Originally Posted by
Mowgli Terry
In the Loading Room (Skunk Works): I did some casting. Cast first the a additional small additional batch of 358477's for general use in 38 Specials. I had tried a run of this bullet with 5gns of ShootersWorld Ultimate Pistol powder. This load did very well in my 586.
Next came a batch of 358156's for the 357 Magnum. Both Bullets were cast in older Lyman four cavity molds. These old molds make nice bullets. That alloy was approximately 15 BH. The 358477's SWC's came out weighting 153 grains average. The 358156's ran average 157 grains.
Both bullets were sized in an ancient Star sizer. The bullets were sized at nearly as cast diameter in the vintage Star .358 sizing die. I had an old top punch for the Star that looked to be made to fit the nose of the 358156 for seating gas checks. Basically, bullets went into the Star upside down. Magma lube is used in the Starr. That rig worked very well doing the GC bullets. Also, on the agenda is to run hollow point bullets. That's for another day.
For the 357 brass something a little different was going on. I had gotten two sets of old conventional non-carbide RCBS dies. These old dies from the early 1970's did a jam up job resizing a small batch of Remington cases. Imperial Sizing Wax was used to lube cases. As you can tell, I do roam around looking for old loading gear. The best place to shop is second hand. On a fixed income I can hardly afford new stuff.
The 9.3x57's are all ready to go with Jacketed bullets right now. I'll probably get to those in the next several weeks.