need mold recommendation

[skizzums]

hey guys, i am buying a rossi 92 357 lever action this weekend, i have been reading that they dont lke wadcutter and can be finicky with different bullets, i plan to cast all my bullets for this gun, and use in 357 brass, not 38spl

what are good feeding bullet shapes, and are there hollowpoint options that you guys have found to feed well, i also plan to start PCing because i bet that slick coating will promote smooth feeding as well

[Vance]

I have that rifle. Round nose flat points feed fine. You can get those hollow pointed. Semi wad cutters feed OK with an occasional hang up.

When you cycle the cocking lever, the bullet makes a steep approach to the feeding ramp. The sharp edge of a wad cutter keeps it from feeding without fiddling with it. Instead of loading wad cutters into the magazine tube, just feed the wad cutters in by hand one at a time while shooting.

Having a long barrel is where you will enjoy loading a powder such as H-110. I use Accurate Arms #9 in my .357 loads and it is awesome through the rifle.

[Beagle333]

I would figure that the 358665 would feed good in there, and it makes a beautiful HP as well. I've got some of both.
I'll mail you a few.

[reloader28]

My brother really likes the Lee 358-158 RF in his Rossi.
It works awesome on deer.

[skizzums]

good deal buddy, thanks, let me reimburse for shipping at least
if i like em, you gotta linkk to the mold

vance, good to hear you like the h110, just scored a couple pounds yesterday

[AlaskaMike]

Beagle, those are beautiful bullets--what do they weigh, both the solids and the hollowpoints?

[Beagle333]

The solids come out 165gr, and the HPs are 150gr.

It's a bevel base mold, and that's the only thing I don't like about it. They shoot really well in my Blackhawk though.



I do like all the bearing surface on em.

[AlaskaMike]

Mmmmm.... eye candy....

[skizzums]

yeah, i am always curious to as why bullets are so beautiful, especially in quantity, i guess it the fact that they are shiny, smooth and represent a uniormity not found in nature, much like we use glass stones in clear vases as home decor

dunno, im tired and had a couple white russians, but i love bullets

[Beagle333]

I like piles of fresh shiny bullets too.

[A pause for the COZ]

I can tell you for a fact.
These LEE 125gr rnfp's load, feed and shoot great out of a Rossi M92.
Buy a 6 cavity and drop them by the bucket full.



Here is what they can do at 100 yards.

[skizzums]

I would love to save the time and money with a lee mold, but i just wont be really happy without a hp

[reloader28]

If you plan on using these for hunting, you are way better off with a solid than a hollow point. Most HP expand and fragment way too fast for hunting.

If you insist on getting a HP mold, at least get one with changable pins to throw solids too.

[Mike / Tx]

Most HP expand and fragment way too fast for hunting.

That would mostly depend on what the alloy used was comprised of.

I personally haven't had the good fortune of testing mine out in some of our feral hog test subjects just yet, but I have a butt load of them loaded up and ready. I guess they know it cause they all went underground once I had my HP's doing what I wanted. I do however think they are going to work just fine. Here is just a small sampling of how well most all of them hold up,
Alloy Testing

I look at it like this, in a worst case scenario they might break off some of the rolled back portion of the mushroom, or possibly even shed the outer ring as some have done. But in either case there will be the remainder of the shank driving on through destroying things in it's path. Just about any way you slice it, something is gonna be in a bad way for sure. The MP358-640 that I am pouring are REALLY some nasty little critters. They roll back the noses to the point they surround the shank. I haven't had any of them loose their expanded noses as of yet.

Heck some of my solids even roll back pretty good using that same alloy,


But none of the above came by simply pouring any old lead into a mold and hoping for the best outcome. It was trial and error, blending bits at a time until it worked at the velocity I wanted to run and did what I wanted them to do. It can be done pretty easily however if one is willing to dig around a bit and ask a few questions of the right people in the right places..

[skizzums]

Not much of a hunter, only thing i attempt to hunt is yote, and prefer ar15 over anything for that. Just like hp, no real reason behind it.

[Mike / Tx]

Well if you look over at the Hollow Point Molds you will see that Eric has started working with the new style Lee 2 cavity molds.

Just a suggestion here, but you could easily pick up one of the Lee 2 cavity in a HPed version, and also add the same in a 6 cavity solid to your collection. This way, you would have a good supply of solids for working up your loads and simply piddling around, but have the same bullet in a HP version for when your out looking for yote's or other type critters. With the 357's it's not like your looking at a big spread in the weights between the two and more than likely the same load can be used for both with equal or possibly even better results.

Just look them over and try to pick one that has the rounded nose and a decent flat point like those pictured above. They should feed smoother in that profile no matter if they are solids or HP's. I can tell you the 158 RF is a decent bullet, and if your really don't want the beveled base on it, it doesn't take a lot to make it go away, especially if your going to have it worked over into a HP version. Another one that wasn't suggested is the 150gr RN. While it might not be the prettiest shape for a solid hunting bullet, it would feed great, and in the HP version you would end up with a nice wide frontal area when it expands, and have plenty of shoulder there to hold it together.

