.38 S&W

Today I bought an old Colt Police Positive revolver chambered in .38 S&W for 50 bucks.

The bullet prescribed for the load in my manuals measures .361. But, the molds for the cast bullets recommended by Lyman are not readily available.

I have .358, 158gr Lee mold for .38 Special. Could I develop a load using that bullet in the .38 S&W case?

Also, what would be the effect of the .003 difference in the bullet diameters?

Thanks!

You can use .358" bullets... chance of keyholing or poor accuracy can be the end results.

You may be able to cast oversize a little bit by griping the mold handles loosely, then send them through the correct size bullets sizer of .361".

Lee tumble lube bullets might be a good bet, since you really don't need to size them at all. On the other hand, a lube groove type bullet could easily have the mold polished out to get closer to the desired diameter.

Go easy on loading rounds for them old guns, keep it light.

Some good info here:
Reloading 38S&W

What about the resizing die for the brass? Do you use .38 S&W or .38 Special?

you can do what a guy calls Beagling your mold... take a piece of aluminum tape and tape it between cavities and below them you can slightly increase the size of your cast bullets. Me I would just get a swage die from RCE and make my bullets up to size. but that would be an expensive option for a lot of people. there are a lot of custom mold makers out there to and the price isnt too bad really. NOE, RanchDog, MP molds, and others.

Thanks guys, good information.

My friend gave me an old set of .38 S&W Lee dies.