Why Did Lyman ???

[GP100man]

Drop this mold 357446 from production, it shoots wonderfully out of my GPs
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx110/GP100man/357446mold.jpg

[Hickory]

If it was selling at a good rate they would have kept on producing them.

[357maximum]

Rectal Cranial Inversion would be my guess.

I had the same question awhile back. It simply shoots good, if you "drive" it. I have not had alot of luck going slow with it however. I wanted a 4cavity and could not find it. I contacted Bruce at BRP products and he cloned it with some improvements and is now an even better boolit. I have a 4cav and will never part with it. His version outshot my old lyman so I sold the 2cav lyman.

FWIIW..........BRP products has done some slight improvements to the boolit and now offers it in their catalog down in the vendor section.

[Guesser]

I find that if I cast it soft it works quite well in my Colt OMM, OMS and OMT. over 4.5 gr. of AA#2.

[mooman76]

Allot of moulds are dropped from time to time. Sometimes they have limited productions latter on but most certainly it's because lack of selling.

[GP100man]

I found the same thing as 357 Maximum , 15.6 grs of h-110 & this boolit .

I shot a 1 1/2" hole out in my target!!

357Maximum can you post a pic of that boolit , Ive looked at the drawin & can`t see the difference , or elaborate on the improvements??& wat kind of handles does the BRP molds use ??

[Le Loup Solitaire]

The answer to that question is, because they (really) don't care!!! LLS

[lead Foot]

LEE has one simlar the 358-150-SWC ~ they have dropped that one two but kept the gas check one.
Lead foot;

[dubber123]

I have fought with this boolit alot lately. I did a search on the forum, and found many have had similar experiences. I was trying to use them out of .38 Special revolvers, so velocity didn't exceed 900 fps. by much. The mould cast great, nice and round, I couldn't understand it. The only thing I could see that looked out of place is the very heavy rear band. Being it shot completely miserably for me anyways, I stuck it on the mill and reduced the rear band to .090". Groups went from 6" at 25 yards, to 3" at 50 meters, (55 yards). Still not my best shooting boolit, but worlds of difference. The last time I looked, it's very common on E-bay, and didn't look like a big seller there either.

[scb]

Low sales and there's not enough difference between it and the 358156 at least to the untrained eye. A boolet with a gas check = faster = better to "some". If your mould produces a boolet that takes a gas check - then there's a good chance you'll sell gas checks too. It's always good to sell "consumables".

[badgeredd]

I found the same thing as 357 Maximum , 15.6 grs of h-110 & this boolit .

I shot a 1 1/2" hole out in my target!!

357Maximum can you post a pic of that boolit , Ive looked at the drawin & can`t see the difference , or elaborate on the improvements??& wat kind of handles does the BRP molds use ??

To partially answer your question, I use the Lee Commercial handles on my BRP molds. To be honest I really don't know what handles Bruce has designed his molds to use. They are sweet molds though!

I really don't buy that Lyman has discontinued mold due to sales only. The Loverin (sp?) design molds are in great demand as well as some of other discontinued molds. Watch the prices on evilbay if one thinks this isn't true. The 3589 (358009) is an extreme example often going for double the price of a new in production mold. 311466 molds are starting to get quite pricey too.

Edd

[357maximum]

I found the same thing as 357 Maximum , 15.6 grs of h-110 & this boolit .

I shot a 1 1/2" hole out in my target!!

357Maximum can you post a pic of that boolit , Ive looked at the drawin & can`t see the difference , or elaborate on the improvements??& wat kind of handles does the BRP molds use ??

1. Brp's version is more rounder er. ;)

2. he made subtle changes to the lube grooves

3. if I remember correctly he increased bearing surface. He made this mould for me quite awhile back and CRS has taken it's toll on me at this time as far as the small details are concerned.

4. His moulds will take rcbs and lee6 cavity handles... I think that was by design.

5. I made him aware of this thread and he should see it monday and correct my response. He does not have weekend internet availability.

6. He is (or was) thinking about a version with a shorter base band for slower velocity use...not sure if he has went any farther with that plan though.

7. Cannot post a pic until the next casting session. I have 600 or so cast but they are all surrounded by fed 357 brass with a 2400 charge that would make Elmer Keith and Phil Sharpe very proud of my efforts. I shoot this boolit alot out of my DanWesson 15 with a scoped 8inch barrel...and I drive em hard and they work well. I use my harder range scrap for this boolit. At 45 yards I can take the head off a rooster with em at will....I do know that. They shoot about 1/2 in at 50yards on my good days.

When I want to go real slow I use his Hornady swaged swc clone made of soft range scrap with a coating of LLA and a dusting of mica. When I want to go fast with a softer alloy I use his 358156 imp mould with MML for lube. The 358446 is my gas check supply extender mould and my loads for each (156 and 446) both shoot to same POA, POI.

