Boo lit diameter question...

[km101]

Bought a S&W revolver in .357. All the throats check .358 with pin gage. What diameter boolit should I be using for best accuracy? Or is this critical? I have been told to match boolit diameter to throat diameter, but another source says .001 over throat dia. Another source says that throat vs. boolit dia. is not significant.

Your thoughts please.

Thanks

[MSD MIke]

.358 or slightly over will be fine.
And yes, it is important.

Thanks
Mike

[mattw]

I like to cast for each gun... my test is to take a cast bullet that I have sized and make sure that it at least takes good thumb pressure to push it thru the throat. I find that .001 to .002 is pretty good, but with softer alloy I will lean toward the .002.

[Outpost75]

If bullet is sized so that you can push bullet through chamber and out front of cylinder by hand pressure only, feeling slight resistance, wiping a film of bullet lube on the throat walls, fit is then perfect. If bullets falls through chambers and out throats of its own weight bullet is too small. If you cannot force through with hand pressure only, but must tap through with a light mallet, fit is too tight. Ternary Pb-Sb-Sn alloys grow a wee bit with age, so up to 0.001" less than the throat pin-gaged diameter is good for long term storage.

[Larry Gibson]

What Outpost said.......

[cwlongshot]

I have found that there is what should work, (+.002ish) and what your gun likes.

Only way to know is to try them!!

Good likc.

CW

[km101]

Thanks guys! This helps a lot. My most recent mold drops boolits at .359 so I will size a few to .358 and leave some “as cast” and see which works best. I appreciate y’all educating me.

Ken

[Rcmaveric]

I took the advice of thumb pressure. I size to .358

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[tomme boy]

Make sure you check all cylinders. They don't use the same reamer to ream to spec. This is how one cylinder can be more accurate than the others.