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Thread: casting 357 for rossi 92s

  1. #1
    Boolit Mold
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    casting 357 for rossi 92s

    hey guys let me see what you're working with i just recently purchased a 20 inch rossi 92 in 357 and im thinking about getting into casting my own bullets and i want to see what others have done

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

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    Welcome t the madness! LOL! I am currently using the Lee 158 RNFP cast out of 94-3-3 alloy, over 9 grains of Blue Dot. This is a plain base boolit so velocity is limited to around 1500 fps. It groups good and shoots clean at slightly over 1400 fps from my Marlin 1894. There are MANY choices available as far as boolits in this caliber, up to 200 grains. A boolit of 12 BHN with a gas check can be pushed to 1700 if the load is right and the diameter fits the throat/bore. Experimentation here is your friend! Montana Bullet Works is a good place to look over the .35 caliber offerings.

    https://www.montanabulletworks.com/

    Try some before you invest a fortune in moulds! Once you find a boolit that works for you, then buy the mould! The SWC profile will probably NOT feed smoothly through your action, but some guns will feed wadcutters with no problem, go figure! Let the adventure begin!
    "We take a thousand moments for granted thinking there will be a thousand more to come. Each day, each breath, each beat of your heart is a gift. Live with love & joy, tomorrow is not promised to anyone......"

    unknown

  3. #3
    Boolit Mold
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    do you get any expansion with that particular loading? im mainly going to use mine for deer, coyotes, and varmints. im thinking about staying at or under 158 grains given my rifles 1-30 twist rate. looking for something that i can drive to at at or near 2000 fps accurately

  4. #4
    Boolit Master

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    Expansion? I really can't say - they penetrate all the way through leaving a nasty wound channel. 2000 fps is REALLY pushing it with a 158; If you load a 158 GC over 14-15 grains of 2400 or 16 grains of H-110, you'll have as much kiling oower as you need at around 1700 fps, without going over-pressure. Let that big flat point do the work. Remember, you're dealing with lead bullet technology here, forget about what you know about jacketed bullets! This is a whole new ball game!!

    READ THIS THREAD - ALL OF IT!

    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...e-in-the-world

    Velocity is useful but it isn't as critical as it is when using jacketed bullets. With cast boolits you are using weight and boolit shape to achieve clean kills. A 35 caliber 160 - 180 grain boolit cruising at 1600 fps is a beautiful killing machine!
    "We take a thousand moments for granted thinking there will be a thousand more to come. Each day, each breath, each beat of your heart is a gift. Live with love & joy, tomorrow is not promised to anyone......"

    unknown

  5. #5
    Boolit Master


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    12 grains of 2400 will push a 180 grain bullet at just short of 1500 fps and at 100 yards it won't stay in a deer, broadside.
    “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
    ― Mark Twain
    W8SOB

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    Lee 158 grain round nose with the tumble lube grooves. 5.5 grains of Unique. I use this in a Rossi 92 and a Ruger Vaquero.

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    My M92 is a stainless 20". I've fed it the old Lee 150 gr swc with the huge meplat, Lee 105 swc, Lee 125 rnfp and MP HBWC (loaded backwards) without any problems. The HBWC has to be in 357 cases or it tries to feed two at once. The others work in either 357 or 38.

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy
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    My 16" Rossi loves plain base bullets. It will shoot powder coated range scrap Lee 125-rf into 1-1.5" @ 50 yards all the way up to 2000+ fps with 17.7gr 2400. The Lee 158-rf also shoots great up to 2000 fps with Lil' Gun using a little harder lead powder coated.

    With my 3 moa Fastfire III, the max lil' gun 158 gr shoots about 4" at 100 and a NOE gas check 154 WFN only shoots about 3". Same with the gas check Ranch Dog 135-rf - only about 3". With a scout scope the groups might shrink by an inch or so, but my main point is that the twist is slow in the Rossi so don't be afraid to shoot plain base and see if gas checks are worth the huge reduction in production speed and increase in cost.

    My gun has been fire lapped, crowned, and barrel bands relieved.

