Curly James
06-21-2008, 05:13 PM
The Keith 358429 and learning how to never tap a hinge pin again.
I own an older Lyman 358429 Keith double cavity mold with square lube grooves that, while a joy to shoot, was a pain in the rear to cast due to the boolits sticking in the mold. An older gentle man caster at my gun club taught me a trick a few months ago that ceased that problem. After filling the mold and cutting the sprue, use you sprue stick to push on the right rear corner of the mold as you open the handles with the other hand. The mold will almost pop open and the boolits will fall free. No tapping the hinge pin or the handles to make boolits drop free. I think it prevents “torqueing” the mold itself as you open the handles.
Now having said that, I also own one of the Keith 38/357 Lee six cavity group buy molds. This mold is problematic, but I have learned to live with its problems for the simple reason that it drops one of the most accurate boolits I have ever fired in a .357 magnum revolver. My favorite load of:
11.5 grains of 2400
The Keith 38/357 boolit cast from range scrap (it’s sized to .358 and with lube weighs in
at 174 grains)
WW SPP
The lube I’m using up right now is a moly/beeswax/paraffin lube that is a little smoky and smelly but works very well in the no leading and accuracy department
The brass is sorted and trimmed but works well with whatever brand.
This load averages 1050 FPS or so and is pleasant to shoot. This load will easily group under 1 inch at 25 yards from my battered old 686 and is the load that lives in that gun.
The Lyman mold and the Lee mold while similar have some noticeable differences as you can see in the photos. The Lyman can be crimped in the crimp groove and work well in any of my revolvers. The Lee needs to be crimped almost biting the driving band or over the front of the band. The heavier charges of 2400 work well also, but my walking around load is the one I just described. I recently spent the morning casting 200 of each boolit on order to replenish my supply. The Lee made the 2000 number easier to reach than the Lyman two cavity but they each have their purposes. Thought I would take a photo of the boolits side by side, the differences are interesting. I wonder what makes the Lee so much more accurate than the Lyman.
I own an older Lyman 358429 Keith double cavity mold with square lube grooves that, while a joy to shoot, was a pain in the rear to cast due to the boolits sticking in the mold. An older gentle man caster at my gun club taught me a trick a few months ago that ceased that problem. After filling the mold and cutting the sprue, use you sprue stick to push on the right rear corner of the mold as you open the handles with the other hand. The mold will almost pop open and the boolits will fall free. No tapping the hinge pin or the handles to make boolits drop free. I think it prevents “torqueing” the mold itself as you open the handles.
Now having said that, I also own one of the Keith 38/357 Lee six cavity group buy molds. This mold is problematic, but I have learned to live with its problems for the simple reason that it drops one of the most accurate boolits I have ever fired in a .357 magnum revolver. My favorite load of:
11.5 grains of 2400
The Keith 38/357 boolit cast from range scrap (it’s sized to .358 and with lube weighs in
at 174 grains)
WW SPP
The lube I’m using up right now is a moly/beeswax/paraffin lube that is a little smoky and smelly but works very well in the no leading and accuracy department
The brass is sorted and trimmed but works well with whatever brand.
This load averages 1050 FPS or so and is pleasant to shoot. This load will easily group under 1 inch at 25 yards from my battered old 686 and is the load that lives in that gun.
The Lyman mold and the Lee mold while similar have some noticeable differences as you can see in the photos. The Lyman can be crimped in the crimp groove and work well in any of my revolvers. The Lee needs to be crimped almost biting the driving band or over the front of the band. The heavier charges of 2400 work well also, but my walking around load is the one I just described. I recently spent the morning casting 200 of each boolit on order to replenish my supply. The Lee made the 2000 number easier to reach than the Lyman two cavity but they each have their purposes. Thought I would take a photo of the boolits side by side, the differences are interesting. I wonder what makes the Lee so much more accurate than the Lyman.