Practice 357 Mag load for Ruger SP101

[Leadmelter]

Group
My brother purchased a Ruger SP101 as a carry gun. It has a 2.25" barrel, fixed sites. He wants to put together some medium practice loads for it.
I cast both the Lyman and RCBS 150 gr boolit. I am thinking using Unique for him.
I welcome all suggestions and comments.
Thanks in advance to a great group of casters and reloaders!
Leadmelter
MI

[Rex]

I like 7 grains Unique with that bullet. I'm sure there are many other good mid-range loads.
Rex

[kenyerian]

here's a link to a site I've found helpful. Unique will definetly get the job done. There is a lot of other choices as well. I prefer Bullseye for target practice. . The Lyman 49'th reloading handbook list some very light loads using Bullseye with #358477. great loads for practicing with a carry gun. have FUN!!
http://castpics.net/project2/CastDatalist.php?start=21

[runfiverun]

5-7 grs will do the job.
5 is pretty light and 7 is more in the light magnum area.

[youngda9]

Bullet Weight FPS Muzz Energy
3" SP101 22gr H110 125grXTP 125 1420 559.6
3" SP101 125gr lead RNFP, 9.2grs Unique 125 1375 524.7
3" SP101 125gr Jacketed, 9.2grs Unique 125 1325 487.2
3" SP101 7.0gr Unique 150gr LSWC-HP 150 1210 487.6
3" SP101 7.5gr Unique 150gr LSWC-HP 150 1245 516.2

[williamwaco]

Group
My brother purchased a Ruger SP101 as a carry gun. It has a 2.25" barrel, fixed sites. He wants to put together some medium practice loads for it.
I cast both the Lyman and RCBS 150 gr boolit. I am thinking using Unique for him.
I welcome all suggestions and comments.
Thanks in advance to a great group of casters and reloaders!
Leadmelter
MI


I like 6gr Unique for that application.


.

[shooting on a shoestring]

The guys are right about Unique but I'm not a fan of it....had a bridging incident with it and moved to Herco. I use a 2.25 inch SP101 in .357 and have it loaded with 14.5 grains of 2400 and 358091s. That load is a hard kicking, hand masher. Using Hogues to help me hang on. 7 to 7.5 grains of Herco and your boolit will work well and is not viscious. Also Bullseye up to 6.5 or so is still making magnum but has some fun in it.....a full case of 2400 or 296 looses the fun factor. Really good snubby.

[runfiverun]

i keep the herco in my levergun under a 158 rnfp.
7.5 grs is a good medium load in it.
it's a bit loud in the revolvers, it let's you know you are shooting though.

[**oneshot**]

6-7grs of unique.

[GaryN]

I also like 7 grs. of unique. Never had a problem with it and it is accurate in my handgun. If I want to soup it up I use H110. But my barrel is longer than yours.

[unique]

I couldn't get cast to shoot well in my SP101 3". I tried range of bullets styles, BHN's, lubes, & powders.

The first problem was leading, even with 358156 which is gascheck'd. The 358156 did lead a little less but still way worse than any other cast I use. The leading ran length of barrel. I think the problem is that the bore is tight measuring .354". As matter of fact I do not know what else it could be since the throat measure somewhere around .357".

The second problem is the sights are fixed and POI is too high for the slower heavier bullets. I could live with that if I didn't have a serious leading problem.

I use 6.5gr unique (357 mag) in my other revolvers and they work well. If you get something that works well I would live to hear the details.

Did you slug your bore or measure your throats?

[Larry Gibson]

+1 on 6 gr Unique under a 150 cast in .357 cases for a practice and general usage load, specifically under the Lyman 358477.

Larry Gibson

[ku4hx]

My new favorite load for a mid range 357 Magnum cartridge with a similar bullet is 9 grains Ramshot True Blue. I used Unique for decades but True Blue gives very consistent velocities, it's exceptionally clean burning and it meters with great precision in my RL550B.

[s1120]

+1 on 6 gr Unique under a 150 cast in .357 cases for a practice and general usage load, specifically under the Lyman 358477.

Larry Gibson


I think Im going to go that route also. I have that mold, and was planing on wipping up some high mid range stuff. I have HP38, and 2400, and it seems that unique seems to fit right in between them.

[kir_kenix]

6 grains of Unique as suggested is fantastic. Probably going to find that this shoots reasonably close to point of aim with his sites. My sp101 is pretty much dead on with 6 grains of Unique and the 158 gr Lee swc.

Any idea what he is going to be carrying? I'm all for light practice ammo, but it might be nice to duplicate his carry load later on if he's carrying some big boomers. Buying premium, jacketed ammo for practice can get mighty expensive, but its nice to get some experience with the same recoil as your carry load.

I have carried some of the Buffalo Bore .357 before, and it's borderline scary out of any light .357. Would want to get alot of practice at that impuse level if I was going to carry it regularly in a small CCW.

[CAVEMTNMAN]

3.5 grs. of winc. 231 for 148 - 158 gr. cast boolit, is what I use for practice.

[MtGun44]

I like 5 gr Unique under a 158 LSWC in .38 Spl, so I'd bet that 6 in the bigger
case would be similar and really good for practice, or pretty workable for
serious social work.

Bill

['74 sharps]

I use 4.2gr Trailboss which fills case to base of 158gr bullet making a double charge impossible. Powder is a distinctive doughnut and burns clean for my 38 & 357 loads.

[sparky45]

Want to have some fun, load 38 Special with 2.7gr Trailboss under a 158gr LSWC . It's like shooting a 22 magnum. I use this load with my 3" SP101 for shooting plates at the range. YMMV