Skeeter's Heavy 357/Unique load.

[maglvr]

That sounds like a interesting load, indeed!
Thank you.

[Outpost75]

Heavy loads of Unique over 7 grains will eat up the forcing cone of a revolver in short order. I ruined a good Colt Python that way years ago. Expensive lesson!

[gwpercle]

I bought the mould and loaded 7.5 grains of Unique. I used 38 special cases and seated the boolit in the lower crimp groove .From my Ruger Blackhawk , fired off hand , 5 shot group . It hit dead center of bullseye , 4 holes touching and the 5th about 1/4 inch out the group.
Good enough for me. I cut that target out , wrote down the load data and date and carried it in my wallet for decades. I found "The Load" and haven't looked back.
I do intend to try some of that Accurate #5 with that boolit when I get a roundtuit one day .
Gary

[RJM52]

Glad this thread was resurrected as I just cast up a bunch of 357156 in both GC and PB styles and needed a good Unique load...

Bob

[Rodfac]

Great thread...and old too...I've never been over 6.5 of Unique in my .357's, and mostly shoot that 358156 at ~1000 fps. My go-to, for carry here on the farm, has always been 2400 at 13.5 with a 0.359" GC'd boolit giving ~1150 fps...the MP 360156GC does as well as the Lyman, accuracy wise, and has the added utility of a HP cavity in either Penta or Round style. The Penta, cast slowly so as to not drag the pin, is the most accurate of the three; solid vs. Penta vs. Round, in my guns. I'm casting with straight ACWW with a pinch of tin added for fillout, BTW.

GC'ing with either mold, gives slightly better accuracy than PB, and annealing the check helps while seating the check. If I don't anneal, I do get some spring back on the check...ie. sizing to 0.359" results in a check dia. of 0.360" but accuracy with either method (annealed vs. straight from the box) is virtually the same.

BTW, that 13.5 gr load of 2400 in Magnum brass gives me my best groups with a 2.5x scoped Marlin Carbine...don't know what the average size is, but with visually sorted boolits, I'm well below 2" (group size for 5) at 100 yds and a chrono'd 1609 fps/ ES 35. One woodchuck shot at ~55 yds was an end to end pass through, front chest and out the tail.

Rod

[mr surveyor]

Great thread...and old too...I've never been over 6.5 of Unique in my .357's, and mostly shoot that 358156 at ~1000 fps. My go-to, for carry here on the farm, has always been 2400 at 13.5 with a 0.359" GC'd boolit giving ~1150 fps...the MP 360156GC does as well as the Lyman, accuracy wise, and has the added utility of a HP cavity in either Penta or Round style. The Penta, cast slowly so as to not drag the pin, is the most accurate of the three; solid vs. Penta vs. Round, in my guns. I'm casting with straight ACWW with a pinch of tin added for fillout, BTW.

GC'ing with either mold, gives slightly better accuracy than PB, and annealing the check helps while seating the check. If I don't anneal, I do get some spring back on the check...ie. sizing to 0.359" results in a check dia. of 0.360" but accuracy with either method (annealed vs. straight from the box) is virtually the same.

BTW, that 13.5 gr load of Unique in Magnum brass gives me my best groups with a 2.5x scoped Marlin Carbine...don't know what the average size is, but with visually sorted boolits, I'm well below 2" (group size for 5) at 100 yds and a chrono'd 1609 fps/ ES 35. One woodchuck shot at ~55 yds was an end to end pass through, front chest and out the tail.

Rod

don't you mean 2400 and NOT Unique?

[Dorf]

Rodfac-- I also hope you mean 13.5gr of 2400 and NOT Unique. I use the 13.5gr of 2400 as my "go to" load in the .357 for "serious" use. My guns (Ruger Blackhawk and Smith 681 " chronograph @ 1230 fps. Hope this helps. Stan

[pacomdiver]

i use 8.1 unique under the Lee 158 flat base (powder coated) with CCI SP mag primers

[Thumbcocker]

Wow!!

[ROCKET]

BTW, that 13.5 gr load of Unique in Magnum brass gives me my best groups with a 2.5x scoped Marlin Carbine...don't know what the average size is, but with visually sorted boolits, I'm well below 2" (group size for 5) at 100 yds and a chrono'd 1609 fps/ ES 35. One woodchuck shot at ~55 yds was an end to end pass through, front chest and out the tail.

Rod

I’m pretty sure Rod meant 13.5 gr of 2400, not Unique ...

[robg]

True blue is similar in burning rate to unique, 7 g works well 13.5 g of 2400 was Elmer's load my favourite to.

[derek45]

6" 586

7.0 unique

1237fps

[Walks]

I used to load the #358429 over 6.5grs for every .357Mag I had except the S&W 27/28 and MARLIN 1894C, too long.
I've since backed off to 6.0grs of UNIQUE. Easier on my arthritis. For the S&W 27 & MARLIN 1894C, I load 6.5grs of UNIQUE under the #358477 & LEE 358-158-RF, Respectively.

I used to load the "Skeeter Load" of 13.5grs of 2400 under the #358156 in .38SPL cases.
Until I found an "friend" loading them into his RUGER 4" Service-Six chambered in .38SPL. He got off two shots.
Apparently he was color-blind, and could not tell the difference between the GREEN 38SPL boxes and the YELLOW +P .38 PLUS .38 "Skeeter Loads".
I decided to stop using that LOAD anymore. I dread the thought of what would have happened to my COLT COBRA Alloy-Framed revolver if He'd tried to fire off one of those HOT LOADS in it.
His RUGER was fine as RUGER Stated the only difference between the .38SPL & .357MAG S-SIX Series was the length of the chamber.

These days I load 13.5grs of 2400 under the #358156GC crimped in the top groove in .357 MAGNUM Cases.

No plus P .38SPL loads anymore.

[LRRifleman]

I realize that this is resurrecting an older thread.

I am looking to put together the following Skeeter load for my 3" 686+, and was wondering if anyone had tried either in a 3" barrel. Most of the previous posts seem to utilize a 6" or 8.375" barrel, in most cases.
Lyman 358156GC, 5.3gr Unique, CCI SPP, 357 cases
Lyman 358156GC, 7.0gr Unique, CCI SPP, 357 cases

As always, thanks in advance for your help!

[Tim357]

[QUOTE=LRRifleman;5064108]I realize that this is resurrecting an older thread.

I am looking to put together the following Skeeter load for my 3" 686+, and was wondering if anyone had tried either in a 3" barrel. Most of the previous posts seem to utilize a 6" or 8.375" barrel, in most cases.
Lyman 358156GC, 5.3gr Unique, CCI SPP, 357 cases
Lyman 358156GC, 7.0gr Unique, CCI SPP, 357 cases

Closest I have records for in a 3" bbl is Lee 158RNFP, 5.5 Unique in 38 Spl case. 946 fps.
5 gr Unique gave 861 fps

[35 Whelen]

As a standard around-the-place utility load, I load 6.0 grs. of Unique and a 153 gr. SWC from a Lyman 358477 mold. Velocities from my 4 3/4" Uberti's is a bit over 1000 fps and 1200 fps from my 20" Rossi. Accuracy from the revolvers is amazing.



35W

[Tim357]

As a standard around-the-place utility load, I load 6.0 grs. of Unique and a 153 gr. SWC from a Lyman 358477 mold. Velocities from my 4 3/4" Uberti's is a bit over 1000 fps and 1200 fps from my 20" Rossi. Accuracy from the revolvers is amazing.



35W

That's another very useful load!

[derek45]

6.5gr Win231 works well also with a 158gr.

[Cargo]

I lucked into some 2400 two weeks ago and was initially planning to use it for .300 bo and .30 carbine but now I'm going to have to give it a go in .357.

[derek45]

I lucked into some 2400 two weeks ago and was initially planning to use it for .300 bo and .30 carbine but now I'm going to have to give it a go in .357.

good choice

.
.
Skeeter's 357 data

http://www.darkcanyon.net/MyFriend_The357.htm