About a year and a half ago I started shooting a Winchester 94 in lever action silhouette matches. Caliber was .38-55, which was a new one for me.
That meant of course that I didn't have squat to feed the rifle. Trying to avoid the added costs of gas checks, I purchased a Lyman 375248 mould, 250 grains plain base. It threw boolits out of wheel weight metal at .3795 and my bore was .3785, so we were good there. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men.
Knowing that I wanted full or near full power loads to help me knock over those 200 yard rams I didn't even worry about light loads.
As soon as I passed 1600 feet, leading! Full length of the bore too, no messing about. No real surprise of course, but one can always hope. So, biting the boolit, I picked up a Lyman 375449 and gas checks to fit. Shot wonderfully and no leading.
With the passage of time, I thought maybe I would sell the #248, but then I got to looking at it, it and my Sherline milling machine. The 248 is a little lighter which meant a bit less lead used and a bit less recoil. What the hell. The worst I could do is ruin a mould.
The results are in the pic above. The boolit on the right was what that mould originally threw, the one on the left is what it makes now. The gas check is a push on fit. Success!
Some time soon here I'll load up some and shoot them. I'll keep y'all posted.
Cat