The Frontier Sixshooter Community Message Board - Skeeter's favorite cast bullet for the .357.....

Skeeter's favorite cast bullet for the .357..... (reply)

Glen — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 22:49:36 +0000

...was the Lyman 358156, either in solid (SWC) form, or hollow-point form. The HP moulds are out there, it just takes a little looking (and, of course, money).

Email on the way. (NM) (reply)

Glen — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 22:47:58 +0000

BEAUTIFUL BULLET GLEN. I WILL HAVE TO (reply)

SIXGUNNER — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 22:41:32 +0000

DIG OUT SOME OF THE RCBS GAS-CHECKED VERSION OF THEIR #38-150KT AND SEE HOW THEY COMPARE. PLEASEE-MAIL ME; I WANNA TALK ABOUT THIS NEWLY DISCOVERED BULLET.

H&G #51GC (reply)

Fivegunner — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 22:25:40 +0000

Nice looking bullet there Glen, question about your lube is that 50/50 beeswax/moly grease?. I spent yesterday casting with my new Mihec 360156HP , it sure cast very fast and I hope it shoots as good as it looks

H&G #51GC (reply)

Fowler — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 22:17:14 +0000

Seems to me that Skeeter sure liked that bullet, especially in the hollowpoint version, carried it even on duty for years. I have wanted to play with the hollowpoint version for a long time, if I find one one of these days I think I will grab it.

H&G #51GC (reply)

woody — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 20:58:09 +0000

Very nice looking bullet. I would be interested in the results.

H&G #51GC

Glen — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 20:39:45 +0000

In the development of the .357 Magnum, Phil Sharpe took Elmer Keith's SWC design (the Ideal 358429) to George Hensley and asked him to shorten it to 5/6 of its original length (to get the nose short enough to function in the S&W's short cylinder, as well as to get the weight down to 158-160 grains). The result was the Hensley #51 (Hensley wouldn't team up with Gibbs for another few years yet). Neither Keith nor Sharpe felt that GCs were needed for the .357 Magnum (and I agree), but GCs became more popular in the 1950s as "magnumitis" set in and people started pushing for the highest possible velocities. The bullet in the picture is rather unusual in that it is a GC version of the H&G #51. I have wanted to work with this bullet for some time, and I finally sat down today and cast up a batch. At a BHN of about 10, they weigh 159 grains as they drop from the blocks (163 grains checked and lubed). I have every expectation that these will shoot very well indeed from my .357 sixguns, but where I am really looking forward to testing these is in my .357 Marlin levergun (where the Keith bullet is too long to cycle through the action).