  9. #9
    Boolit Mold
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    holy smokes 2000 fps is impressive especially for 158 gr. i would imagine that would be one hell of a deer load

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy kaiser's Avatar
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    According to Paco Kelly the model 92 action will take up to 50K of pressure, which is more than recommended for any other action of its type. I also have a pair of 16" Rossi's, but have only gone as high as 1775fps and that was a jacketed 158XTP. Most of my 158gr cast have been around 1700fps, which are very effective to about 100 yards and pleasant to shoot in this super lightweight rifle. While I have used Win 296 and H110 (both reputed to be the same powder by Hogdon), they are rather "one trick ponies" that do NOT take to being loaded down from "Max". Both of my rifles shoot well with 180gr jacketed and 185gr lead bullets up to about 1600fps with the aforementioned H110, or Alliant 2400. It will be interesting if you are able to make your "little rifle" into a "flat shooting varminter, but I suspect it will be far more effective up close where its light weight and quick handling will get you on target a lot quicker than some long barrel, heavy varmint "rig". And, shooting any of the .38 Special or .357 loads with a few grains of Unique, Universal, or Red Dot are just plain fun! Good luck with yours.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    I agree with Kaiser above, there is some really good reading by Paco Kelly about the 92 and the Rossi in particular. I have not tested expansion from any of my Rossi loads but can tell you that Hi-Tek coated range lead cast are driven at 2200fps in my 357 max with great results, I use the Lee 158 R/F plain base. I know you can get 1700 to 1800fps from the Rossi with little effort but I think any more than this is pushing a fine rifle to hard. Regards Stephen

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy
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    Published loads with Lil' Gun will get 158 lead over 2000 fps and 180 lead over 1800 fps from most rifle barrels. Subtract about 100 fps for jacketed bullets. Check out some of Brian Pearce's articles in Handloader and Rifle, which you can find through google if you don't have the magazine.

    Paco Kelley is a nut! These loads are 30-35k psi. If you try to go that fast with the powders Paco had ( or some scary old PO Ackley data) you will be at 50k psi. 2400 will go about 1800 fps and h110 about 1900 fps with 158s. I do not advocate loading over pressure loads.

    I have no experience with it, but it seems like 300-mp might work like Lil' Gun. It is slower than H110 and denser, so more powder fits. More powder at same pressure means more gas accelerating the bullet for a longer time. Brian Pearce had a load in the new Marlin that was a 187 lead at around 1850 fps using 300-mp.
    Last edited by mnewcomb59; 03-13-2019 at 06:28 PM.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master brewer12345's Avatar
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    Mine isn't picky about what bullet shape it feeds. Mostly I shoot a 158 grain rnfp in 38 cases for target. In 357 cases I like the classic 358156 which is gas checked. Put it over near a max charge of 2400 and it is accurate and would take deer to 100 yards without a fuss.
    When you care enough to send the very best, send an ounce of lead.

  14. #14
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    Mine is a Marlin, but still in .357 -- Quite early in the game I learned the true advantage of using bullets with gas checks on them. Further, bion, I found the ubiquitous 358156GC to have been one of my best performers.
    Good luck!
    georgerkahn

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master


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    "Quite early in the game I learned the true advantage of using bullets with gas checks on them. Further, bion, I found the ubiquitous 358156GC to have been one of my best performers."

    That is exactly my own experience with the 357 out of several rifles including a couple Rossi M92s. I cast my 358156 GC bullets soft and slightly HP them. Using Lyman manual loads with H110 velocities of 1800 fps were easily obtainable in 20" barrels. The accuracy at that velocity was far superior to any PB'd cast bullet. The terminal effect on deer is very good. A friend of mine hunts with his and swears by the 358156 cast soft at 1800 fps. He has recovered a couple bullets and reported expansion to be excellent.

