38 spl lead bullets

[engineer49]

A neighbor of mine recently passed away, and his son brought me a bullet mold and an old Lee Loader from his workshop. I used to take the old man to the range with me. He used a Ruger Security Six, and even into his eighties, he regularly shot 6" groups at 25 yards. I knew he loaded his own, but was a little surprised at that old loader. Never used one myself.

The mold is a Lee .356 125 gr FP. Apparently this is what he used for his 38 spl. My question is - have any of you ever used a .356 bullet for a 38? I've never reloaded the cartridge, but had always thought you should use .357 or .358.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[tightneck]

I don't mean to be rude, nor do like to be the one to point out the obvious, but this is an extreme rifle accuracy forum. There are many reloading forums on the net that deal with shooting six inch groops at 25 yards but this aint one of them. You may get better answers on those forums. Yes is the aswer to you question however.

 

[Rustystud]

engineer:

Lead bullets in a handgun can be quite accurate. The velocities must be kept under 1000fps. In a 38/.357 you will want bullets in the .358 diameter. Swaged bullets are softer than cast bullets. Lead hardness is measured on the Brennel scale. Good bullets for a .38/.357 should be in the 18-23 Brennel hardness scale. Bullet weights between 125-160 grains are prefered. The 141 and 148 wadcutters were the standard target loads with 3.2 grains of Bullseye shooting. Very mild to shoot and accurate, capable of 2' groups out to 50 yards. Most plinking is done with 158 grain round nose or semi wad cutters. Remember keep your velocity under 800fps. You might check some of the Cowboy Action, IDPA, IPSIC sites.

Good luck
Rustystud