First post ! Trying to decide on a .358 mold to cast for the Henry LA and Ruger Vaquaro

[Sudsy]

I'd like to simplify my life and run one load in both (if possible)

I'll be casting a linotype/lead alloy and powdercoating

Loading with Unique.

 

I hear that the Henry has had a handful of issues with chain fire with a round nose bullet so I'd prefer a round nose flat face.

 

I've had some problems feeding a store bought SWC bullet

 

Anyone have any good experiences with a particular mold ??

[Sam Sackett]

A good mold to start on would be the two cavity Lee 358-158 RF. That bullet will be heavy enough to get a better burn with Unique. Use a good solid crimp and Chootem!

 I use both the 125 and 158 grain billets. They feed well in all my rifles once you dial in the OAL. I would save the linotype for other uses. I use range scrap or plain lead. There is no need for a hard alloy to shoot SASS velocities. 
 

Good Luck!

Sam Sackett 

[G W Wade]

Been using the Lee 125 RNFP with good results.       GW

[Snake-eye, SASS#45097]

I’ve had good success with Lee 125 grn flat nose. 358-125-rf. Works well in pistol and revolver.

[Cholla]

I use the Lee six-cavity mold. Once it's warmed up I can crank out the bullets. I then poly coat them and load. Very easy.

 

https://leeprecision.com/6-cav-358-125-rf.html

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

A 125 grain RNFP (round nose flat point) bullet in the mold maker of your choice.   Maybe even polymer coated, if you are up for that step.

 

The SWC that you had problems feeding?  Almost all lever action guns hang up on the shoulder of a SWC.   So, the RNFP will feed like silk.

 

You will find you don't need the heavy weight 158 grain slugs, either.  Wastes lead and gives more recoil, especially out of revolvers.

 

good luck, GJ

[Cholla]

5 hours ago, Sudsy said:

I hear that the Henry has had a handful of issues with chain fire with a round nose bullet so I'd prefer a round nose flat face.

This is confusing me. The only Henry I have heard of that had chain fires is the 1860 model. From what people have relayed to me, they were a result of the follower catching on the table as the rifle was picked up, then slamming home on top of the cartridges. It is also recommended that the follower be gently allowed to come to rest when loading. That said, I have never seen a Henry 1860 in .38/.357.

Did you mean a Henry Big Boy? 

Either way, no one recommends a round-nose bullet for a tube magazine. The original Henrys were a rimfire cartridge so round-nose bullets could be used. That's not the case with centerfire. Most of us use a round-nose flat-point bullet.

[Sudsy]

9 hours ago, Cholla said:

This is confusing me. The only Henry I have heard of that had chain fires is the 1860 model. 

Did you mean a Henry Big Boy? 

 

Sorry, should have been more specific - yes Big Boy

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

Yep.  Round nose bullets are a No No in any tubular magazine.  It's possible to get a magazine detonation from recoil alone let alone the follower in an 1860 slamming home (seen that happen).  And NO Cholla, there are no .38/357 1860s.  OP unclear.

 

Good choice have been recommended although you may also want to try Truncated Cone bullets.  With a good crimp, heavy bullets are not necessary.  Heaviest bullet I shoot in .38 is 125Gr. Truncated Cone.

 

PLUS ONE for Garrison Joe.  Semi-Wadcutters are no Bueno in our rifles.  Consistently hang up and jam.

[Tom Bullweed]

I use a Lee .358 125-gr LRFN mold for my Marlin.  The bullet is .3595 out of the mold, so I do not size for the rifle. Lee tumble-lube and load.

Lee makes 125 Gr 9mm tumble-load TC bullet that I want to try.  I expect the bullet to be a bit small, around .357, but can cast it a bit soft to fill the grooves.

The TC design likely feeds slicker in the Marlin.

["Big Boston"]

I, like most Cowboys started with 38/357 cowboy guns, rifles and handguns. I did however end up shooting different ammo in each. It didn't start that way but the bullets that I was using became harder to find so I rationed them for rifle loads and came up with a different load for my handguns. 

 

I do have to ask, will you be loading in 38 special brass or do you intend on loading in 357 Mag brass? I'm still switching back and forth, each has it's own advantage/disadvantages. 

 

A Vaquero or a New Vaquero have a fairly tall front sight and bullets above 140 grains are easier to load to a level that shoots to the sights. This is important to me as I have more than one 357 handgun and I don't wan to start filing down sights. Mostly because if the load changes it's hard to file on metal, that operation is one way. 