    The 358156 GC bullet cast soft and HP'd is also my own choice for hunting with a revolver. At 1400+ fps (6" + barrels) it is an excellent bullet.
    Larry Gibson

    “Deficient observation is merely a form of ignorance and responsible for the many morbid notions and foolish ideas prevailing.”
    ― Nikola Tesla

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    Like many, I favor the LEE 358-158 RF cast of WW's, but for most target of opportunity pursuits, the LEE 358-125 RF serves quite well. Of all the weights I've put through my carbine, I've arrived at the conclusion that the ideal (for me) weight for a general purpose boolit would be a 140gr RNFP plain base, and I'm considering getting a copy of the "plain-base gas check tool" for applying shim stock gas checks to plain base boolits. Adding a GC definitely increases the upper limit on how hard they can be driven.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master curioushooter's Avatar
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    300MP has it all over Lil'Gun if you follow the book...
    The current reccomdations for 357 at 35kwpsi limit what can be done.

    That said 18.5 grains of 300MP clocks with single digit variance from my 1894 marlin with 18.5" barrel at 1850 FPS using 158 XTP.

    I am aware of 40k psi and overmax loads that exceede that.

    Still want to know how the 92 design is any stronger than the marlin or anything else proofed for 357 mag. I've not been persuaded by anything yet.
    Last edited by curioushooter; 04-29-2019 at 11:38 PM.

  18. #18
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by curioushooter View Post
    300MP has it all over Lil'Gun if you follow the book...
    The current reccomdations for 357 at 35kwpsi limit what can be done.

    That said 18.5 grains of 300MP clocks with single digit variance from my 1894 marlin with 18.5" barrel at 1850 FPS using 158 XTP.

    I am aware of 40k psi and overmax loads that exceede that.

    Still want to know how the 92 design is any stronger than the marlin or anything else proofed for 357 mag. I've not been persuaded by anything yet.
    It's the only lever gun I know of chambered for the .454 Casull, so......

  19. #19
    Boolit Master curioushooter's Avatar
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    That doesn't prove anything really. The fact is the 92 had an open top and bottom...only two thin side walls (especially where the locking piece cut is made) supporting its bolt...so it will suffer frame stretching as badly or worse than similar designs.

    The Marlin 1894 is perhaps "weaker" in a sense that the bolt locking piece doesn't come all the way up the rear. And because the centerlines of the bore and the mag tube are closer the threads on the barrel limit the diameter of the chamber...this is the reason I suspect that 454 Casull is in the Win 92 and not the Marlin 1894. In other words it's not so much a strength matter as it is a dimension matter.

    Marlin 336s are the same way as the 1894, though they have that round bolt, but they don't have a locking piece that goes all the way up, however, the Marlin 336 was chambered in 375 Winchester with only different heat treatment vs. the standard 30-30/35 Rem, while the Win 94, which has the piece come all the way up the back, needed to be beefed up with additional steel ON THE SIDEWALLS. This leads me to wonder if the locking piece coming all the way up the back means anything at all.

    Any different in strength between the Marlin 1894 and Win 92, if there is any at all, is basically nominal. Clearly they both can withstand the proof rounds of the cartridges they are chambered with. And a scope can't be mounted on a Win 92 and it is more troublesome to take down (especially to someone who doesn't know how)...to the point that most people clean them from the muzzle end instead of the breach end. To me these decisively advantage the Marlin...I can do without 454 Casull...if a 44 Mag can't handle it then I'd get a 45-70!

    I am sure a Browing BLR or Sako Finnwolf, Henry "long ranger," or Win 88 are far, far stronger than a 92. Being front lockers.

    And the Savage 99 and Win 1895 are stronger too, both being chambered in high-intensity cartridges, and are rear-lockers. They are of course a bit larger than the Win 92. The Win 95 in particular has massive thick ribs on its sidewalls. The Savage 99 is also "fat" if you ask me.
    Last edited by curioushooter; 05-01-2019 at 11:35 AM.

  20. #20
    Boolit Bub white cloud's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by georgerkahn View Post
    Mine is a Marlin, but still in .357 -- Quite early in the game I learned the true advantage of using bullets with gas checks on them. Further, bion, I found the ubiquitous 358156GC to have been one of my best performers.
    Good luck!
    georgerkahn
    I am using the RCBS 158 grain SWC gas check in my Marlin. I understand this mold is sort of similar to the Lyman. The accuracy is pretty amazing and I am no bullet casting wizard.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check