FieldShunt
03-05-2009, 06:11 PM
I got a six-hole Lee 158gr round-nose .358 mold last year and have been working it to death trying to keep my .38 and .357 cases filled.
It's not easy- I'm in a ".38 Special" phase these days and popping off less than 200 every time I get to the club range- which is too often- is almost impossible.
I just make the TLs with straight wheel weights and then give them an alox bath-size-bath just like anybody else.
Usually, I put them in .38 Special brass with either 4.8gr of Unique or 4.5gr VV320 behind and they go really well.
About one box in every five I put up in .357 brass with 6.8g of Unique. Nothing unusual, and it just makes "major" power in a four-incher, all I need.
These are danged accurate loads, if a bit smoky and smelly, but I'm not afraid to shoot them in matches on Sunday mornings.
Times are tough and I ran out of Federal 100s, with none to be found around here. So, I had an old box of Winchester WSPM magnum primers in the drawer and reasoning that I'd substituted them before in .38 loads with no trouble, I ran off a hundred of the .357 loads.
I sneaked into the club after a sales call and began blasting away with my pet Colt .357 Model. Soon, there were elongated holes in the silhouettes I was practicing on.
Since there was no one else on the property, I finally had to admit they might have come from my gun, with my bullets turning over from my loads.
All I did was change the dang primers!
The barrel was leaded and gunked up pretty badly, too, after only about thirty rounds. This same exact load with Federal 100s just last month went through my guns by the hundred absolutely perfectly with absolutely no leading at all.
The bore looked so good I thought of taking a pic and posting here to show the cleanliness of the tumble-lubes.
The primers!
It's not easy- I'm in a ".38 Special" phase these days and popping off less than 200 every time I get to the club range- which is too often- is almost impossible.
I just make the TLs with straight wheel weights and then give them an alox bath-size-bath just like anybody else.
Usually, I put them in .38 Special brass with either 4.8gr of Unique or 4.5gr VV320 behind and they go really well.
About one box in every five I put up in .357 brass with 6.8g of Unique. Nothing unusual, and it just makes "major" power in a four-incher, all I need.
These are danged accurate loads, if a bit smoky and smelly, but I'm not afraid to shoot them in matches on Sunday mornings.
Times are tough and I ran out of Federal 100s, with none to be found around here. So, I had an old box of Winchester WSPM magnum primers in the drawer and reasoning that I'd substituted them before in .38 loads with no trouble, I ran off a hundred of the .357 loads.
I sneaked into the club after a sales call and began blasting away with my pet Colt .357 Model. Soon, there were elongated holes in the silhouettes I was practicing on.
Since there was no one else on the property, I finally had to admit they might have come from my gun, with my bullets turning over from my loads.
All I did was change the dang primers!
The barrel was leaded and gunked up pretty badly, too, after only about thirty rounds. This same exact load with Federal 100s just last month went through my guns by the hundred absolutely perfectly with absolutely no leading at all.
The bore looked so good I thought of taking a pic and posting here to show the cleanliness of the tumble-lubes.
The primers!