Lyman 195 grain .358 RN mold

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Does anyone have any experience with this mold?

I ordered one and will be welcoming it to my family of .357 molds.  I figure Lil'Gun should work well with it, but I don't find a whole lot of Lil' Gun data out there.

[John Traveler]

I believe you are refering to the 195 grain RN bullet that Lyman created back in the 1920-1930 era to duplicate the factory 200 grain .38 Special "police" load.

I used several hundred of this bullet in .38 Special loadings and found them accurate, although necessarily slow because of pressure limitations.

I've not used them in .35 caliber rifles, but it should work just fine.

[Mikey]

Black Jaque and John:  although I no longer cast my own I have found the 200 grain rn/swc to be an excellent shooter and very accurate in my 38s and 357s and I advocate it for 38 snubnoses.  In my 3.5" 357 it will penetrate through the shoulders of a whitetail at better than 50 yds.  I have no complaints about those bullets and use them exclusively.  

I have also had the chance to use 200 gn round nose bullets for the 35 Rem in my 38s/357s and they work just fine.  I recall these being gas checked but the others I have used, from Colorado Cast Bullets are plain based and don't lead my bores even with max 357 loads.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Wow, I didn't know it was that old.  Seems weird there isn't a whole lot of 195grain data out there - but I was figuring on just using the 200 grain data.

I'm glad to read good reports on it.  I will be shooting it from guns capable of high-end .357 magnum pressures so I should be able to get some velocity on it.  My Rossi model '92 has got a pretty slow twist so I'm wondering about that.  Otherwise my Ruger Blackhawk should handle it well.  Some data I've seen lists .357 velocities around 1300 fps which is darn good for a hand gun that may be with a 10" T/C though.

200 grainers in a snub-nose?

[Mikey]

Monsieur Black Jaque:  Oui Monsieur, 200 grainers in a subnose.  The Winchester factory load uses 3.8 grains of 231 under that bullet for a modest 770'/sec.  But, being the modest guy that I am I certainly would not want to be standing in front of it when it goes off.  Years ago the NYC PD reported that althought the 200 gn (roundnose) had adequate stopping power, it lacked the ability to penetrate (1950s) car bodies - go figger, those things were tanks - hence the NYPD policy of not trying to stop a speeding car with a 38.  Col. Charles Askins used that 200 gr load in a British 38-200 Webley during WWII and based on his experiences carried either a 45 auto or a 38 spl with the 200 gn loads for his police work.  On occassion he carried and used a 38 Super.

As for the 357, the 200 gn bullet over 12.4 gn of WW298 is supposed to get you 1330'/sec but the data does not show the barrel length.  I have used that load from a 3.5" S&W to take whitetail out beyond 50 yds, with complete pass throughs.  HTH.  Mikey.

[alpacker]

Black Jacque,

It has been awhile since you posted-May 06, but I just wanted to say that the 200 grain bullet reloading info will probably result in higher pressures for the 195 grain pistol bullet.
Reason is the the 195 grain RN will have more of the bullet in contact with the bore than the spire pointed 200 grainer.
This adds up to more friction and higher pressure since the bullets compress slightly on firing and push out in a cylindrical fashion as they get the push from the rear.

I would start with the lowest pressure loads listed first and then work my way up just to be on the safe side.

[fffffg]

mikey,  what muzzel velocity were you shooting in that bullet?. . ive got a 9.3 x72 r drilling (195 grain lead bullet)  and im looking for a velocity to find what will do a good sized deer in at 75-100 yards.. so your info will be apreciated in this search.. what harness of lead do you use for this load.. ?? thanks dave

[fffffg]

im guessing your getting about 1100 fps or maybe 1200 at muzzel so if i can get 1500 fps at muzzel that will put a whitetail in a whole lot of hurt at 100 yards.. what do you think??? dave.