What is your best all-round 357 magnum load?

[runfiverun]

i use 7.0 grs of herco and a 158gr cast rnfp.
it's my 357 cased just above the middle of the road, get a bunch out, shoot stuff, and use it for deer hunting if i gotta to load.
it feeds in the leverguns, rolls through the revolvers, hits to the sights and works with the sliding ladder on the rossi-92.
if your off a tenth or two, the load don't care, change primers [shrug] don't matter, get the alloy off some [whatever]

[Big Steve]

158 gr LSWC/7.0 gr Unique

[PAT303]

So I'll go on with this,should I be looking at getting a GC boolit for 100mtrs or PB?,I'm thinking GC would be better.Great thread. Pat

[Whitespider]

Gas checks are for sissies and Cub Scouts...

[GP100man]

AA9 is closer to H-110 in data & characteristics , very fine powder meters well & likes upper end pressures .

2400 is more tolerable to med pressures , but even 2400 burns/cleaner at the upper spectrum.

2400 & the NOE 358429 is a good combo in all my GPs, 12gr. is a good load for 12 bhn alloys.

[Throwback]

I see a lot of 2400 fans. Is it true that AA#9 is almost interchangeable with 2400?

Sometimes the two work similarly. I haven't enough side by side experience to help you with the .357. I like AA#9 almost exclusively now. Its primary advantage is that it is flash-suppressed.

In my experience more accuracy is obtained using standard primers. But, with equivalent charges of powder, magnum primers deliver more velocity. The data in the manuals provides maximum charges with magnum primers. Still, I have rarely cared to exceed them - just something to be aware of. I am more than willing to trade a little speed for better accuracy.

I have frequently noticed a tendency for extreme spreads to tighten up as charge weights and velocities increase and then comes a point where the velocities no longer go up. This sweet spot becomes my maximum charge, and it is often right about where the max in the manual is. This has helped me in the .41 magnum and .45 Colt when loading data was scarce. If you develop one of these loads with standard primers and later switch to magnum, be sure to back off your charges and work up again.

[Beerd]

For fun shooting I like the idea of using a charge of medium-slow pistol powder that gets me 1000 rounds out of that one pound can that is so hard to find.

Hit that ram high on the horn and he will go down (or not).
..

[jeepyj]

Gas checks are for sissies and Cub Scouts...

I must be one of them there sissies or a cubby scout cause I use 13.5 gr 2400 over a Lyman GC 358156 for a tame 357 load. I get outstanding grouping with this in my ole blackhawk

Jeepyj

[gwpercle]

I'm a cub scout.
Lyman #358156, 155 gr. SWC , with gas check. COWW, air cooled. sized .357
over 7.5 grs Unique. This is my favorite revolver load.

Gary

[Bohica793]

My two favorite load for my .357 Magnum are a Lyman 358477 over 15 grains of IMR4227 and regular primer and a Lyman 358429 (crimped at the crimp groove) over 12 grains of 2400 in a .38Spl case with regular primer.

[captaint]

Just out of curiousity, what do you guys use for charging cases with Unique ?? I have a full pound that I have been avoiding cause I can't get it meter worth a hoot. I use the Uniflow, too much variation, use the Harrells, too much variation..... Just wondering, because lots of folks use lots of Unique !! Mike

[zxcvbob]

8.0 grains of Herco with a 158 grain cast boolit.

I haven't picked a favorite boolit yet, but the Lee RNFP (they call it "RF") is a certainly in the running.

[Harry O]

13.5gr of 2400 with a 358156-GC. 12.0gr of 2400 with a 358429. Both are accurate in my guns, but the GC load has the edge.

[whisler]

My Lee Pro Auto-Disk measure seems to load Unique very consistently... and I check every 10 rounds.

[rockshooter]

NOE 358477 GC with 15.0/H110 gave me 10 shots in one inch at 25 yards today- from a Ruger 77/357. About 3" at 100 yards but it's still a work in progress (receiver sights).
Loren

[jonp]

About 7.5gr Unique under a 158gr lswc. 200yrd shots are going to require a little holdover..

[Larry Gibson]

If you are just shooting targets, you could consider 4.7 gr of Bullseye for about 920 fps. It is very pleasant to shoot with 150 to 160 gr cast plain base boolits and quite accurate for me anyway.

fatelvis

I'm looking for a good, middle of the road power 357 mag load for paper and steel shooting from 25-200 yds. Not competitive shooting, just informal shooting. I'm using a 4" S&W 686.

I concur with quilbilly. My most used .357 magnum load is the 358477 or TL358-158-SWC over 4.5 gr Bullseye in magnum cases. should run 900+ fps out of your 4" barrel and be quite accurate. All the power needed for punching holes in paper and I bust a lot of rocks even out to much farther than 200 yards with it. A very pleasant load.

Larry Gibson

[jmort]

"Just out of curiousity, what do you guys use for charging cases with Unique ??"

Powder Dippers, but that is all I use for everything

[sleeper1428]

9.0 grains of Blue Dot under a MP 358-156 is a great combo for all of our 357s

Agree on Blue Dot as a great powder for the 357Mag. However my standard load for boolit weights between 150gr and 170gr is 10gr. I've shot countless number of these through my three wheel guns chambered in 357Mag, a 6" S&W 686, a 4" Ruger GP-100 and a 2" Taurus Model 65 (a model discontinued long ago). Accurate and clean burning. Oh, by the way, I size to .359 as this is the chamber size on all three of these revolvers. My moulds include models from RCBS, SAECO, Lee, NOE and MiHec and I can't say that I have any single favorite as they all cast some nice looking and shooting boolits.

sleeper1428

[youngmman]

I shoot an LBT 155 gn WFN, Sized @ .358", 14 BHN W/LBT Blue lube, CCI magnum primer, over 10 gn Blue Dot. It's a one hole shooter, from a rest, at 35 yards from my Mo. 28, 6" bbl S & W