lee minnie

[BunkTheory]

any one ever seen a lee minnie bullet for the .357 magnum?

[mehavey]

Since Minnie's hollow-base design is deliberately for very low-pressure applications,
my quicklook found nothing associated w/ a 357 Mag -- save for other moulds in HBWC.

[Tar Heel]

The mid 19th century Minié ball was designed for period rifled muskets of large caliber. It was cast (swaged actually) in pure lead. Lee makes a mold which casts a Minié ball in 58 caliber for original and modern replica rifled muskets. The Minié ball design is absolutely impracticable for a 357 magnum due to its design and alloy. Casting a Minié ball in any alloy but pure lead DEFEATS the base expansion properties of the bullet and renders the sub-caliber projectile unable to obturate correctly to engage the rifling. Driving a pure lead Minié ball over about 1200fps will ensure leading of the barrel. Using smokeless propellants on a Minié ball will result in severe leading due to high pressure, improper lubricant, and adverse pressure/time curves.

If you want to have some real fun, get yourself one of the Lee Minié ball molds and cast some pure lead Minié balls. Then order an 1861 Springfield rifle to shoot them! You will need some black powder too.

:-)


Here is a good description of the Minié ball on Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini%C3%A9_ball

[Ithaca Gunner]

The closest I would think would be the hollow base bullets intended for the old .38 Colt cartridge to fill the bore in the Colt Lightning and other 19th century D.A. and some S.A. revolvers rather than use a heel design that would be over size for later revolvers. There's also the hollow base wad-cutter target boolits, swaged or cast, but they're not going to take much pressure, possibly blowing the skirt.

I suppose a mold could be custom made, but why?

[Ithaca Gunner]

If you could get LEE to make a duplicate of the old Lyman 358431, a hollow base Kieth design boolit weighing 160gr. you might have what you're looking for. They'll cut a custom mold, at a custom price of course.

[Tar Heel]

If a hollow base .358 bullet is what you need, here is a source.

https://oldwestbulletmoulds.com/shop/ols/products/358150-grain-hollow-base-bullets

[charlie b]

Why would you want a hollow base for .357?