[atr]

I've been edging away from gas checked boolits for my .357, so I picked one of these up from this site and it casts and shoots very well .........my gas checked 358156 now takes the a back seat to this one

[Hardcast416taylor]

I sent an excellent condition 446 to buckshot for hollow pointing. I`ve got it back, but arthritis and cold weather casting in a cold barn don`t go well together. Will know if I made a boo-boo on this mold come Springtime when I`ve cast some and test fire them.Robert

[GP100man]

Thanks for all responses , very interestin to see my results fallin in the shadow of others!!

Hardcast I had Buckshot remove the Gas Check on a 358156 Ideal HP & I have a single cavity 357446 that I was gonna do the same to, so when ya do keep me in mind & let me know how it does .

It`s interestin to see how the moving of the point of ballance on a boolit changes how it acts!!! The closer to the rear it is the harder ya drive it , Laws of Physics!!!

[BABore]

357Max asked me to jump in on this to give my 2 cents. About 3-4 years ago he asked me to reproduce the 358446 for him. I based my version off of his Lyman boolit samples. The major changes were to the lube grooves. I made them flat bottomed with 15 degree draft and also increased their depth. I would have loved to have made the base band as it looks too long and out of place. Having never shot that design, I went with the flow and made a mold for both of us. We both came to the same conclusions after shootin them a bit. Pushed hard at max 257 mag velocities, it wasn't too bad. My version of the 358156 would outshoot it by a healthy margin, but it takes a GC. My 358429 would also do better and is a direct comparision as it's also a PB design. The biggest problem with the 429 is the nose length. It fits my S&W 686 ok if I pay attention to case length. So, the 358446 works ok when pushed.

My main goal at the time was developing a PB plinker boolit that would compete with the Hornady 158 gr swaged SWC. I used to shoot it along with several friends in NRA silhoutte. Pushed by 5.0 grains of WW231 and a CCI 500 primer, it would do typically group 5 shots into less than 5/8" at 25 yards and around 2 inches at 100 yards. At 200 and 300 yards it was still stabile and accurate. I tried the 358446 with alloys from pure lead to WDWW's and everything inbetween. Many dip and conventional lubes were also tested. For powders I tried my standby 231 as well as BE, 700x, Red Dot, Unique, Herco, AA #5, and Tite Group. Several of the combinations produced sub-inch 25 yard groups, by accuracy at longer ranges always produced flyers. All of this testing was done in 357 Mag cases. I finally gave up on the 446 and moved on.

I finally solved my low velocity plinker delemia by closely copying the Hornady boolit and putting in two very shallow lube grooves in place of the Hornady's knurled surface. Using a single thinned coat of alox and a motor mica dusting, they will shoot right along side of the Hornady using the same load.

Recently Dubber and I have been conversing on the 358446 with the shortened base band. I really think it has some merit for both low velocity and even at top end. Dubber sent me a few of his shortened boolit to try and I just did so yesterday. I had some pretty dismal results, but I consider the 18 round test inconclusive right not. The boolits were 18+ bhn and I used a new, untested soft lube. They literally sprayed the 50 yard target board while my Hornady clone shot an inch group. I may have to skin down my 4C mold and play with it some more. On a new mold I can cut the base band to any desired length by adjusting the cherry depth. A good approach might be to start at a 0.060 base band and make each successive cavity 0.010 deeper, then test the theory. It will definetly be a back-burner project for me as IMO, there are better PB designs. I've had outstanding success with my new 360640 design at top end. I'm just in the process of trying them slow. According to Dubber, they are showing some promise in his 38 Spl.

[GP100man]

Thanks for chiming in BaBore & explainin the differences!!

[.357]

I <3 that mold, i have a single cavity that i originally picked up because i thought it would be fun to hollow point. Then i casted with it and my service six loves it over 10.2 grains of blue dot. Thinking about trying it over some H-110 if i can ever find any powder to try it with.

[dubber123]

I didn't shoot many of the trimmed "446's", but they shot around 3" at 50 yds. which is much better than I could do at 25 yds. with this boolit before. I will try and crank the velocity up to see if they get better. I'm kinda in the same boat as BaBore, the 360640 of his looks to be such a good boolit, I've kinda lost interest in most of the others..

I have a 6" S&W Model 14 that I have been trying to get tuned in. I have tried the Lyman 358250, the 358429, several different wadcutters, the 358446 mentioned here, and numerous others. I could occasionally get the 358429 down to about 2-1/2" at 50 meters, but no better. After talking to BaBore, I bought one of this 360640 RF moulds. Last weekend I got 5 in .978" at 50 meters. I fired round #6, and blew it to 1.3", still much better than anything else. It also shoots exceedingly well in an old 6" M&P. I can't recommend this boolit enough.