 

To that end, I mostly load a WC 148 gr from LEE 6 cavity mold 358-148 WC. With about 3 grains of fast powder it will shoot to the sights in pretty much every gun I own, and it doesn't have the propensity to lead. Another thing I don't like to do is clean lead out of my barrels. 

 

You intend on powder coating, so the above paragraph is basically a FYI. 

 

For a bullet to  powder coat and load for both it's pretty hard to beat a 147 gr 9mm bullet. They all just about look the same and Lyman 356637 is typical. I used one with no grooves, coated with Hi-Tek and IMO it was the one perfect bullet. That is the bullet that was discontinued, but at the time I was not powder coating on my own. 

 

That bullet will feed and the OAL can be tailored as you just crimp into the bullet, wherever you want. 

 

I've used all sorts of alloys, some with not much success, others worked well. Straight Lino is harder than it needs to be straight up, and even hardball, half lino/half pure lead is still a bit harder than you need.  Lately I've been using something in the 96% lead, 3% antimony and 1% tin. Perhaps a wee bit more tin with a BHN of about 12. I make sure that at least 1/2 to 3/4 is clip on wheel weights. My formula is 8 # of COWW, 1 # of pure lead and enough 50/50 solder to give me an added 1% tin. If I get any softer than 12, my alloy has to be pretty hot before the bullets look good. If you powder coat, the hardness is not critical, nor do the bullets need to look as good looking as you are painting them anyways. 

 

My powder coat experience extends to a single batch of about 50 bullets. They were good enough to be encouraging, kinda, LOL.

 

In my experience I could not get decent Es/Sd with lighter bullets at lower velocity. And if you have to go to 900 fps to get a good load, what's the point. Waste lead, save on powder, YMMV.

 

BB

[Griff]

All of the magazine detonations I've heard or read about were the result of rounds being dropped into the magazine from too steep an angle.  Even a flatnose can detonate with handled improperly.  

[Bailey Creek,5759]

Linotype lead is a hard lead.

It is better suited for Bolt Action Rifles.

[Noah Mercy, SASS #29066]

I have been using the Lee 158 RNFP mould for ages. Accurate bullet, feeds great in 357 mag rifles when loaded in 38 cases (some shorter-nose bullets don't), and tends to shoot to fixed sights more often than the 125s and lighter. No, we don't need gilt-edged accuracy for CAS, and big/close targets mean a slight vertical difference in POA/POI don't matter, but sometimes folks like to use their single actions for tasks other than CAS, so it's nice to have a load that shoots to the sights. 3 grains of Titegroup under these is a mild load that shoots well enough from my Rossi 92 to use in long range side matches.

[Bison Bud]

I've had great luck using an RCBS Cowboy mold for the 140 grain pill.  It's a two cavity, steel mold, who's bullets have a nice rounded ogive and a flat point.  It makes a great all around cowboy bullet in .38 Special and .357 Mag cases.  I also much prefer the steel molds over the aluminum ones as they seem to cast far more consistent bullets.  However, Lee sells a lot of the 6 cavity, aluminum molds and they do cut down on casting time.  I own one of these molds for 9mm pills and have found it to throw very inconsistent diameters, to the point of actually being oversized to the point of being dangerous without sizing.  I know that Lee says that you can cast bullets, use their liquid lube (a product I also really like) and not worry about sizing them, but I'd be real careful about doing so from the diameter differences that I've seen thrown from this 9mm mold.  Otherwise, I'd go with a truncated cone shaped bullet with a flat point in whatever weight you might prefer and there should be several choices available from multiple manufacturers.  If your using Unique, realize that can be picky with light loads and even the 125 grain pills can be a bit light for it to generate enough pressure to burn completely and consistently.  I've had good success in all my cowboy lever guns with 5.0 grains of Unique under the RCBS 140 grain pill mentioned above.  Anyway, choose you new mold wisely as you will either use it for quite a long time if you like it, or end up buying something else in short order.  Good luck and good shooting to all.

[Cypress Sam, SASS #10915]

In my experience the Lee 6 cavity molds can be problematic.  They are fine if you pay close attention and make sure they are fully closed before filling with lead.  It’s really easy to get oversized bullets from a 6 cavity aluminum mold because of its length where a small bit of material can stop the mold from closing all of the way.  With care you can make pretty good bullets though.  (Not as good as a Lyman 4-cavity mold though).

[Sudsy]

Do you think this might be a good choice (double duty, rifle / pistol +P load ?

