357 mag, 158 SWC at 1,200FPS. Quench or air dry?

[357shooter]

Using range lead, what do y'all think? The BHN from what I've understand is 11-12 typically.

Oops, meant air cool vs water drop. thanks

[AZ-Stew]

After you quench you'll probably want to air dry them.

On the other hand, the boolits will probably work well if sized correctly for your firearm if you air cool them. Quenching may not be necessary.

11-12 BHN may be a bit of wishful thinking, unless a lot of your range scrap is from fellow casters. The cores of most factory rounds and the swaged lead bullets offered for handloading and as factory loads is quite soft. The hardness you list is more typical of air cooled wheel weights (ACWW). If it turns out that your alloy is a bit soft, you can harden it up a bit with linotype. Shouldn't take much. Try your alloy first. No sense spending the $$ if not needed.

Regards,

Stew

[357shooter]

LOL, that's what I meant, Air cool or water cool.

[Blammer]

Air cooled, good fit, good lube and a GC? shouldn't be a problem.



even with out the GC should be able to do it.

[fecmech]

Using range lead, what do y'all think? The BHN from what I've understand is 11-12 typically.

Oops, meant air cool vs water drop. thanks

Your call. Water dropped would probably be better. But both will work if properly sized with a good lube. I've shot mixes of 40:1 and 30:1 lead tin hollow points in both the .44 mag and .357 mag when hunting woodchucks with no leading and good accuracy. I shot them in the 1200-1300 fps range and they were really tough on chucks. The BHN on those mixes would be in the 8-10 range.

[GP100man]

I cast with an alloy that is 10.5 air cooled & it does good with 7.5-8.0 grs. of 800x under em & a cci500 primer for 1200-1250 chronoed , any faster needed a little tin to tuffen em up a bit .They stripped a little at 1300

This was done with Lees 158 rnfp & 357446 , The lee rnfp faired better at 1300 than the 357446.

[Adam10mm]

Air cooled, good fit, good lube and a GC? shouldn't be a problem.

even with out the GC should be able to do it.
Know for a fact a .358 215gr LSWC-GC can be driven to 1500fps in a 6 inch TC with no leading. Oh, BHN is a solid 12.

[Blammer]

I've pushed the Lee 358 158 plain base to 1200fps in my 357 mag rifle. Good accuracy and no leading with AC ww's.

[357shooter]

Sounds like AC is good at 1200FPS. Quenching might work well too but doesn't sound "required".

Thanks.

[1Shirt]

Don't buy the all range scrap is in the 12 bh catagory, as I have had some go as high as 18. A lot depends on how many casters are shooting into the berm and what they are shooting. I water drop every thing (for convenience) and have never had any problem with whatever I shoot. Most of my range scrap, water dropped runs about 18 bh, and shoots well in my M-94 357. Then to, Hornady swaged 140s, are probably not much more than maybe 12 or so, and they shoot well and no leading at around 1000. I also use nothing but Lars red lubes on every thing cause it just works well on everything.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[357shooter]

Don't buy the all range scrap is in the 12 bh catagory, as I have had some go as high as 18. A lot depends on how many casters are shooting into the berm and what they are shooting. I water drop every thing (for convenience) and have never had any problem with whatever I shoot. Most of my range scrap, water dropped runs about 18 bh, and shoots well in my M-94 357. Then to, Hornady swaged 140s, are probably not much more than maybe 12 or so, and they shoot well and no leading at around 1000. I also use nothing but Lars red lubes on every thing cause it just works well on everything.
1Shirt!:coffeecom
Kinda interesting, from reading around and your post, the water dropped work well at all velocities. It's really about sizing/lube to avoid leading. The upside to waterdropping everything is when I decide to load "hot" for fun at the range, I'm good to go. Of course they could just get heat treated, but water dropping looks very easy, and the bullets are done and ready to load.

Searched vaious thresds and there are some folks that WD everything, others don't WD hardly anything, for Magnums that is. This is screaming for some testing in my guns to see. I also use the same bullets in a 38 special, hoping that WD wouldn't be to hard and lead that. But then again, testing it out is key I think.

[JIMinPHX]

...depends on the boolit type & use.
For best accuracy, water drop. For best terminal performance, air cool. If you have lots of bearing surface & a gas check, then air cooled should be fine for general purpose, moderate range use. If it is plain base, or has lots of lube grooves, then you may need to water drop.

Lots of other factors matter too.

[nighthunter]

It will work just fine as a plain base or a gas check design. It's up to you to get the size and lube correct. I have literally shot tons of .357 over 1200 fps with no leading. My favorite powder for .357 has been Alliant 2400. I have used a lot of surplus WC 820 but with the difference in price being so small lately I have gone back to canister powder for most of my reloading. Load them up and see how they work in your firearm.

[MtGun44]

If you size your boolits to .001 or .002 larger than cyl throat size and all is well dimensionally
with the throats and barrel, you can shoot a good boolit design (NOT Lee's alox mule
snot and TL boolits) AC wwts to full magnum velocity with zero problems.

Lee's 158gr LBT style works great in several .357 mags over 16.3 H110/W296. Lyman's
358429 is also an excellent .357 choice. Several good old designs for .44 Mag - 429421,
H&G 503, RCBS 44-250-K are some of the best.