358 158RF Boolits

[Rockchucker]

I cast 500 of these boolits this weekend and lubed and sized them to .357. I usually shoot them in my Ruger Black Hawk with 38's using 4.0 grains of unique. They are a good little plinking load with zero leading, matter of fact the bore is as shinny as the day it was bought after shooting 150 rounds yesterday. My question is I want to load these boolits up a little hotter using the same powder and 357 cases. I know this isn't the recommended powder for the 357, but I have several lbs of it left and want to use it up. The three manuals I have don't show a recipe for this boolit but do for jacketed. I'm wanting to work up a load starting around 6.9 grains of unique. I would like some constructive comments from folks that have used something close to this recipe before I start.

[MT Gianni]

I have gone to 5.7 gr with a heavier boolit and no problems.

[Farmall 1066]

6.5gn Unique and this bullet in 357mag cases is my standard plinking load.

Andy

[oksmle]

6.0 grs Unique behind the Lyman 358665 @ 165 grs in WW, gives me 1025 fps from my SAA with a 7 1/2" barrel. It has just enough "snap" to make a shooting glove feel good after about 50 rounds. Still not anywhere near a hot load though.

[Rockchucker]

Thanks for the replies, It sounds like I'm in the ballpark with this load. I'm going to the range this afternoon or Tuesday am and Thinking I'll start this load out at 6.5 and work up a little from there. Just don't want to push the load to hard since it'll be mostly for plinking.