 

http://arsenalmolds.com/bullet-molds?product_id=213&limit=99999999999

 

 

[Tennessee williams]

First off, welcome to the fire. Second off, I like the truncated bullets.

[Doc Moses]

On 11/6/2022 at 11:03 AM, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

Yep.  Round nose bullets are a No No in any tubular magazine.  It's possible to get a magazine detonation from recoil alone let alone the follower in an 1860 slamming home (seen that happen).  And NO Cholla, there are no .38/357 1860s.  OP unclear.

 

Good choice have been recommended although you may also want to try Truncated Cone bullets.  With a good crimp, heavy bullets are not necessary.  Heaviest bullet I shoot in .38 is 125Gr. Truncated Cone.

 

PLUS ONE for Garrison Joe.  Semi-Wadcutters are no Bueno in our rifles.  Consistently hang up and jam.

What?  I am about to reorder bullets. The first ones I used up were 240 grain swc 44mag. They feed great through my 1892. Had them because it was all I could find. (Covid era) Found some 200 grain rnfp that I originally wanted to shoot. Haven't tried them in my rifle but don't love how the bullet seats. I thought I had heard that 92s like the swc?  I was going to order some and go back to my original load. Am I off base?

[Sam Sackett]

I have two 92’s. They will both choke on SWC bullets. The SWC has a shoulder just ahead of the crimp and it will catch going into the chamber. You will be better off taking the advice above and using RF or truncated cone bullets. They taper right to the crimp on the casing and feed a whole lot better. 
 

My 2 cents…

Sam Sackett 

[Sudsy]

On 11/8/2022 at 9:05 AM, Bison Bud said:

I've had great luck using an RCBS Cowboy mold for the 140 grain pill.  It's a two cavity, steel mold, who's bullets have a nice rounded ogive and a flat point.  It makes a great all around cowboy bullet in .38 Special and .357 Mag cases.  

 

If I could get one of those I would, but they're discontinued and like hens teeth to find.

[Sudsy]

4 hours ago, Sam Sackett said:

I have two 92’s. They will both choke on SWC bullets. The SWC has a shoulder just ahead of the crimp and it will catch going into the chamber. You will be better off taking the advice above and using RF or truncated cone bullets. They taper right to the crimp on the casing and feed a whole lot better. 
 

My 2 cents…

Sam Sackett 

I just whipped up a tube full of dummy 358-140-SWC's - Jam, jam, jam, stovepipe, Hey one worked! Jam jam. Most I got to run in a row was 4.

Figured that would be the case but just scored a Bonanza press and wanted to give it a test run

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

I'd order a three cavity aluminum mold from Tom at Accurate.

 

This one would be great!  Have it made to drop bullets at 0.359 diameter.

https://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=36-125D

 

good luck, GJ

[Sudsy]

On 11/9/2022 at 12:46 PM, Sudsy said:

Do you think this might be a good choice (double duty, rifle / pistol +P load ?

 

http://arsenalmolds.com/bullet-molds?product_id=213&limit=99999999999

 

 

I ordered one, Aluminum, 4 bullet. I'll let you all know how they work out

[Fort Reno Kid]

Howdy Pards

 

Have a replica Uberti 1860 in 45 Colt. Love it! Right from the start I learned to hold the rifle horizontally (making sure it was pointing in a safe direction) and feed the cartridges in to it slowly and one at a time.

 

Two intact hands and ten functioning fingers serve as proof that I’ve never held it vertically and dropped the cartridges in from the top.

 

Saw a 1950s-era TV western were they had an HTG 1860 Henry (bot cheaply from an unknowledgeable pawn shop owner by the property manager, maybe?) that was being held vertically with cartridges being dropped in.

 

Thot to myself those are either inert cartridges or, if they were live 5-in-1 blanks, the actor was lucky not to initiate a chain fire.

 

Just a word to those contemplating the purchase of a replica 1860 Henry. Much as I love the 45 Colt cartridge, a 44-40 would have been a better alternative. 45s are straight walled and permit carbon blowback. The bottleneck 44-40 exhibits less blowback. 

 

Also have a Uberti Model 1866 (“Yellow Boy”) in 45 Colt. It’s a close second in my admiration. BUT: same comment, carbon blowback is an issue.

 

A big salute to the Italian gunmakers who brot us all those wonderful replica shootin’ irons that make CAS possible.

 

Keep on the sunny side!

 

Adios 

 

Fort Reno Kid