RCBS 38-150-KT

[462]

462
That's funny . Stumbling on someone else that uses 365.25 that is .

To paraphrase Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan: A second here, and a second there, and pretty soon you have an entire day.

Read, the other day, tech companies are dropping the occasional nano-second. Adding it caused their rascally electrons to act rascally till someone set them straight.

 

[seagiant1]

Hi,
That's a nice bullet!

 

[TomSp8]

After Sunday's finally successful (I think) casting with the RCBS 38-150KT, I powder coated a mess of them, sized to .357 for my 6" 14-2 revolver's throats, and loaded some up with Bullseye, from 3.0 to 3.5. These ended up right at 156 grains +/- 1. 3.0 is likely too low, but I like my loads light...And did the same with some of the few good bullets I managed to make with the 35887 wadcutter mold I struggled with initially, with 2.8 Bullseye. I had decent results from my commercial cast wadcutters, seated nearly flush, with 2.7 previously. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try them Tues night (if I go, depending on weather and work) in if I can get to my indoor Bullseye league a bit early. Fingers crossed that one of these loads works reasonably well. This will be only my second time shooting my own cast bullets, and first time in .38.

 

[TomSp8]

A little splotchy.....but covered.

 

[Bret4207]

Well.....as a newbie, I'm just happy to get em to come out looking like bullets! I've got 3 molds for .38, two old Ideal/Lymans, and this RCBS, and I am not educated enough yet to know what, if anything, has been done to them by the prior owner(s). Im just glad I can make this one work after screwing around with the first one I tried. The third one is a 358156 double that I will be asking a lot of questions about in the near future....wish I had a "master caster" neighbor!

My 358156 Lyman 2 cav. absolutely requires an off center drop from about an inch, inch and a half, to make perfectly filled out bullets with my alloy, set up and ladle! You may find yours wants sprue to nozzle contact or it might be one of those "anything goes" moulds. That's the "art" part of this game!

 

[TomSp8]

Bret, I am currently ladle casting with only a 10 lb pot with about a 50/50 of clip on weights and stick on weights, but prob a touch more clip ons. I will start a new thread on the 358156, soon, because it is going to need some repairs. The block halves are way out of alignment and loose when held against each other off of the handles. One alignment pin is well shorter than the other, and the holes in the opposite block seem wallowed out a bit. No real rust, but it is very dirty. But I will concentrate on this RCBS swc for now to build confidence, since it looks like it is working, and experiment with the "art" part of pouring from a ladle and the "science" part of creating a good all purpose alloy for my shooting needs.

 

[Rick]

There were designers who had the front band smaller with the idea that they would ride the lands sort of and align the full sized body bands better. That may explain that issue.

Agree, the mould isn't hot enough. Looks like part of the mould is getting there, but it takes time to get it all nice and hot. With a ladle, pour a very generous sprue puddle and cast FAST until you start getting keepers. It's just a matter of practice. I would also avoid the Evaporust unless you have a really rusty interior. The outside doesn't matter, it's the inside is what matters and I find that the nice heat blue on an iron mould gives me better results.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Bret, I am currently ladle casting with only a 10 lb pot with about a 50/50 of clip on weights and stick on weights, but prob a touch more clip ons. I will start a new thread on the 358156, soon, because it is going to need some repairs. The block halves are way out of alignment and loose when held against each other off of the handles. One alignment pin is well shorter than the other, and the holes in the opposite block seem wallowed out a bit. No real rust, but it is very dirty. But I will concentrate on this RCBS swc for now to build confidence, since it looks like it is working, and experiment with the "art" part of pouring from a ladle and the "science" part of creating a good all purpose alloy for my shooting needs.

Usually a easy fix Tom as the pins move. (Why they are miss aligned now, they/one moved)
I place mold in vice, carefully aligned and from back side with proper punch knock pin back into position.

More finesse may be needed after this coarse adjust but will fix the issue.

CW

 

[Winelover]

Usually a easy fix Tom as the pins move. (Why they are miss aligned now, they/one moved)
I place mold in vice, carefully aligned and from back side with proper punch knock pin back into position.



CW

I use my bench vise with copper jaw covers...............just put offending mold block in vise and slowly squeeze. You can hear the squeak as it moves. Check and repeat, if necessary.

 

[Bret4207]

Like the guys said, it's just a matter of a punch on the pin. The wallowed out one may need a little dressing, need to check that first. But they often tighten up with a just a little movement. And if you go too far and they stick, tap it the other way!

