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Old 09-27-2010, 03:29 PM
Skip Sackett Skip Sackett is offline
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Lightbulb Fit is the issue 95% of the time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ncbengal View Post
I have used different brands of "hard cast" 158 gr .357 swc bullets in my s&w 686 and Mod 19, both w/6" bbl and in good condition. These ought to produce decent groups from sand bag, which for sake of argument I'll call 2" at 25 yd. Powders range from Tite Group, 231, Universal, Auto Comp, up and down the scale. Never able to achieve better than 5-6" consistently. A change to copper plated or jacketed bullets brought my groups down to an acceptable level. Then I "accidentally" bought a 500 box of softer swaged bullets by Magnus. A phone call confimed these are 9-11 hardness whereas hard cast are 18-19. Another source had suggested Solo 1000 for lead and target use. Having very little published about Solo 1000 in .38 spl cases, I made a horseback guess at 3.0 gr of Solo and made a few. (Found another source that said min of 3.1 gr with 158 gr lead - good guess!.)

Bottom line: These loads will drive nails! Impact is centered with even .357 loads; recoil is lighter than store bought .38's; 5 shot groups 1-2" from sand bag is no problem.

Someone(s) have already said to check the barrel and cylinder bore diameter on my guns, as maybe hard cast bullets are leaking gas; but I figure S&W has had more experience in making gun barrels than I have in measuring, so I'll forego that. Barrel leading seems not to be an issue so far, but we'll watch out and just keep on lobbing those soft bullets into the 10-ring.
Measuring the throats in your revolver would be where I would start, not ignore. It has been my experience that accuracy is a function of fit and so is leading. Most commercial casters don't have a clue about what gun you might be shooting their bullets in so, they make them hard so as not to have problems with soft ones being driven too hard causing leading.

There are a bunch of commercial casters that will work with you to tailor a bullet for you gun/load combination.

Here is the problem that I see with your situation. You don't cast so you have to rely on someone else that has never shot your gun to give you bullets that fit it perfectly! How is that going to happen? It can't.

That dear friend, is why I cast my own. I can make them big enough and soft enough or small enough and hard enough for whatever my guns and loads require.

I have yet to shoot the first swaged bullet and doubt I ever will. My target loads run straight wheel weights from 700fps to 800fps. With just a tad bit of tin or Linotype, I can run them all the way to 2000fps in a pistol caliber carbine (44Mag 210gr LRNFP) with no leading and accuracy is acceptable.

Oh, the two biggest things about casting though: I have what I want when I want, no shortages affect me; The cost of equipment has long ago been paid back and my bullets now cost me hundredths of cents to make. Imagine a 1000 158gr LSWC for $2!

I think I will cast my own, thanks.

p.s. Glad you found a solution to your problems though, that is what matters most. Keep shooting and be safe!
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