Just a side not here to the HP's I have played with. I personally have found that if you want a really good HP to work well and not have fracturing, or have them blow the noses off as they expand, look for the ones with a longer profile to them. The smaller the caliber the more important this is. I have them in mold from .308 up through my 45's and the best functioning ones are the RFN type to start with. THey have that long radius on them which will support the nose s it rolls back, where the ones like the SWC type have a sharper profile and don't add as much support. This type will work, but it is a lot harder to keep the mushrooming ring from separating as it rolls back towards the shank in the smaller calibers. If you look at some of my pictures you will see what I am talking about. I have some of the RFN type HPs which have rolled all the way back to the bases, and some of the SWC type which did so as well, but they started out with a big wide base and/or small hp cavity for their diameter. The 358-640 MP mold I have took a bit of trial and error to keep things together. Initially I couldn't get much past 38 SPL type velocities without loosing he noses. I managed to get them up into the 1300'ish FPS range and hold together, but it took some playing with the alloy to do so.

The other thing you also have to contend with is leading. You might have a softer alloy that expands wonderfully, but when you crank up the velocity it will lead like the devil. You have to have an alloy with a little bit of antimony, and an equal amount of tin to balance it, and the remainder of lead. My higher velocity alloy is using about 1.75% tin and antimony, and the remainder pure lead. This is for mid ranged magnum handgun velocity though. For that rifle you might have to play with something in a 2/2/96 or so to get them to work like you want. You have to have them hard enough to hold the lands in the barrel but also pliable enough to expand without fracturing.

You will read enough times while researching the alloy for pouring HP's that antimony is something you don't want. To a point I can go along with that statement. However it has been my experience with using an alloy already containing it that it isn't the deal killer that most make it out to be. You simply have to balance it with tin in order to end up with the alloy being pliable and malleable. This allows it to be hard enough for the higher pressures and velocities, while at the same time letting it flow instead of shattering when it hits something.

Good luck hope that helps.

[Beagle333]

Hollow points are where it's at!!!!
I only hunt with Winchester Silvertips, but I prefer HP's when casting.

[skizzums]

sorry, internet/cable just got back on tonight, been 8 days w/o, it was worse than i thought it would be, wish i had a choice over comcast, tried att and it was just a terrible product, but comcast is a fantastic product with hobbile CS

anways, yeah, when it comes to casting, i figure why not do HPs

i did order that rossi 92, got a 20inch stainless with a walnut stock, should be here any minute now, thinking that a 20inch will make a heckuva powerful 357, very excited, ive never shot one before(any lever-action that is)

thanks beag, got those today, looking beautiful, still hunting for 357 brass w/o luck, but i havent had a cpu all week

have plenty of 38 brass, but wanted some true magnums for the lever, but ill do whatever i need to

[Beagle333]

I don't know if you want to push plain base cowboy bullets to full-on magnum levels. I haven't tried it in a rifle and probably would want a gas checked bullet. But if you mean hotter'n a 38+P, you're good to go.
But as for longer brass.... I'll keep an eye out. There was a guy at lunch today that had about 280 of em for $15 bucks. But I didn't need any.

[skizzums]

well the flat nosed are weighing in about 166-167, so i was thinking 13gr H110 with win SP mag

we will see if they can handle it, the HPs are just about 151gr, so lookin at loading hp38 3,1gr with mag primer

i dunno, i may take it down a notch, due to barrel length

[GP100man]

Beagle333, you`re a mean man

I`m sittin here tryin to decide which mold to get !!!!

OK , I give up ! It`s not a handgun mold .

It`s this 1 from NOE.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...roducts_id=339

OK , I`m off the OPs question, & I`m sorry.

BUT all my friends & a few members that have traded me for both the Lee 158 rnfp & NOEs 360-180 for lever carbines have O negativity towards rnfp designs in THIER lever guns.

I even have a Dick Dastardly Big Lube "Snake Bite" mold . This is a long nosed bullet to make rounds out of 38 brass but be as long as 357mag so they`ll feed thru carbines!!

http://www.biglube.com/BulletMolds.a...0-6d4ee38b0030

Me & Muddy Creek Sam (may he rest in peace) made some of these up with Holy Black !! worked like a charm & were alot of fun(smokey as all get out )

[Beagle333]

Ha! I ain't too mean. I hooked him up this morning and he's got a box of brass heading his way this very day.

That 311-175 is nice!
I went with this one from NOE.
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...roducts_id=512

But here's my next NOE:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...Gr-RF-%28RD%29

[GP100man]

I was allways afraid of RD molds , the meplats always looked to big, feeding problems ???never heard of any ,but with my luck

I`d like to try some 190+ gr., but my hands & wrists are barely happy with the 360-180s, but I bet it shoots good with all that brg. surface!!

[Beagle333]

I`d like to try some 190+ gr., but my hands & wrists are barely happy with the 360-180s

You need some of these 215+ grainers!

[skizzums]

i want a penta pin mold, they look intimidating

i would also like to take this oppurtunity to show off a little



not going to shoot it until beagles brass shows up(THANK YOU!!!) but it cycles all the different junk i had lyin around so far, havent tried flush wad-cutter yet, i hear they can be problematic