Best molds for 357 Mag lever action

L Ross

Well-Known Member
I know this doesn't sound very impressive, and it is not for deer hunting, but it's fun. I have the Magma 38-130-rnfp bevel base mould. I was never a fan of bevel bases, but darn. .357 brass loaded with about 4.0 grains of Bullseye burn rate powder, (including the much maligned TB), makes a dandy walking around the hollow load. I use it to clip the heads off of Queen Anne's Lace, bust up walnuts, plink steel, all in a Rossi 92 clone. When I tried it at my 80 yard range I was shocked to get consistent 3" clusters from a casual rest and the relatively crude Rossi sights, to say nothing of my aging eyes.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
My Henry Big Boy (steel receiver) runs the aforementioned Lee Group Buy 180 grain round flatnose GC perfectly. It runs the Lyman #358156 very well also. It doesn't feed Lyman #358429 worth a darn--seated with crimp in the groove or crimped over the front drive band. I haven't tried '429' in 38 Special cases, though.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I had a Security 6 I ran with a JM Marlin 1984C . The Lee 358-158 RNFP was very good in both with one load . The nose on that is something like .260 . It was a mould I had at the time and worked so well I didn't go looking for anything else for a long time.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
My Win 92 will shoot bullets well that my Marlin won’t even consider doing better than 8” at 50 yards.
Each gun is an individual. I am fortunate to have 3 357 revolvers that will do well with a single load.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I know this doesn't sound very impressive, and it is not for deer hunting, but it's fun...........

I found the LEE 125 grain RFN to work very similarly with 5.2 grains of W231 or 4.5 grains of Unique.

As far as a "dandy walking around the hollow load ," the LEE 158 RFN (bevel base) seems to be my most consistent performer in rifles in 1:14" through 1:30" twists but the 158 grain TL SWC has been disappointing in my rifles.

As far as a deer load, I haven't had a chance to try the NOE 360-180 or 190 grain RDO in the Contender Carbine, my latest 357 carbine.
 

waco

Springfield, Oregon
I found that playing around with bullet size can really help accuracy. .001” made a big difference in my .357 Marlin.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I found that playing around with bullet size can really help accuracy. .001” made a big difference in my .357 Marlin.

Agreed. I've not found the "if it'll chamber, it'll shoot" mantra to always pan out. Some guns I've had would lead up and shoot poorly if the bullet was any more than .001" over groove diameter and others which would perform as poorly with bullets at/under groove diameter. The Rossi 92 would shoot anything from .355" to .358" with no problems. An SP101 and 77/357 would lead up with more than .001" over. I'm anxious to experiment with diameter on the Contender barrels (MGM). I think most would agree that undersized bullets will cause leading and poor accuracy, which has always held true for me, but not everyone sees the other side of that in whatever they're shooting. It pays to play around even if it goes against what we think we know. It's just too easy to try different diameters to not try it.
 

Bass Ackward

Active Member
My Rossi 92 has worked with everything up to 180 grs. But I have avoided the obvious problem children. I love / enjoy the 35 bore. The180s though gotta be pushed in the slow turn but will provide MOD, I just have a larger launcher for that purpose. I use the Penn Bullets, 125 gr trune for squirrel.
 

stubshaft

New Member
I use an old NEI 200 gr Truncated bullet in my Marlin 1895C. I used to use it in my 357 Max when I shot sillywett. Very accurate and it is death and destruction on hogs and wild sheep.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
Agreed. I've not found the "if it'll chamber, it'll shoot" mantra to always pan out. Some guns I've had would lead up and shoot poorly if the bullet was any more than .001" over groove diameter and others which would perform as poorly with bullets at/under groove diameter. The Rossi 92 would shoot anything from .355" to .358" with no problems. An SP101 and 77/357 would lead up with more than .001" over. I'm anxious to experiment with diameter on the Contender barrels (MGM). I think most would agree that undersized bullets will cause leading and poor accuracy, which has always held true for me, but not everyone sees the other side of that in whatever they're shooting. It pays to play around even if it goes against what we think we know. It's just too easy to try different diameters to not try it.
When your SP101 leaded up, do you know what the throats measured?
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
When your SP101 leaded up, do you know what the throats measured?

It's been gone a few years (one of the few I regret moving), so I don't have an exact number, but they were originally smaller than the groove diameter - until I had them reamed.

After reaming, .358" bullets pushed through very easily and .359" would pass with thumb pressure. The groove diameter was .357" and .359" or .360" bullets would chamber easily, but if I went over .358", the barrel would start to lead. It wasn't an issue, because I just made sure I didn't shoot unsized bullets through it and .358" shoots/shot well in about any .357 I've owned, so I have a lot sized at that diameter.

"If it'll chamber, it'll shoot" isn't necessarily bad advice, it just didn't seem to apply in that case. Revolvers complicate all that some, but the 77/357 should have been more accommodating for the rule of thumb to apply. Didn't matter that it didn't work - just a note to self that it doesn't always work the way we expect.