Best cast bullet mold for 350 Legend in an AR?

[rickt300]

My rifle functions very well with 158 gr. JSP's designed for the 357 magnum. In fact better on average than Winchesters 180 gr. Power point factory load. I would like to get a 180-200 grain GC mold with as wide a flat nose as possible. Probably going to try to keep velocities in the 1900 fps area so even a bit more weight won't hurt anything. Well I posted before I looked deep enough in the forum.

[madsenshooter]

I don't have an answer, but I'm going to show you one I used to have. I found a half dozen 200gr bullets from a mold I sold along with a 35 Remington Marlin 336, long ago. The mold was made by BaBore. That HP is about 1/4" deep. I had some 4198 speed powder and put them over 25.5gr of it, should give me around 1960fps out of a 16" barrel. It looks a lot like the Lee bullet. They're cast of a very hard alloy. 294357

[fastdadio]

The best boolit mold? pfft, I dunnow, 20 pages easy. What I can say, is here are two that I have book marked for serious consideration.
http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=35-195RG
http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=36-180LG
I still have a lot of reading to do, and I'm currently working on a box of 175 gr. tc. gc, that I bought from Matt's Bullets, which are showing good results.

[SSGOldfart]

Humm I'm still studying but the 180grain boolet above looking good for my blot- action Mossberg.

[madsenshooter]

I could see this working. http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=36-220G I sorta like those conical bullets. He doesn't do hollowpoints. Here's the bullets I pictured above after the wet newspaper test. HP vs solid. That bullet seats right at max magazine length. I did some comparison and it's for sure one I got from BaBore.294409

[rickt300]

I like both the 220 grain and 180 grain designs. The 180 might work better in my gun which seems to like bullets seated to a bit less than mag length. Hmmmmm

[cwlongshot]

My vote is the MP 358-200 mold. The 359-220 is a VERY CLOSE second.

A also ran would be any one of these three duplicates. 35-200fn from RCBS/NOE/LEE.

In jacketed, the FURY 170 .355 bullet is awesome!

CW

[rickt300]

One of the things about buying a mold is the vast variety there are out there. CW I looked on MP's web site and that mold is sold out. I decided to order this mold after I sell a couple I have laying around.

http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_deta...ullet=36-180LG

[cwlongshot]

The 220 is on eBay for about 40$ more.

The 200 has been out for almost two years. I know cause I been waiting!!

CW

[rickt300]

OK I have looked and am considering these bullets for my AR in 350 Legend. If I can't make em work in my 350 they will most likely be good in my 357 pistols. Or for that matter my 35 Whelen.

https://i.postimg.cc/Nj53n1Xx/Screenshot-2022-02-01-at-18-41-06-Configure-Mold-Confirm-Mold-Details-Accurate-Molds.png (https://postimg.cc/fVQqtSB3)

[cwlongshot]

They are close to the Ranch Dog profile. Should be good.

[rickt300]

Just hoping one of them will feed well enough.

[rockrat]

Before you order a mould, let me look thru my stash, I think I have one I was contemplating selling, that might work for you.

[rickt300]

OK tell me what you have.

[rockrat]

PM sent

[rickt300]

This is the mold I decided on, went with NOE. Not a super fan of aluminum molds but will try this one.

https://i.postimg.cc/BvMzz7nt/Screenshot-2022-02-03-at-19-26-28-360-182-WFN-U2-2-Cavity-RG2-GC-NOE-Bullet-Moulds.png (https://postimages.org/)

[Lex]

I like the 200 fp mold from lbt

[rickt300]

The mold arrived today, looks well made and I will be cleaning and heating it up a couple times as per instructions. I also simply to get free shipping at Midway I ordered a LEE 35-200 mold along with a .356 sizer so I have two molds to fool with. I have never cast with a HP mold like the NOE so that is going to be fun. All I need now are gas checks.

[cwlongshot]

The mold arrived today, looks well made and I will be cleaning and heating it up a couple times as per instructions. I also simply to get free shipping at Midway I ordered a LEE 35-200 mold along with a .356 sizer so I have two molds to fool with. I have never cast with a HP mold like the NOE so that is going to be fun. All I need now are gas checks.

NOE molds are very good Al does a super job.

One tip, the pins ride on tracks at bottom of the mold. These are pretty easily tweaked when setting mold down on base when hot. It is easily bent back but leaves some Funky looking bullet tips.

