358429 Keith by NOE [Archive]

jforwel

07-16-2009, 12:50 AM

I was able to get some boolits cast tonight, with the following results. With my WW alloy they come out of the mould at .361 and weigh 177gr. I am going to make up a dummy round and see which of my five Ruger .357s it will work in.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i11/jforwel/358boolits.jpg
There are some with flaws that I have not culled out yet. I cleaned the mould with brake cleaner and a tooth brush and started casting. The cavities were smoked with a match and most boolits fell out with a shake. Can't wait to load'em.

358wcf

07-16-2009, 01:01 AM

Looking good there, friend!
That truly is a classic bullet shape, unmistakable for any other-
Since you got yours now, I will look for the Postman shortly to deliver one for me as well-
Good stuff's coming!

358wcf

j20owner

07-17-2009, 03:16 AM

Figured I'd post here too. Got my mold on Tuesday around noon. Cast with it some Thursday morning around 1am and again today around 1am. Had to play with heat to get it dropping good. Ended up with about 30 worth keeping the first night, more tonight. Had very few bad ones tonight, only cast for about an hour with the 2-cav I got.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/j20owner/PICT0020.jpg

The one's I measured were between 176.8 and 176.1 with an average 176.5 for 20. Diameter was .360-.361 and all were round.

Couldn't find the good camera......

Matt_G

07-17-2009, 09:23 AM

Couldn't find the good camera......

Well duh!!!
It was 2:00 am! :shock:

GabbyM

07-17-2009, 10:42 AM

Received mine yesterday as well. Very nice work. Hope NOE can keep up the standard. Swede has set his quality bar pretty high.

I have the five cavity which is a handful. All bullets measured identical. .3607” from 50/50 alloy. I didn't turn the Mic over to read the vernier scale but they were all close enough and round. Bullets dropped right out with a tap and these are big sharp edged groves. I"m still getting wrinkles but do't liek to smoke my molds. Usually takes an hour or two to burn the oils out of a new mold. I'm patient. I sprayed theem down with brake cleaner but should have washed them more.

His blocks are quite a bit taller than Lees. Should make for good rifle boolit molds.

I didn't weigh any yet but would say most deviation would be from pouring technique. End cavities cooler than center ones and so forth.

I just did a test run but could see over heating wasn't going to be much of a problem. I cast up a quart or so of bullets as fast as I could and never got up to frost temp.

If you've been sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how Sweeds molds turned out before ordering one. I'd say the waits over. They are great. Better get what you want while the price is still low.

I also have one of the #68, 45-200-SWC MiHec six cavity molds and am extremely pleased with it. Both of these new players are putting out a product to be proud to own. The bullet casting hobby has been greatly enriched by their efforts.

ddeaton

07-17-2009, 11:38 AM

thanks Swede, looks good, I dont want to dirty it up now.

captaint

07-18-2009, 11:48 AM

Now I'm all fired up!! I'll be expecting mine soon. Have to get that last inch of lead out of the Pro Melt and get it cleaned up & ready for the new and improved mix. Gotta clean around the spout too. Valve doesn't go all the way down these days. Mike

exile

07-18-2009, 02:18 PM

LeadThrower

07-18-2009, 07:57 PM

Beautiful! I can't wait to start casting with mine... just finished the recommended 4 heat/cool cycles yesterday... no time to cast today, growl.

Heavy lead

07-18-2009, 08:37 PM

jforwel,

Kind of off topic, but I would be very interested to find out if the 358429 boolit will fit in a Ruger SP-101? If not in .357 case then .38 special case? Don't know if there would be enough room for powder in .38 Special case with the longer bullet? Anyway, thanks.

exile

I do not know about the SP-101, but I can tell you it will fit in the NEW Vaquero (shorter cylinder than the Old new model) where as the Lyman 358429 will not fit in it, first thing I checked, bravo on this change, also the meplat is slighty bigger that the Lyman mould I have.

GabbyM

07-18-2009, 10:16 PM

jforwel,

Kind of off topic, but I would be very interested to find out if the 358429 boolit will fit in a Ruger SP-101? If not in .357 case then .38 special case? Don't know if there would be enough room for powder in .38 Special case with the longer bullet? Anyway, thanks.

exile
Never had a Ruger SP-101 in 357 mag. but here are the dims.

The nose is .351" long. That's measured from the top of crimp grove to tip of nose. That will give you a minimum O.L. of 1.641". So you'd idealy want a cylinder plus .030" of that. Load some rounds up to 1.670" then see if the cylinder rotates. I'm sure it will. Most of my light 35 bullets have a .320" nose

jforwel

07-19-2009, 02:42 PM

I have been having a hard time finding a .359 sizer die. Seems as if everyone is backordered so I haven't loaded any yet. I measured my cylinders prior to placing this order and I think it will fit in my GP100 and a NM BH. But I also have a 50th Ann. model, a Security Six, and an OM BH. I know it won't fit all of them, but there's also the possibility of crimping over the front driving band. Or for those guns just using a typical 158gr SWC.