 

[TomSp8]

Well I shot my Rcbs 38-150's against my commercial hard cast hitek coated 158gr swc, both with same load, and my known good load with commercial cast was better...(although I have no idea about that errant 6/7 ring shot....lol) but they are sized to .358 while mine are sized at .357. I do not have a .358 sizer yet, but will get one soon and retest them. Disregard the .22 caliber holes, these were used targets. I

 

[Bret4207]

Why are you sizing them? Have you tried them unsized? If they will fit, I've found they often shoot as well or better than sized bullets. Just a reminder that we sometimes make work for ourselves that we don't need to.

 

[Winelover]

Gains in concentricity & uniformity can be had from sizing. As long as the casting drops big enough from the mold. Main reason I gave up on store bought molds............they tend to drop small bullets.

 

[TomSp8]

Well, I'm still playing with my thoughts on proper size for a revolver. Originally, of course, all my cast bullets have been commercial cast and rather hard, and I just automatically purchased them in .358. And those fit good in my Blackhawk cylinders. On this revolver (1965 S&W model 14-2, which I'd rather not unnecessarily abuse), I cannot push those hard cast bullets through the cylinder without a lot of hard tapping with a mallet. The .357 I can gently tap through. My thoughts (and I may be way off) is that the hard cast at .358 will simply become a .357 after passing through the cylinder anyway, and is just unnecessary abuse when firing. But now that I can make my own, and can control the alloy, I think the abusive sizing through the cylinder will be gentler with a softer bullet. I see no real benefit to a bullet more than .001 larger than the cylinder throats. What I really need to do is have the cylinder throats opened up so I can shoot a bullet that is .001/ .002 over the bore. I think a softer alloy sized at .358 with the .357 cylinder throats should be a good combo until I can do that. We will find out.

 

[TomSp8]

Actually, I did not test the effort to push these through the cylinders as cast and powder coated....I will do that tonite....can't remember actually measuring the final diameter now that I think about it.....I was just anxious to shoot them!

 

[Rick]

Gains in concentricity & uniformity can be had from sizing. As long as the casting drops big enough from the mold. Main reason I gave up on store bought molds............they tend to drop small bullets.

Key word there is uniformity. Or . . . Consistency in bullet pull. This is not only sized diameters of brass but also consistency of work hardened brass.

Well, I'm still playing with my thoughts on proper size for a revolver. Originally, of course, all my cast bullets have been commercial cast and rather hard, and I just automatically purchased them in .358. And those fit good in my Blackhawk cylinders. On this revolver (1965 S&W model 14-2, which I'd rather not unnecessarily abuse), I cannot push those hard cast bullets through the cylinder without a lot of hard tapping with a mallet. The .357 I can gently tap through. My thoughts (and I may be way off) is that the hard cast at .358 will simply become a .357 after passing through the cylinder anyway, and is just unnecessary abuse when firing. But now that I can make my own, and can control the alloy, I think the abusive sizing through the cylinder will be gentler with a softer bullet. I see no real benefit to a bullet more than .001 larger than the cylinder throats. What I really need to do is have the cylinder throats opened up so I can shoot a bullet that is .001/ .002 over the bore. I think a softer alloy sized at .358 with the .357 cylinder throats should be a good combo until I can do that. We will find out.

In a revolver you want/need a mild snug fit in the throats. If it falls thru it's too loose, if you need to pound it thru it's way too tight.

 

[TomSp8]

What is the bhn estimate of about 60% coww to 40% soww?

 

[Rick]

Don't get wrapped around the axle with BHN. Keep in mind that numerous blends of alloys can give the same BHN, just getting there in different ways. What you need it getting back to that same ole word . . . Consistency. As much as possible keep all bullets within a group of the same alloy. The term "hardcast" is meaningless and is nothing more than advertising BS from commercial casters. Same goes for their hard lubes.

 

[TomSp8]

Key word there is uniformity. Or . . . Consistency in bullet pull. This is not only sized diameters of brass but also consistency of work hardened brass.



In a revolver you want/need a mild snug fit in the throats. If it falls thru it's too loose, if you need to pound it thru it's way too tight.

Rick, that has always been my thought. And I've always strived for consistency in reloading, I always use matching headstamps for that reason when loading a batch. Im not a great shooter, but I like to remove as many variables as reasonably possible.

 

[Rick]

Rick, that has always been my thought. And I've always strived for consistency in reloading, I always use matching headstamps for that reason when loading a batch. Im not a great shooter, but I like to remove as many variables as reasonably possible.

Matching headstamps is fine but as or more important is number of times fired. Brass work hardens as it's fired, resized, fired again. This can give a huge variation in bullet pull within the same lot of loaded brass.