38 Special Wad Cutter Mold

[Racingsnake]

Hi

I am new to casting bullets and have found a used Lyman mold I want to buy. It looks like a 148 grain WC bullet and has two cavities. How do I find out more about it and if it is suitable as a starting point?

Also, would I have to size the bullets or could I just use Lee Liquid Alox?

Thanks, Racingsnake

[Hurricane]

A 148 Wadcutter is always a good mold for the 38 Special. It is used mainly for targets and maybe some short range hunting, something like rabbits. To see if you need to size the bullet you need to load a dummy round (no primer, no powder) and see if the cartridge goes in freely in all of your gun's chambers. If it goes in freely, load up a small batch and go to the range to see how well it shoots. If it does not go in freely, it is too big and needs to be sized. .358 is a good starting place for a 38 Special sizer. If you want a all around bollit mold, I recommend either the RCBS 38-150-SWC or the Lyman 358665 (Cowboy bullet - a round nose with a large flat point). Both have been very accurate for me and are good designs.

[mooman76]

If you can post a mould number here some can tell you their results. You can probubly shoot as cast but that's just a guess and one you won't know the answer to until you actually mould some bullets. 148 WC is a good bullet and probably be a good place to start but that's an educated guess also. You can size with a Lee sizer which is relitively inexpensive.

[kir_kenix]

2.7-2.8 gr Bulseye should be a good shooter in your .38 spc. It has shot in every .38 I've ever owned, and millions of others as well. Good luck, you'll enjoy an accurate and easy to shoot load with that wc with good sizing.

[HeavyMetal]

Mold number is located on the side of the mold and will be 5 or 6 numbers depending on the age of the mold.

An example is 35863 whch is a double ended wadcutter 148 grain.

another is 35887 this is a wadcutter with a bubble nose on it.

you'll also find a 358395 which is a wadcutter with a button nose on it.

Simplest thing to do is go to the stickies section and look up the buffalo boolits link and call it up. This will have every mold lyman ever made listed on it.

From there you can decide which mold you have.

As for sizeing? Melt some lead, heat up the mold and make a bunch. What you want is several samples with excellent fill out so you can "mike" them for diameter.

Some Lyman molds are right on and some are way over size. I've had several 358395 molds that went .360 as cast and a couple that went .358 as cast.

It just depends on who cut it and when.

[Bret4207]

Yes, if of proper size "as cast" Mule Snot (LLA) will work fine. It depends on what your gun wants. Clean it real good before trying the cast boolits.

Welcome aboard!

[Racingsnake]

Thank you for the advice so far and also for the welcome.

On the side of the mold the following numbers are stamped:

358 63
189

Is this the double ended wascutter?
Is it any good or should I just buy a new mold of another type?


Regards, Racingsnake

[HeavyMetal]

358 63 is the double ended wadcutter.

If the mold is in good shape it is a good mold to start with. Check it out and clean it well before using.

The odds are this will cast over size but you won't know until you actually cast with it.

Best alloy to use will be stick on wheel weights with a little tin added. The stick on's are pretty much pure lead the tin will help fillout. Generally lead free solder is the easiest way to get tin into your mix no more than 2% of your pot size is needed.

This is a target boolit and you'll find it works best with loads in the 775 ot 850 FPS range.

The classic load is, of course, 2.7 grains Bullseye.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Ditto, It is Lyman mold # 35863...an older mold as the newer numbering system has it as 358063. It should weigh about 148 grains; you can crimp it in the first groove or seat it flush with the case mouth (if using a S&W M52). Generally, at least one groove has to be lubed. Hensley & Gibbs made an exact clone..#258. I use it in my M52 seated flush with either 2.7 grains of 700X or bullseye and it delivers good accuracy. There are many other powder combinations that work as well. Check in a loading manual. A flat faced WC like this is designed for short range target work as it punches neat clean holes in the target and as such is easier to score as opposed to round nosed bullets that leave ragged holes. It also has the worst shape ballistically as it doesn't cut a clean hole in the atmosphere and if there is a wind of any kind blowing from any direction except from in back of you it will skid or otherwise do all sorts of tricks that are fascinating and infuriating. It'll work ok for smacking things at shorter ranges. Lee makes one of these "flatties" and along with their other bullets lists the ballistic coefficient. Just for comparison their version has a BC of .072 which is the lowest/worst of any bullet on the page. So if you can get it to work as well at 50 yards as at 25, don't try for reliability much beyond that. Its a great bullet for target so enjoy good shooting. LLS

[GrizzLeeBear]

How do I find out more about it and if it is suitable as a starting point?

Also, would I have to size the bullets or could I just use Lee Liquid Alox?

Thanks, Racingsnake

First off, welcome aboard Racingsnake!

To answer your first questions, we need to know what you intend to use the boolit for. If its for target shooting, like Bullseye competition, then a wadcutter will do fine. However, I find that a SWC (semi-wadcutter) is a better "all-around" boolit. A good SWC will shoot just as accurately as a WC and you will not be able to tell the difference on a target, unless you are a Master class bullseye shooter. The SWC will also shoot accurately much farther than a WC. In most cases, 50 yards is about all a WC can do.
Whichever way you go, if its a boolit you will be shooting lots of, you may want to consider something in a Lee 6 cavity mold. They have their own quirks to learn, but are much higher quality than their 2 cavity molds and can shuck out a lot of boolits in a short time.

[Dale53]

I shoot H&G's version of the double ended W/C. I seat the first band out of the case (this method is JUST for revolvers) and taper crimp on the trailing edge of the first band. Dbl ended W/C's often respond better to a bit more powder than a hollow base wadcutter. My present load is 3.5 Bullseye and shoots VERY well in my various .38's and .357's in the .38 Special case.

This makes for an excellent edible small game load as well as a good practice load for my 642.

Dale53

[Buckshot]

................I have a 4 cav 35863 and like HeavyMetal mentioned here and I've read of others, mine drops it's boolits @ .363" with pure lead and just a wiff of tin. A bit much for a 38 Special, but just the ticket for a 38 S&W and that's what I bought it for. Hopefully yours will not cast so large for your 38 Special.

.................Buckshot

[TAWILDCATT]

I have the Lyman 4 cavity also.if you get a S&W 52 do not load over 3 grs,as you may blow the case.in any other you can do what you want.I to use 2.7 of 700X
got 40 Lb so I use it in all my pistol from 25 acp on up.:coffee:[smilie=1: