I recently acquired 5 boxes of Alberts swaged lead pistol bullets in 38 cal. They are 158 gr. LRN. I'm trying to find loading info from anyone experienced with using them, I understand the company has been out of business a long time, probably why I can't find much info. I shoot with older s&w 4" and 6" model type revolvers and a taurus 8" 357 mag. I have no experience with swaged bullets and I've read they are soft and will lead barrels if not loaded correctly. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Alberts 38 cal 158 gr lrn info needed
- Thread starter 427rules
- Start date
bedbugbilly
New member
Use the same loading data that you would for the Lyman/Ideal 358-311. If you have a Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook - the data should be in there. As Hawg suggests, keep 'em in the FPS range he suggests.
While hardness varies according to the alloy - a lead bullet is a lead bullet. Load one to the crimp groove and see what the overall length is and compare it to a loading manual. If the bullet seats deeper - then case volume is smaller thus increasing pressure so you need to adjust your load grain weight.
I shoot a lot of 158 gr. that I cast - RN, SWC - and I usually use Bulls Eye. All shoot just fine out of my vintage Smiths 1920 up through 1955 of various models) and my 1910 Colt Army Special. Normally I load them with about 3.5 gr. of BE but you could use less - check the minimum and maximum. All of my cast are tumble lubed in paste wax/alox.
Since this is a BP forum - if you load them with black powder - make sure you load them as a "compressed load". I normally use a 38 Colt Long casing as a measure with 3F which gives a compressed load when the bullet is seated. I just finger lube the bullet with my BP lube that I make out of beeswax/crisco but you could use SPG or similar.
Good luck and enjoy!
While hardness varies according to the alloy - a lead bullet is a lead bullet. Load one to the crimp groove and see what the overall length is and compare it to a loading manual. If the bullet seats deeper - then case volume is smaller thus increasing pressure so you need to adjust your load grain weight.
I shoot a lot of 158 gr. that I cast - RN, SWC - and I usually use Bulls Eye. All shoot just fine out of my vintage Smiths 1920 up through 1955 of various models) and my 1910 Colt Army Special. Normally I load them with about 3.5 gr. of BE but you could use less - check the minimum and maximum. All of my cast are tumble lubed in paste wax/alox.
Since this is a BP forum - if you load them with black powder - make sure you load them as a "compressed load". I normally use a 38 Colt Long casing as a measure with 3F which gives a compressed load when the bullet is seated. I just finger lube the bullet with my BP lube that I make out of beeswax/crisco but you could use SPG or similar.
Good luck and enjoy!
g.willikers
New member
No reason you can't use black powder instead of smokeless.
Your revolvers won't care.
See, now it's fixed and you're in the correct forum.
Your revolvers won't care.
See, now it's fixed and you're in the correct forum.
This is probably where you wanted to go...
https://thefiringline.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9
But, the BP crowd probably knows more.
https://thefiringline.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9
But, the BP crowd probably knows more.
See this thread here:
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3117105
I ran into a bunch of these back in the day and someone gave me all the loading data, there's pics of all of it at the end of the thread.
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3117105
I ran into a bunch of these back in the day and someone gave me all the loading data, there's pics of all of it at the end of the thread.