38 S&W casting my own looking for hollow base dies

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I just recently picked up a Lend Lease Victory, I currently cast my own bullets for my 38 Special using Wheelweights. I have 3 different 158 grain molds, one seems to throw bullets about .359+, I have Lee molds

I want to reload for my 38 S&W, I am concerned that a cast round of .359 won't fill the bore and get in the rifling. I had heard that a hollow base bullet will expand to fill the bore

Does anyone know who makes molds in hollow base or molds that would throw bullets about .361, which is what I was told they should be for the 38 S&W

I am looking to make the Victory a tack driver but a good buddy said I was nuts I should be happy to keep the rounds on the target. But it is fun to shoot and try for the best!

 

[john traveler]

I once encountered a .38 S&W Victory model that had the cylinder replaced with a .38 Special but kept the original .38 S&W barrel.

That sucker would shoot 2" groups at 25 yards!!!!

You never know until you try it out.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I would be happy with 2 inch groups at 50 feet

 

[Tell Sackett]

You will have to either order a special die, have one converted to hollow base or find an older one someone wants to part with.

What I would do is what john suggested, try it as is. One thing you may try is to add just a little hardness to your alloy and have the bullets come out bigger from your mold.

When you do that you will have to drive them a little harder to get them to obturate. Maybe you could make some soft, they will be smaller, as it won't take as much pressure to get them to seal off the bore. Maybe.

Best advice has been given, try it!

 

[Reloader Fred]

One of the fellow SASS shooters in our club has become enamored of the old S&W and Iver Johnson top breaks in .38 S&W. To make them shoot, I've been swaging relatively soft .38 Special bullets to .361" for him, and they've worked out great. The heaviest I've done for him has been 158 grains, but he really likes the 125 grain bullets bumped up and loaded lightly. He's getting some pretty good groups with these bullets.

As it worked out, one of my C-H swaging dies makes bullets .361" in diameter, and I was having to size them through one of my Star sizing dies to get them to .358" for the .38 Special. I was doing a lot of cussing at that die, until my friend found he needed bullets that diameter..... Like my Mother has always said, things happen for a reason.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[nicky4968]

you might go to the cast boolit forum and read their articles on "beagling". Basically, an aluminum tape put on the face of your mold (not covering the bullet cavity of course) can increase your bullet from 358/359 to 360/361 quickly.

Of course, the bullet will be somewhat "oval" in shape but will straighten out in your sizing die or in your cylinder throat as it goes downrange.

Either way, it will oburate quite nicely in your forcing cone and barrel.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I tested all my .38 molds, one of them is dropping bullets at .360 to .361 So I think I am in pretty good shape.

 

[HKSmith]

I've had good results using 148 grain swaged hollow base wadcutters in the .38 S&W cartridge. These measure .358 for the .38 Special, but they expand nicely to fill the bore in .38 S&W barrels because of their deep hollow base. I seat them about half way out of the case to a COL of 1.11 inches. I also like the full caliber holes they make in the target.

I use these in both a Lend Lease Victory and several Safety Hammerless topbreaks.

 

[TomcatPC]

Hello

First off, I might be a bit out of line here seeing as I don't cast my own bullets (not yet at least, living in a small apartment is not the best place to start), so I can't speak about that, yet at least.

But I have been getting into reloading a bit, and I too have a British .380" Calibre (aka .38 S&W) M&P "Victory" model revolver, as well as a .380" Webley & Scott Mk.IV Revolver.

Until I start to cast my own bullets or find a decent source for 178 Grain bullets in .360", so I can make cartridges that would be close to the standard .380" Mk.II (or Mk.IIz version) Revolver Cartridge, I have been using standard bullets meant for the .38 Special/.357 Magnum cartridge.

So far, the bullet that has done the best in regards to accuracy has been a .358" 158 Lead Round Nose bullet made by Mag Tech. This bullet has a shallow hollow base and has done fairly good when fired from both of my .38 S&W calibre revolvers.

If I recall, the last time I bought Mag Tech bullets they were fairly cheap at around $10 (U.S.) at a near by Cabellas Store.
Thanks
Mark