CW

[rickt300]

Just scrubbed it out with dishwashing liquid and am on the third heat it up and let it cool cycle. Probably won't put the mold down when casting. Interesting HP pin setup for sure.

[rickt300]

Well the pins are a learning experience. The mold likes "HOT" lead and I need to clean it again and polish the pins again. However I got it to start making perfect bullets. As for function in my AR After I figured out seating depth which is just in front of the crimp groove making for a pretty short overall length I could count on seven feed fire and extracts in a row and very good accuracy. 7 is all I load in the 10 round magazine. Problems I had were directly related to the 145 grain factory loads rough handling of the brass which must be smoothed with fine sand paper. What a crap factory load. My final load is 21.7 grains of I4227. Sized to .356 after powder coating with the gas check I found all went smoother if I rolled the bullets on my lube pad. I used Harbor Freight Red and it added .006 to outside diameter! However it took being sized from .366 to .356 in stride. Going to order some different powder.

[rickt300]

Ok I got around to testing some of the LEE 35-200 bullet. Seated as far forward on the bullet as there is a full diameter, same powder charge as above, powder coated with the crap Harbor Freight red, gas checked and my lead mix is just enough wheel weight material to get almost pure lead to fill out the mold (around 1/3 of total). Function is slick and accuracy very good. Leading non existent. Probably going to use this bullet for the spring feral hog and crappie fishing expedition. One of the things I learned about getting the Legend to feed, short bullets do not support the case wall where the case hits the bottom of the chamber allowing a dent which sometimes stops the round from fully seating and chambering. I think before long I will do some more work on the feed ramps carefully lowering it some to somewhat slightly straighten out the trip into the chamber.

[P Flados]

... work on the feed ramps carefully lowering it some to somewhat slightly straighten out the trip into the chamber.

Be careful about removing material at the back of the chamber. You really want the case walls to be fully supported.

And cases can have different web heights.

On an AR it is tough to figure out how far forward the feed ramp can extend.

This is an area where better specs on the SAAMI drawing would have been helpful (i.e. min case web height and max distance from bolt face to end of feed ramp).

[rickt300]

The AR feed ramp is separated from the chamber by around .3 or so, you can alter the heck out of them and not touch the chamber. It appears BCA used 300 Whisper/Blackout feed ramps for the 350 Legend. In my opinion a mistake which causes the bullet to hit the chamber a bit high.

[ElCheapo]

I've been getting good performance out of the LEE 200 grain RFGC as well. I purchased a BC side cocking upper and a batch of Starline 350 Legend brass. So far accuracy with the LEE has been great. I've only shot them to 50 yards, but PC'd and goosed along with a healthy dose of AA#1680 they seem to stack right on top of one another. This is without the gas check and running right at 2000 fps. I'm hoping to get 2200 fps with no leading. Just need time to get to the range and try a little more powder. So far so good, no pressure signs and the gun feeds and ejects perfectly.

[ElCheapo]

I was able to get to the range and test my loads. 2200+ fps with no leading out of an 18" BCA upper at 35 degrees F. No pressure signs and nice tight groups too, and this without the gas check. As temps climb I can drop the powder charge to keep the same velocity or just use gas checks. This bullet really performs nicely in the AR15! Feeding, function and accuracy are all great, and at this velocity it surpasses the 35 Remington factory load. Now I just need a big boar to test it on!

[cwlongshot]

I wasn't able to get much past 2000 with a 200 grain bullet before expanded case heads and blown primers, in an AR. I can do it easily with a Ruger, American bolt action, but I know I'm surpassing 55K and pressure.

[ElCheapo]

I wasn't able to get much past 2000 with a 200 grain bullet before expanded case heads and blown primers, in an AR. I can do it easily with a Ruger, American bolt action, but I know I'm surpassing 55K and pressure.

AA#1680 gives low pressures in the Legend and allows the careful handloader to assemble more powerful loads. I don't think there's a better heavy bullet powder for this caliber.

[Beaverhunter2]

I'm using AA1680 in the 350L as well. I was running a Lee 200 RCBS clone. I just picked up the MP 360-200 (also RCBS clone). I'm getting 1940fps with 27.0gr. out of an 18" AR. When I water tested at 125yd velocity I only got slightly above caliber riveting. I'm now trying to find out which HP pins I want to use. So far my rifle seems to prefer the deep HP but more testing to do. The mold is a work of art and throws the most consistent boolits I've ever seen. I keep 90% and sort to 0.1 grain with half in one pile and half in the other.

John