More wide groups

[Will]

I had 12" groups with the lee 358-105swc and was given lots of sugestions. I was told to try BullsEye instead of Unique, to soften the boolits and use a more powerful load. I didn't have any BullsEye so I tried using a heavier load of Unique. (4gr instead of 3). Still 12" group. I went and bought a can of BullsEye and tried 3gr of it. This produced an 11" group. I thought maybe something was wrong with my Colt so I loaded some 148gr WC with 3gr BullsEye and they shot a nice little cluster right at point of aim. I went back and molded some more 105swc using 50/50 soft and WW. Loaded them with 3.3 gr BullsEye and only 1 out of 5 even got on the paper. Does anyone have a proven 38spl load with this boolit?

BTW this boolit groups very well in my 380 with 2.4gr RedDot. The reason I want to use this is because it will save 43gr of lead every shot and I don't think WC boolits look like real boolits when loaded up.

I don't know if my 380 has a diffrent twist than my Colt. They both have a 357 grove dia. Should I give up on it or try something else?

Will

[Calamity Jake]

"I don't know if my 380 has a diffrent twist than my Colt"

You can bet it is, the 380 should have a faster twist than the colt. The 358-105 also has a short bearing surface, that, combined with the slow twist of the colt is not a good combination.
The 148 wc that the colt likes has a lot more bearing surface, I would stay with it or go to a swc or RN that weights more

[Larry Gibson]

My old M15 service revolver with 5" barrel puts a cylinder full of them into 1 to 1.5" at 25 yards. The load is 4.7 gr of Bullseye and the velocity is 1025 fps. That's with Fed 100s and R-P cases. Bullets were cast of WW+ 2% tin, sized .359 (since I have a .360 H die now that is probably what I'll use) and lubed with Javelina. Bullet was seated so case mouth covered front lube groove and a slight taper crimp used.

This load also shoots well in my 2.5" M19 and 6" Ruger SS but I've not put it on paper so I don't know the accuracy capability. Bounces the heck out of pop cans out to 50 yards or so though.

Larry Gibson

[Bret4207]

Will, first things first- are you sizing to your guns likes?

[mooman76]

Will, first things first- are you sizing to your guns likes?

That was my first though. Every gun I have tried this bullet in has shot this bullet well. Sounds like it is undersized to me. I usually shoot it with but not limited to unique.

[garandsrus]

I have shot a lot of the 105gr SWC with 3.2gr W231 in .38 special cases. I either shoot them unsized with LLA or sized to 359 with a conventional lube. They shoot great...

John

[Will]

Larry: thanks for the load. Unfortunately it doesn't work in my gun. The only difference is I sized to .358 which is what my gun shoots with all other boolits and I used a 50/50 alox lube. They all shot low and wide (12").

I've never had a boo;it that I could not get to shoot straight with some tinkering but I think I'm going to give up on this one.

[Larry Gibson]

Will

Ya know, sometimes sh*t happens:-(

I had a 429360 mould once that was the same way. It would shoot like a house afire in every .44 but the one I wanted to use it in. Never could get it to shoot in that revolver no matter what I did. I finally cut bait and moved on. Just the way it is sometimes.

Larry Gibson

[Bret4207]

Will, try shooting some unsized if the chamber will accept them. sometimes a little extra size makes a huge difference.

[runfiverun]

you might have to push the shorter boolit a bit faster to get it to play nice.
if that don't wanna work, i would do like larry suggested and just move on.
i have a few different molds in the same cal, just cause some guns like different boolits better.

[HeavyMetal]

Which Colt are you shooting this in? Several Python's I've had the oppertunity to work with have had tight barrels!

A quick look in an old Speer manual shows Colts with a 1-14 twist and S&W with 1-183/4".

Bear in mind when PPC guys have a gun built it gets a 1-14 twist barrel because of the 148 gr. wadcutters they shoot exclusively in PPC!

You may simply have a gun mold combo that just won't work. You might try some 115 or 125 grain semi wadcutters for a 9mm.

[Will]

The colt is a 38spl police positive with 4"bbl. I looked at the groves and they make a 1/4 turn in the 4". That would make it a 1 in 16 twist. The grove is .357 and throat .358-.359. The gun is in good shape and shoots 2" groups at 50' with 358156 and 148wc.

I tried the as cast which measures .360 and it did improve some. All 5 shots were on the paper but still about 7" spread with all in the bottom half of the paper.

This just may be one of those that won't work no matter what.

[leftiye]

I think all of the old Colts were made with a .355" groove diameter. I had (it got stolen) an officers model that did. Nut job that I used to be, it got an ackley barrel. But it DID shoot!