GT Bullets 38-429

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BillBro

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Any love for this bullet? Stories,advice, pitfalls, data, favorite loads welcome.
I bought some of those and the 158gr bullet with the fouble crimo grooves to try out. Guns will be a 5" 627 and a 4" 686.
 
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Those are two great designs for the 357 magnum.

The SP will get deep penetration on game if used in that manor
and I would love to see what that LHP design does to 7-8 Gallon water jugs
if you ever give it a go.

Have fun.
 
GT bullets are good quality cast lead. Good lube, plain base (not beveled). They are cast with a pretty soft alloy and will probably cause some leading if shot too fast. I've used several different designs from GT.

I have used the 155 dual crimp you show and I like it a lot. The 160 Keith bullet will probably be too long for your 627 if crimped in the crimp groove. That gun and that bullet will likely need to be crimped over the driving band. Be sure to adjust powder charges for the deeper seated bullet. The 155 DC crimped in the top groove should work fine. You can crimp in the bottom groove in .38 Special brass and get near .357 Mag performance.

Your 686 has a longer cylinder and all should work well.

Dan
 
Nevada Ed said:
Those are two great designs for the 357 magnum.

The SP will get deep penetration on game if used in that manor
and I would love to see what that LHP design does to 7-8 Gallon water jugs
if you ever give it a go.

Have fun.
Click to expand...
I have that mold.
It was given to me when it got separated from it's HP pin.
It's the standard ball in my Henry Big boy 357.
It's not the downrange destroyer a 200 g HP 44 magnum is, rather, it's a practical balance for the sportsman
 
Those 158gr hp's have a hp that's designed for 38spl/snubnosed revolvers.

You'll have to test them to see how hard you can drive/push them until they fail.
 
I loaded some last night over some HS-6, 10 each at 6.1, 6.4, 6.7 and 7.2 grains. Half of each got a winchester SP mag primer and half a cci500, just for comparison sake. WW brass with a, what I would say is a medium- med light crimp. Dont ask how I would describe that, its just not very heavy.

Hopefully my range will be open Monday and Ill test them over the chrono and groups.

I normally use A7 and A5 for most 357's except for full magnum loads which get H110. Hope they do well. These are just the HP bullets and not the dual crimp.
 
Elmer Keith designed the Lyman #358429 for the 38 special case ... it is a long bullet with a long nose .
Be careful if you load them in 357 Magnum cases and crimp in the bullets crimp groove ... it may be too long and protrude from the chamber end . Several maker's have monkeyed with this design , your bullet may not be a problem ... but make a dummy round and check fit ... before loading up 500 and discovering the rounds are too long . EK's 358429 was designed to weigh 170 grains ... if your's weigh 160 grains this bullet may have been scaled back to fit ... but check before loading a big lot ...
Pulling bullets isn't much fun !
Gary
 
When you loaded that hp bullet did you have any problem with the hollow point getting crushed in by the seating stem ?
 
BillBro said:
I loaded some last night over some HS-6, 10 each at 6.1, 6.4, 6.7 and 7.2 grains. Half of each got a winchester SP mag primer and half a cci500, just for comparison sake. WW brass with a, what I would say is a medium- med light crimp. Dont ask how I would describe that, its just not very heavy.

Hopefully my range will be open Monday and Ill test them over the chrono and groups.

I normally use A7 and A5 for most 357's except for full magnum loads which get H110. Hope they do well. These are just the HP bullets and not the dual crimp.
Click to expand...

I've found HS-6 a strange powder to work with. I've done pretty extensive work with it in several cartridges but most of my work has been with the .38 Special and several cast bullet designs. I've just about finished off an 8 lb. keg.

My results indicate no difference in accuracy or velocity with a CCI-500 standard primer vs. a CCI-550 magnum. Powder residue or lack of it with either primer has been the same as I recall. Without studying all my notes, I feel safe in saying best accuracy has been confined to a very small niche, usually a bit below maximum.

With #358429 at 170 grs. cast of ww alloy, 6 grs. HS-6 gave a MV of 884 fps from a 6" barrel (probably a Model 14 S&W). 6.4 grs. gave 922. Neither load was accurate. However, using the HP version (#358439) at about 154 grs., 6grs. HS-6 had a MV of 860 fps (M64, 4") while 6.2 was 900. Both of these loads were accurate. I do my load testing at 25 yards.

HS-6 is a good powder for some applications, but it's not a versatile powder. That's not meant as a disparaging remark as HS-6 was likely designed for performance rather than versatility.

I use as light a taper crimp as possible, just enough to prevent any bullet movement.
 
Rock, I did read your posts about this subject and took them into account.
Though, I already knew hs-6 was not my favorite powder for just about anything. Now I have two very very nice 9mm loads with one using a 124gr HST and one using a 124gr GoldDot and the same charge with both, 6.6gr and they are some of my very best. Do much so that I loaded 500 of both and put them in ammo cans. Other than
those two I have found no stand-out use for this powder.
 
BillBro said:
Rock, I did read your posts about this subject and took them into account.
Though, I already knew hs-6 was not my favorite powder for just about anything. Now I have two very very nice 9mm loads with one using a 124gr HST and one using a 124gr GoldDot and the same charge with both, 6.6gr and they are some of my very best. Do much so that I loaded 500 of both and put them in ammo cans. Other than
those two I have found no stand-out use for this powder.
Click to expand...

My work with HS-6 in the 9mm has been minimal, so I can't really comment on it's overall usefulness with different bullet designs and weights. However, I did some work with HS-6 and the most accurate 9mm cast bullet I've found to date cast from the obsolete Lyman #358212 mould, a roundnose .38 Special design of about 150 grs. There is no published data for this bullet in the 9mm, but I'm using what I believe to be a below max. charge.
 
You mentioned HS-6 powder.

In my 9mm with the 125 Glod Dot I load 6.8 grs of HS-6 for a POA load.
there are better powders.

In my 686 with 38 cases and a lead 158 bullet 7.0 grs is my max/Acc. loading.
with a 357 case HS-6 is accurate at 9.5 grs and I have used 10.2 for a max load
but other powders did better in the full load acc/poa department, in my revolvers.
 
This is 7.6gr of hs-6 and a wspm from 15yds standing unsupported on a very windy day today and a very mobile target. The high shot there was caused by the wind actually slamming into me and I knew immediately that that shot was wasted. Otherwise, a decent group.



945fps ES of 33fps and SD of 13fps
 
Last edited:
BillBro said:
This is 7.6gr of hs-6 and a wspm from 15yds standing unsupported on a very windy day today and a very mobile target. The high shot there was caused by the wind actually slamming into me and I knew immediately that that shot was wasted. Otherwise, a decent group.



945fps ES of 33fps and SD of 13fps
Click to expand...



That's the 358429 with .38 or .357 cases?
 
Last edited:
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