.38 Special Casting questions

[Synack42]

Thanks again everyone for the help. Went to the range today and tested the first batch of 50. Worked extremely well, definitely hooked now. I ended up crimping at the first groove and downed the max charge of HP-38 from 3.7 grains to 3.3. No leading that I could see afterwards (maybe a little streak that could have been there for years until I over analyzed it.)

For the record, I'm totally not a bullseye shooter... More of a minute of letter paper at 10 yards shooter... ;-)

 

[gwpercle]

Seating in the first or second groove will not make much difference .
When loading revolver bullets that have a "crimp groove" ...load to and roll crimp into the crimp groove .
The book COL is just a guideline and the crimp groove is where you want to crimp to and let the COL be whatever it works out to be.
Now semi-auto's and bullets with no crimp groove or cannelure are a different thing ... you can go by the COL if you wish .
Gary

 

[mdi]

Seating in the first or second groove will not make much difference .
When loading revolver bullets that have a "crimp groove" ...load to and roll crimp into the crimp groove .
The book COL is just a guideline and the crimp groove is where you want to crimp to and let the COL be whatever it works out to be.
Now semi-auto's and bullets with no crimp groove or cannelure are a different thing ... you can go by the COL if you wish .
Gary

Yep. I started reloading 38 Special with generic 158 gr LRN a long time ago. I only had my Lee Loader data sheet (waaay pre web) and the local library. I figgered the bullet designer knew where to put the crimp groove, so that's what I seated/crimped my bullets. Many handloads for 6 revolver calibers later and I still use the crimp groove (or cannelure) as an OAL "guide". Never any problems...

 

[sixgunner455]

Quote from Lee "Our bullet mold weights for our rifle and pistol bullet molds are based in a 95% Lead / 5% Tin mixture."

Not 10 to 1 ?

Wouldn’t that be closer to 20:1?

 

[243winxb]

Wouldn’t that be closer to 20:1?

Yes.

 

[ms6852]

Wouldn’t that be closer to 20:1?

Correct.

 

[AJC1]

Wouldn’t that be closer to 20:1?

Unless they changed the number of nickles in a dollar