Lee 6 cavity , 158 gr. G/C Removed , 38/357 Mould.

Ben

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
I bought this mould yrs. ago when you could get them for $38.00
No more $38 6 cav. Lee moulds now.
UP-DATE .......Looks like I'm wrong on that price :
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010217281?pid=873370
All 6 cavities were gas checked. It has always reminded me of the Lyman 358156 style of cast bullet, although with a shorter nose with a slightly different nose profile. My grandson and I are shooting a lot more plain base 38/357 cast bullets right now vs. gas checked bullets. Today I decided to give this mould the " once over " and remove the gas check shanks in all 6 of the cavities ( $$$$ .35 cal. gs checks that I won't have to buy now $$$ ).
The sprue plate screws ( both of them ) needed set screws to allow for optimum plate tension. ( Something I've always wished that Lee would do before they ship the mould ) That work is all completed now.

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This is the bullet this mould was producing prior to today's work :

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The mould cast just fine. I'm well pleased.

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Here is the finished product lubed and sized .3575"
Many of you like a cast bullet with a nice thick base, well
this is it.

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Ben

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
I removed the gas check shanks around 10:30 a.m.
I've been casting for the past few hrs.
I'm very pleased with the mould.
May be the weekend with Trevor before I'll have that answer ? ?

Ben
 
462

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Spiffy, Ben.

Years ago I did the same, but my mould is a two-cavity. I used the same reamer to remove the 358-158 RNFN's bevel base.
 
CZ93X62

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
If I had a dollar for every Lyman #358156 I've sent downrange, I could pay cash for a new Ford Expedition. There was a time when I was ALL ABOUT magnum revolver shooting, esp. the 357s. I wore out two of them early in my career, a Colt Trooper Mk III x 4" and a Model 19 x 4", shooting all manner of magnum handloads--some of which had no business being in any K-frame 357. These were both gifted to a friend as project guns for his Trinidad College resume'. Back in the late 70s and early 80s, there wasn't much to do in the Low Desert, except drink and play golf--I did a little of the former but none of the latter, so I loaded 38s and 357s and went to the range or to the desert. A LOT. #358156 was one of the first moulds I bought in early 1981 when I started down this casting rabbit hole, along with #358430 and #313492.

The Lee copy of #358156 is not quite a clone of the Lyman design, but is close. The Lee rendition has a somewhat shorter nose, and the Thompson/Lyman actually has two angled crimp grooves as its top indentations. Thompson's designs come from a time when N-frame S&Ws were chambered in both 38 Special HV and 357 Magnum; one principal quirk of the N-frame 357s is their short 38 Special-length cylinder. They strived to correct that oversight with their K-frame 357s, but the platform was short-lived with Doug Wesson-level 357 loads. (Ask me how I know this). Finally, S&W got stuff right c. 1980 with the L-frame 357 series guns, and the world is a better place for their existence.

Enough of history lessons. That fat base band created by removal of the gas check shank gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, just like those same attributes that the Keith SWC provide. (Let's all take a moment and genuflect while facing Salmon, ID). On we go.

If there is one feature that both Mr. Thompson's and Mr. Keith's revolver bullet designs have in excess is lube capacity. Those huge grooves on #358429 and #429421 are more than ample for even middling lubes like 50/50 BW/Alox. Good gravy, did those Keith bullets EVER sling lube on B-27s. If you use all of the lube grooves on a Thompson design, that's likely to happen as well. Using LSS' Carnauba Red, I fill the gas check's "groove" and the next groove up on both "156" and "244" and run them accurately to 1800 FPS from my rifles. No leading or antimony wash, either. I think the bottom lube groove filled will suffice easily for your Hybrid Lee Thompson Plagiarism.

We have Ben's Lube. This new mould design is in need of nomenclature, and I suggest "Ben's HLTP" as its name. All in favor, say "Aye". AYE!
 
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P

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
First – Good Job!

That was excellent work and I believe a huge improvement on more than one level.

Second- (and this might be blasphemy, so forgive me) I despise gas checks on revolver bullets.

Yeah, if you’re pushing a cast lead bullets into high Mach numbers, I can maybe understand the use of gas checks. However, I don’t shoot that many magnum loads and even when I do, you can push a plain base bullet pretty fast before a gas check becomes necessary. And here’s the blasphemy part – if you’re consistently in the extreme velocities that require a gas check….on a revolver bullet.....a jacketed bullet is likely a better solution.

Sorry if I ruffled any feathers and I know this is a cast bullet site, but I think gas checks should be relegated to rifle bullets.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Ben that looks nice! Gave me ldeas.
Well I have that mold and it’s one of quite a few I tried to sell last fall. No takers. Reason for selling is it’s a gas check mold, and I’m more liking the RF nose LEE in the same weight. Then I figured I’d just hang on to it because it’s a GC design. Haven’t tried it in my lever Rossi yet as the little Rossi was having some difficulty digesting non SWC designs. But removal of 3 maybe 4 gas check shanks and keeping at least 2 GC will go into the “to do” bucket.
Those look nice with the wide thick base.
 
P

PED1945

Active Member
How did you make this conversion? Vertical mill? Drill press? What about the cutting tool? Was it difficult to ensure the concentricity of the new cuts within the cavities? If process is proprietary, no is an acceptable answer.
 
J

Jeff H

NW Ohio
Just wanted to add another "success story" using Ben's method.

I use a chucking reamer instead of a twist drill, as most of my twist drills are not really very nice ones. The reamers were both new, old-stock from eBay, and pretty inexpensive, so no big investment there.

I had previously done a few 30s and 35s this way, following the rest of of Ben's advice, but had recently bought a NOE 4C RDO 360-190 "clone" with two GC and two PB cavities. I only had to remove one GC rebate to get what I want. Last time, I had to remove three, so this one was easier on the nerves.

THIS TIME, I used the reamer with no lube, because I had a devil of a time getting ALL the oil (or something) out of it when I cleaned it initially and didn't want to stop and do it again - I needed to take advantage of a small window of opportunity to get some bullets cast.

It turned out perfectly without lubing the reamer. I not only can't tell one PB cavity from the other, but I surely can't tell one PB bullet from the other once I cast some up. Just have to be sure to keep the reamer moving (by hand) going in and coming out and it leaves no ugly marks. It took about three quarters of a turn as I lowered and then raised the quill.

This idea was a HUGE help, because I've had terrible luck finding exactly what I've wanted from NOE for a long time. I like their moulds, but felt deprived. I've bought two NOEs now that weren't exactly what I wanted, and for a very small investment of tooling, and a little setup time, I have what I really want. This also helped me make my favorite "squirrel bullet" for the 30-30 from a LEE C309-113, which now is a plain-base and weighs 118 grains.
 
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