As exile stated, one can use a .38 Special case. Elmer's old load which I think Taffin has written about is 13.5gr of 2400. Might want to back this off a bit and it is only for .357 guns. It is listed at 1200+ fps out of a 3 1/2" Model 27. As for lighter loads I don't currently have any recipes handy.

358wcf

07-19-2009, 07:34 PM

JForwel-
I understand just how hard it is to find a .359 Lyman sizing die- took me many, many months-
Recommend you contact me by PM and I might be able to "LOAN" you my .359 for a few weeks- I'm not using it right now, but can't afford to dispose of it- not ever-
Cast up a bunch of boolits with that shiny new 358429 mold so you have them ready to size, and I can help you get it done-
No charge here- just glad to help a fellow member get it done for a while--
Looking forward to hearing from you-

358wcf

jforwel

07-19-2009, 08:15 PM

Thanks 358wcf.

I just put a dummy round in my five guns (unsized so they needed a slight shove) and they fit all guns listed above. The 50th Ann. model is probably cutting it a bit close and if the boolit were to slip forward from recoil it would lock the gun up.

358wcf I am going out of town for a week. When I get back I might contact Lyman direct and see if they have them. If not I'll send you a PM.

vanilla_gorilla

07-21-2009, 01:10 PM

I finally got to break mine in yesterday. For nearly the first hour, I cast with probably less than 20 good boolits out of the bunch, but I reminded myself the mould was new and needed a little time. I did find that it likes to be run a little hot. Once I settled down and got into a rhythm, in no time it was turning out nice, purty boolits like a house afire. The next hour and a half produced about 250ish good boolits, and very few rejects, mostly nicks in the base from cutting the sprue too soon.

Lubed a few up and loaded them in a suitable Elmer Keith load, and man, oh man do they shoot nice. :bigsmyl2:

ddeaton

07-21-2009, 11:33 PM

I cast with mine tonight, like stated above, likes to run hot. I almost think the sprue holes could be a tad larger, or is it just me? I started getting good drops after it heated up.

j20owner

07-22-2009, 01:45 AM

I've had no problems with the sprue holes. I was even able to cut them using a gloved hand and had no fill problems once hot.

ddeaton

07-22-2009, 04:02 PM

I cut with a gloved hand also, problem I had was hitting the small hole while filling. More often than not I got round bases after not hitting the small hole just right. I guess I am just used to casting larger calibers. But I think it would not hurt at all to be just a tad larger. It wouldnt make cutting with a gloved hand no harder, I do it all the time on my 44 and 45 molds with larger sprue holes. Sure makes it a lot easier to get good fill. I suppose there is a calculation for the size of this hole compared to the caliber, seems I remember reading this somewhere, or dreamed it.:confused:

vanilla_gorilla

07-22-2009, 11:13 PM

ddeaton

07-23-2009, 12:45 PM

GabbyM

07-23-2009, 01:06 PM

There's no way mine was going to be cut with a gloved hand. It took several good whacks with a wooden hammer handle to cut sprues on mine. If I cut earlier, I could do it by hand, but that's also when I was having problems with the bases. By waiting a few additional seconds, the sprue was harder to cut, but the bases were undamaged.

Alloy will make a big difference. I find my 50/50 blend is tough so it cuts hard. sometimes leaving a spur nub if things aren't just right. 2/6 bullet alloy will break right off with a clean flat base. This is with any mold I have.

Only way I know around this is to turn up the heat as the alloy content goes down.

I use an old sawed off hammer handle as I find this less fatiguing than hand power.
With this bullets square and deep lube groves and shoulder it takes a shake or tap to coax them to fall. I prefer the tap. So I whack the spur plate, tap the handle, set the mold in front of the fan, grab the spur and drop it back in the pot, close the mold and refill. Whatever works for you.

I love this mold.

j20owner

07-24-2009, 01:58 AM

Soooooo, what are we liking for loads? Gonna load some this weekend. Have Unique, Titegroup, Universal, and 2400.

Wayne Dobbs

07-24-2009, 10:15 AM

The classic .38 Special load is 5.0 grains of Unique with this bullet. If you have any 231/HP38 around, try 4.5 in the .38 and 5.0 in the .357 for a great shooting load.

vanilla_gorilla

07-24-2009, 11:46 PM

Soooooo, what are we liking for loads? Gonna load some this weekend. Have Unique, Titegroup, Universal, and 2400.

13 grains of 2400 [smilie=1:

j20owner

07-26-2009, 12:49 AM

I'm guessing that's a .357mag load?

