.357 or .358?

[skeezix]

Midway sells Remington 158 grain bevel base lead semi-wadcutters in both .357 and .358 diameters. Which one is the correct bullet for loading .38 special and mild .357 mag ammo? Or does that .001 inch really make any difference?

Thanks,

Lorin

 

[Jim Watson]

An undersize bullet is more likely to lead the barrel. I'd try the .358s first and go to .357 only if my chambers were so small as to make loaded rounds snug in the cylinder.

 

[LAH]

I agree with Jim.

 

[khuengo]

I am new to reloading and got the same question earlier. After consulted with some pros here, I decided to go with .358 lube for .38sp and .357mag. It works like a charm on my Ruger Security Six, not much lead residue in the barrel and pretty accurate.

 

[Mal H]

Yep, what Jim said. .357 lead is used only in special cases of really tight chambers.

 

[Sunray]

Leading is caused by excessive lead bullet velocity, not the bullet's diameter. Have a look at swaged .357" bullets. Swaged bullets tend to be more accurate than cast. National Bullet Co. is a place to look. http://www.nationalbullet.com/
If your revolver is a .357, load .357 brass to .38 velocities. Makes the ring of lube gunk created by shooting .38 cases in a .357 cylinder go away.

 

[TooTaxed]

I can't shoot lead bullets of any velocity in my Ruger Stanless Steel Blackhawk .357 Mag...the barrel will lead to the point where I get keyholes on less than two cylender loads. Mine is strictly a jacketed bullet gun...

 

[brickeyee]

"Leading is caused by excessive lead bullet velocity, not the bullet's diameter."

Not true.
There are two ways to lead up a barrel: driving a lead bullet to fast, or using an undersized lead bullet.

The ‘to fast’ depends on bullet hardness and velocity. A hard bullet can approach 2000 ft/s in a rifle. A swaged lead bullet will often start to lead at 800-900 ft/s. Swaged bullets are almost always pure lead to allow swaging. Cast bullets can easily be alloyed for greater hardness, but alloys also change the final ‘as cast’ size by altering shrinkage during solidification. Often they may require sizing to make them the exact diameter desired (and to fill the lube grooves).

An undersized lead bullet can allow blow by of gases. The bullet is melted and the lead smears out on the barrel. Powder gases are well above the melting point of lead.
Lead bullets are typically 0.001 over bore size to ensure a tight seal and eliminate any chance of blow by.
Problems sometimes occur in revolvers if the forcing cone is smaller than the bore. The bullet is swaged down and then blow by occurs in the barrel.