Those pesky thousandths...

Cerdan

Cerdan

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I'm looking into buying a whole bunch of lead FWCs and SWCs for my .38spl and .44spl revolvers, and I see the manufacturer offers different sizes, .356/.357/.358 and .427/.429/.430.

The FMJ and CMJ bullets I've bought in the past were always the standard .357" and .429" diameters, but my instinct tells me I would want to go a little higher with lead, to get a bit of a tighter seal and avoid any gas escaping past the bullet.

Am I right in wanting to up the diameter a thou? In what circumstances would someone want to buy .356" and .427" diameter bullets?
 
You'll need to slug the barrels of both guns, and mike the chambers, to really find out. I have a .357 that slugs out at .355 and a .44 that measures .430, and size my lead bullets accordingly.
 
ah, it so happens I got a CMJ stuck in the barrel of my S&W model 15 a couple of weeks ago. I measured the bullet with calipers, I got .355" between lands and .351" between grooves. Does that mean I should ask for .356" bullets? Would I incur more lead buildup if I purchased higher diameter bullets?

Honestly, I'd rather not go through the process of having to knock out a bullet again. Wouldn't S&W be able to tell me the bore diameter from the model number?
 
Cerdan said:
Am I right in wanting to up the diameter a thou? In what circumstances would someone want to buy .356" and .427" diameter bullets?
Click to expand...

.356 would be for anything taking a 9mm bullet. (.355) not sure on the .427 off the top of my head......
 
When a bullet gets stuck in the barrel, I tip the barrel up and pour some Hoppes #9 down the barrel. The next morning it comes out very easily.
I suppose there are many solvents out there that would work as well, or better.
I even keep a wooden dowl in my shooting suppplies that will go down a 30 calibre rifle barrel, for when I get playing around with super light loads.
 
The .356 is kinda std for the 9mm, .358 or .359 for the .38 spl. and .357 Mag. the .427" are almost strictly for the .44 WCF(.44/40), when seated, any larger bullet would not chamber in our Uberti test gun. .429,.430 for the .44 Mag./Spl. and .452 for the .45 Colt and ACP. This is a rough guideline, the only true way is to slug your barrel. There are exceptions such as,older .45 colt that take .454". These are the sizes we generally make unless someone has a dif. dia. that they want. As an example: For the .30 cal. we carry the following sizers: .309,.310.311,.312,.314 for the .375/.38 rifle we carry .376,.377,.378,.380 this usually in addition to the size of the bullet as it drops from the mould.
 
If your getting lots of bullets sticking in your barrel and have enough experience at it that you found out Hoppe's #9 works well, maybe H110 and W296 aren't the powders for you. ;)
 
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