pew pew cowboy

Wow thanks for the many replys. Defiantly wanna avoid finger pinching if possible also some what disappointed in not catching the carbine thing earlier.

started reading the cast bullet hand book . Gotta say lots of good information but there are some things I'm not sure on for instance annealing and case trimming are they necessary for just plinking hand gun caliber rounds ?

I have started reloading recently for my 10mm Springfield xdm but those are all copper plated or jacketed. Lead loads seem to be a totally different animal.

I think before I dive into casting my own and investing in all the equipment (and expenses ) that goes with that I will try to work up some rounds using grenade bullets
I have heard Missouri is a popular brand and has a wide variety. I know someone mentioned Penn bullets so I'll have to check them out. Any other recommendations ?

I was leaning to the rnfp and was gonna do the 125 gr for 38 special and 158 for 357
But from what I'm hearing 158 should work well for both. virgin Starline Brass for both of course .sound doable ?
 
.. for instance annealing and case trimming are they necessary for just plinking hand gun caliber rounds ?
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Usually not. Annealing, almost never. Trimming? sometimes, but usually for uniformity of length in a batch, straight wall cases rarely grow longer.

Do check the length on your virgin brass and do size them as the first step in loading.
 
Some notes on the Marlin 357 and lead bullets: SLUG your barrel! MicroGroove rifling has a rep for poor accuracy with lead. You have more lands but they are narrower AND the grooves are much shallower than "Ballard" rifling. HOWEVER there are ways to mitigate accuracy issues. First is use a bullet .002-.003" wider than the bore. Second depending on the alloy hardness you may find accuracy drop off in the 1500-1600 fps range and that is normal. Here is where you either go to a harder alloy, a slower powder, or both.
 
I’m a cowboy action shooter. We use pistol caliber rifles in our game and the .38 Special is the most popular cartridge, in part because it’s relatively cheap to feed. We have to use lead bullets and as others have said. A pointed bullet is not a good idea in a tubular magazine.

The TCFP (truncated cone flat point) is a good bet for good feeding. The overall cartridge length is just as important and you need to see what your rifle likes. One friend had a Rossi 92 that didn’t like any .38 Special load he tried, so he used .357 cases and loaded them to .38 Special velocities. I handled a Marlin 1894C than ran my .38 Special cowboy loads just fine but absolutely refused to feed the .357 ammo I tried in it. One new shooter had a Uberti 1866 (chambered in .38 Special) that locked up with factory 158 grain round nose ammo but ran great with a cowboy load with a shorter bullet. In other words, be prepared to experiment a little.
 
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