Good hunting mould for .357. . . . ?

[DJWright]

Tried a friends 358429 bullets in my GP100 last weekend. Best accuracy I've found in my .357 so far. Any other designs recommended, or is this design about as good as it gets in this caliber for hunting?

[Old Ironsights]

What are you hunting?

I hunt small game almost exlusively with a 358156HP in a low bhn. (I'm in the process of gas checking 200 right now...)

I hunt Mid size game with a CB 358180RF Hard Cast at 1800fps... foot out to 100yds +

Veral has an amazing salegoing on right now (check Swap & sell). Can't go wrong with an LBT boolit....

[Blammer]

what are you hunting?

[Bret4207]

If you talk to Verals supporters Elmers design just suck swamp water. Inaccurate, don't kill well, cause bad breath and dandruff too. The rest of us have had good luck with Elmers, Verals, Lee's and a host of other desings. You want a flat point and a good amount of weight for the caliber and most of all decent accuracy. Beyond that whether the FP is a WFN/OWC/LFN/SWC/RFP/FPHP or a SWF it all depends on placement and an adequite alloy combined with enough velocity to get good penetration, preferably through and through. No one makes a magic boolit or bullet. Pick the one that shoots best for you that you feel comfortable with. A 358429 in solid or HP form should work just fine.

[Blammer]

Here are two proven performers.

The first, a 180gr FP GC I have used on deer, and the second a 200gr plain base FP Tycer has used on deer.

Both were used out of our leverguns.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Cast%20boolits/DSCN6583.jpg

[DJWright]

Thanks guys, I'll be using it for deer mainly. I've been shooting bullets from a borrowed 180 gr. LBT mould. It works well, but this 358429 beats it badly out at about 250 yards for small varmints, in that it will hold about 6", where the LBT seems to loose it's stability and the groups open to about 4 times that. We do a lot of long range shooting and looking for something with a large enough meplat for hunting, but still stable at extreme ranges.

[MtGun44]

Elmer reported that his design was the best he ever found for long range shooting
with a pistol, other designs worked well up close, but lost stability over the long
range - from pistols, I do not remember him mentioning .38 spl or .357 Mag in
rifles with his boolit. Velocites and twist are typically very different with rifles, so
they are probably going to behave differently. Different good or different bad,
I have no idea, but probably different, so rifle experience may not apply.

I would suggest that if you want better terminal performance and extreme long
range stability, try the HP version of the 358429. Original molds are very hard to
find and extremely expensive when found. Buckshot can HP your mold if you
want to give this a try. I have not used his services, but others on the site have
reported excellent results and their pix show superb machine work.

Bill

[runfiverun]

that 200 gr one in tycer's picture would be awesome pushed with 2400
out to 100 or so for deer.

[Blammer]

11gr of W296 an the 200gr boolit above produced 1" 4 shot group at 100 yds in my Win 94 357 mag.

[GLL]

Blammer:

Could you provide some details about the two bullets in your photo?

Jerry

[Bret4207]

Thanks guys, I'll be using it for deer mainly. I've been shooting bullets from a borrowed 180 gr. LBT mould. It works well, but this 358429 beats it badly out at about 250 yards for small varmints, in that it will hold about 6", where the LBT seems to loose it's stability and the groups open to about 4 times that. We do a lot of long range shooting and looking for something with a large enough meplat for hunting, but still stable at extreme ranges.


The 429421 will work fine, so will the 429244 Thompson GC design.

[DJWright]

The 429421 will work fine, so will the 429244 Thompson GC design.

I think that is a .44 caliber bullet. Won't work all that well in my .357, but thanks.

[Blammer]

sizing em down would be somewhat difficult I'd think....

[Blammer]

The left is a 180gr by 360 dia as cast bullet I ran a Group buy on.

The 200gr is a custom bullet a friend of mine had a mould made for. I don't know the specifics.

anything in particular you want to know?

[Bret4207]

I think that is a .44 caliber bullet. Won't work all that well in my .357, but thanks.

Brain fart, sorry, Make that the 358429 and 358156. I never was good with numbers!:mrgreen:

[GrizzLeeBear]

Hey DJ, what length are you seating the 358429 for your GP 100? Can you crimp it in the crimp groove?

[Old Ironsights]

Brain fart, sorry, Make that the 358429 and 358156. I never was good with numbers!:mrgreen:

Don't ever let me use any RL7/AA7 ammo from you bench... OK? [smilie=1::twisted:

[LAH]

IMHO you're using one of the finest there is (358429). A couple others I like are the Saeco 38-180-FN and the Lyman Silver Star..............Creeker

[Bret4207]

Don't ever let me use any RL7/AA7 ammo from you bench... OK? [smilie=1::twisted:

No worries. I stick to things like Unique and Bullseye......[smilie=1: All those big numbers scare me and they are hard to write down in Crayola. Can't read them anyway 'cuz my hockey hemet blocks my view when it slides around because of my drool.........:roll: