357 & 38 special mold?

[carsonbm]

I am just staring to order my equiptment and molds, you can buy the mold in 357mm and 358 mm, why?:confused:

[Buckshot]

I am just staring to order my equiptment and molds, you can buy the mold in 357mm and 358 mm, why?:confused:

.............It shouldn't be mm as in millimeter. But if it's simply that 357 or 358 sometime appear then that's simple. They may be simply stating for what caliber (ie: 357) or what the slug drops at (.357 OR the .358").

It may be like a Lee rifle mould, say f'instance C309 - 115F where Lyman has a 311284. The 'C' in the Lee nomenclature means a GC, The 309 is the supposed boolit OD and the 115 is the weight and the 'F' means a flat nose.

The Lyman 311284 doesn't supply as much info. The 311 is the supposed boolit drop OD and the 284 is the boolit 'style'. A 215gr pointed RN and it takes a GC. I just know what it is because I have one and not that that 284 says anything about it.

Does that help or did I missunderstand?

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

[Wayne Smith]

The other answer is that some .38/.357's shoot the .357" bullet accurately and some like the .358" pill. I have one of each. Groups from my S&W 27-1 are about an inch tighter @ 25yds with the .358" bullet.

[Cherokee]

Most bullets drop larger than the stated size anyway and they can be sized to which diameter your gun likes. I would start with .358 Inch size (not mm)

[Wayne Dobbs]

That 357/358 mm should be a real stopper! That's 14.05 - 14.09 INCHES in diameter. Will that fit in an L frame??

[beagle]

And, to add to your confusion, some bullets are designed with the bullet nose shorter for loading in .357 cases and with .38 Special cases, it doesn't matter. This is because of the overall length required by some guns.

You'd be well off to choose a design out of the loading manuals and go with it. I'm partial to RCBS moulds and a RCBS 38-158-CM works well in my S & Ws, Rugers and my Marlin .357 Magnum carbine. I've never had an RCBS mould that didn't cast well./beagle