this bullet and plan to send it to Buckshot for conversion to a hollow point mould (Lyman no longer makes the hollow point version).

Before you order this mould, you might want to see if it works properly with YOUR revolver.

Lee makes a really NICE .358-158-RF in a six cavity mould that WILL fit the "short" cylindered revolvers. I have this bullet and just wish that Lee made an upsized one for the .44's and .45's.

Dale53

[MtGun44]

Seems like I read a few posts that this particular mold came out to just
barely fit the short M27 S&W cyls with .357 brass. Can anyone verify?

What you say is absolutely correct with my Lyman 358429s.

Bill

[denul]

I found the recent Lee 6 cavity group buy for the 358429 to be an excellent bullet in a Ruger security 6 and in a Smith & Wesson model 66. I did not expect it to fit in the much shorter cylinders of the Smith & Wesson model 27, and the Ruger 50th anniversary 357. It does fit in the last two when crimped in the groove, with Starline brass. However, there is no room for any" backing out" of the bullets under recoil, and this bullet does work better with the heavier loads that are more likely to back out. A heavy crimp is needed, with a tight sizing die and a smallish case expander.

I have not tried it with 38 special cases.

Also, I agree with the above comments about the Lee 158 round flat nose. It doesn't have a problem with leading in my revolvers, is as accurate in my revolvers as the 358429, and is very easy to cast. It doesn't hurt that that particular Mould is very affordable.

[LAH]

Does any company still make a mold for the heavy Keith SWC bullet, 180grain I think it was?

The Lyman 358429 in 4 cavity will do all you ever dreamed. I begain with this mould in 1973.



Lee makes a really NICE .358-158-RF in a six cavity mould that WILL fit the "short" cylindered revolvers.

IMHO it's very hard to beat the classic RNFP in any sixgun caliber.


just wish that Lee made an upsized one for the .44's and .45's

Lee doesn't but Saeco does and Lyman's Silver Star bullets isn't bad either.

http://www.redding-reloading.com/PDF%20files/bulletchart.pdf

Bullet 429 or 430 depending on the weight you like. Notice they call it a long range bullet.

[MtGun44]

denul,

thanks. This makes me regret passing up that deal on a nice M28 a few gunshows
back !! Oh, well - actually I have plenty enough .357s, so no great loss. An interesting
tidbit, tho that only a very slight variation in the design makes it fit the short cyl
guns.

Bill

[45 2.1]

An interesting tidbit, tho that only a very slight variation in the design makes it fit the short cyl. guns.
Bill

The Catshooter Keith series was an attempt to reproduce the original Keith designs. I got many samples of each of the boolits from several people and eventually had some very early versions. The individual boolit numbers had many changes in them, some where you would not recognize that it was the same design number. Catshooter was adament that I not change from the original specs too much. It took quite a long time to do this. I finally had all of them as close to the originals as possible, with minor updates, and posted them. The 358429 underwent many changes from Lyman, more than you would believe. The GB boolit is closer to the original than anything Lyman has put out in about 50 years. The 358429 was not designed for the 357 cartridge, but for the N frame 38-44 Heavy Duty and Outdoorsman. The 357 came along later.

[MtGun44]

45 2.1 -

Please don't think that I was saying YOU changed the design. I am very aware that
you and Catshooter went to heroic efforts to get back to the truest Keith designs.
I'm sure that a thread on each boolit that you researched and got samples of
would be quite interesting - I'd love it if you had some pix or drawings or whatever
you have of all the variations, just for us to learn how much the Ideal and Lyman
designs did vary over the years.

I am also aware the the 358429 was conceived well before the .357 was, so the
fact that the CB GB version (likely the most true Keith design available) will just
barely fit a M27/28 'short' cylinder is kind of an amazing coincidence. Also, it shows
that a later design change by Lyman is apparently responsible for this boolit not
normally fitting the short cyl S&Ws.

Please consider (unless you already have!) doing a post on the range of variations
that you found in the 3458429 molds. Only us cast boolit guys will care, but I - for
one - would find it interesting, and I bet, so would some others. The same goes
for the other Keith designs, too. I know I have seen a bunch of pix of variations
in (IIRC) the 454424, I think (again IIRC) posted by Glen - who must have a MOST
amazing collection of molds! Those pix showed variations in that design that were
hard to believe they were called the same number.

Thanks again for all of your design work.

Bill

[DOUGMACHADO]

Hi new guy here, i have picked up an old IDEAL the 358 495 with a 23 in the lower right. What kind of boolit in grains do you think i will get, and how old is this? I have a 357 SW 19, 686 and 66 so it should work for one or more of them. Thanks for any help guys, Doug

[Wayne Dobbs]

The 358495 is a button nosed wadcutter and it should cast at about 140 grains. It's a classic target bullet for the .38 Special.

[HamGunner]

I have an Ideal single cavity 358495 button nosed wadcutter mold also, it was the heavier version and throws a 161gr. bullet with my alloy. I think for sometime they sold both the 148gr. and the 158gr. molds from what I have read.

I have yet to shoot any, but I expect the heavier bullet to really be a tack driver.

Edit: Sorry, I just checked my mold and it is an Ideal 358432. It was availible ,I think, in the two weights. And by the way, Doug, I think Lyman sold the Ideal molds from about 1928 to 1969 made to fit handles like the newer Lyman molds.