The 5 grains of Unique is a really wonderful load out of my dad's GP100, and really stout out of my buddy's dad's Smith 442. Those were loaded in +p cases, fwiw, and the 442 is also +p rated. 5gr Unique also turned out really well with my Lee 158gr RF in .38 spl cases, too.

jforwel

07-27-2009, 01:37 PM

I finally found a .359 sizer. Midway got some in. Good thing I checked before I ordered direct from Lyman. They wanted about $8 more.

bob208

08-01-2009, 08:01 PM

the 358429 was my first mold some 35 years ago. shot my thousands of them. they work great in my old model ruger blackhawk and security six.

in .38 cases i used 3.5 gr red dot. crimped in the crimping grove in .357 cases you have to crimp overt the leading edge or the overall length will be too much.

bgokk

08-10-2009, 02:59 AM

Mine came in on the 15th of July but I did not get to cast with it until Saturday the 8th of Aug. The first session, after cleaning with brake cleaner and lubing the mold with BullPlate, resulted in only getting grip and forearm exercise, every thing went back into the pot. I was also casting with NOE's 311407 modified, with the same results. The next session I ran things hotter and started getting real boolits.

Here's what I did.
N. O. E. 358429-168-Keith, 168 Gr., My Wgt. 176.795 Gr. Avg., .358 Dia., My dia. .3612 Dia., My length .748", my alloy 10#COWW/10#SOWW+1#1st B(high tin content), date cast 8/9/2009, kept after culling 246, Stats: Sum of 10=11767.95 Gr.; Std. Dev.=0.2629 Gr. (.0015%) Pan lubed 119 with Speed Green.

The NOE's 311407 modified, a 2 cavity. Produced the following:
N. O. E. 311407 MOD, 170 Gr., my wgt. 171.805 Gr. Avg., .311 Dia., my dia. .314+ Dia., my length 1.044", my alloy 10#COWW/10#SOWW+1#1st B(high tin content), date cast 8/9/2009, kept after culling 57, Stats: Sum of 10=1718.05 Gr.; Std. Dev.=1.0531 Gr.(.0061%) All lubed with LLA. Weight with lube no gas check

I found that I had to run with the pot at 750* to 800* until the molds got hot then could lower the pot temp to around 700*.

Between the two casting sessions I must have run that 20# through the pot and molds twice.
<|;-).

PatMarlin

08-13-2009, 01:47 AM

You've probably seen these but here is the LEE "Cat Shooter" group buy version of that boolit.

I gas checked them and loaded in the 35 Remington with a very short time spent in load development last week.

Grouped about 2" at 50 with my ballard grooved 336. Buckhorn sites, but what a mean little thumper. Probably pushed it near 1800 fps with 4895 and absolutely no leading, and it cycles through the action perfectly.

I think there's room for more horse power as well. Serious DRT deer pill.. :mrgreen:

http://www.westcoastminisplitter.com/1rem.jpg
http://www.westcoastminisplitter.com/2rem.jpg
http://www.westcoastminisplitter.com/3rem.jpg

cast-n-blast

08-14-2009, 06:11 PM

Pat, are those aluminum checks from your .35 checkmaker? They fit on an unchecked shank ? Cool idea ! Thanks, Jeff

PatMarlin

08-14-2009, 10:46 PM

Thanks Jeff

That's a Checkmaker I designed for the 35 plain base. Those are beverage aluminum can checks.

I've been wanting to check my plain base Keiths for years, and it performs like I figured it would so far. I wasn't expecting the 358429 to fit and work as well for the 336 as it does. What a pleasant surprise...!

Can't wait to I can work up more loads, and shoot longer ranges, and try my 45's also.

happy7

10-17-2009, 12:28 AM

I shot these for the second time today. The bullets are beautiful, but in my Dan Wesson and a friends Security Six accuracy is only about 4 or five inches at 25 yards with various powders. Same story in a 357 marlin rifle. However, I tried some hotter loads today, and the loads which clocked 1000 fps from the six inch Dan Wesson clocked 1500 in the rifle, and in the rifle the groups closed to about 1.5 inches. So I am thinking they just need more speed to stabilize? More work is needed. These bullets are so beautiful, I can't understand why they won't shoot better with the loads so far. I am not sure how fast I can push them out of my revolver, but I am going to load them a little faster and see what happens. Those of you who understand twist rates better than I do, please let me know if I am on the right track.

jforwel

10-19-2009, 11:20 PM

Happy 7 I have had the best luck with this boolit in my Ruger 50th Ann. model using 9.0 and 9.5gr of Blue Dot with .357 cases. I get 1101 and 1193fps respectively. Also these loads will put ten rounds under 2 inches at 25 yards. I have not had good luck with usually good powders like 2400 and 4227. But my old standy Unique has yet to be tried.

I have five .357s both DA and SA and have a lot of work left to do.

machinisttx

10-28-2009, 12:51 PM

Never had a Ruger SP-101 in 357 mag. but here are the dims.

The nose is .351" long. That's measured from the top of crimp grove to tip of nose. That will give you a minimum O.L. of 1.641". So you'd idealy want a cylinder plus .030" of that. Load some rounds up to 1.670" then see if the cylinder rotates. I'm sure it will. Most of my light 35 bullets have a .320" nose

I tried a round in my SP101 just for grins a few days ago. It just barely fits. I would say that it will work if a very heavy crimp is applied or light loads are used. If the bullet jumps very much at all it's going to tie the gun up. I'd have to measure to get an exact number, but I'm fairly certain the clearance is .020" or less.