Best 357 cast bullet for silhouette shooting

[sixpointfive]

Gents,

I am planning to get a S&W 686 for silhouette shooting and am wondering what would be the best bullet and load for this gun. I know RCBS makes a 180 grain, will this bullet work well with the 686 with 8" barrel?

[dale2242]

I don`t have a specific mold in mind, but I would go with a 180 gr. to get better knock down power on the rams.......dale

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Back in 1980 when I started popping steel all I had was a 357 Dan Wesson. I found a 180 grain GC powered by all the 296 I could stuff into the case to be a good pachage.
The DW has a bit longer cylinder than most so I was able to seat the boolit out to the first grease groove and gain alot of powder space. I would suggest you look into that idea.. max overal cartrige length = max powder space for slow burning powders.

[imashooter2]

The SAECO #354 would be my choice.

[bobthenailer]

Luckely the 686 has a longer cyl than the 627s have ! i would use at least a 180 gr bullet ! i used alot of the RCBS 200 gr gc 35-200 in a RPM XL single shot pistol for years with excellent results.
for a revolver i have the following 180 gr Saeco moulds # 354 / 396 / 200 gr 395 all very accurate bullets !
IF you would like to try some / please send a PM.
Bob

[DragoonDrake]

I like the RCBS 35-180gr-SIL bullet. Shoots well and casts well. I use 2400 out of my 357mag and Max

[sixpointfive]

I do have 2400 what powder charge are you running? How does the dan wesson stck up against the 686 silouette?

[DragoonDrake]

IIRC 12.5 with a SPM primer

[sixpointfive]

Dragoon Drake how many grains of 2400 with the 180 357 mag boolit?

[DragoonDrake]

IIRC 12.5 with a small pistol mag primer.

[bhn22]

http://www.lasc.us/RangingShotFreedomArms357CastBullet.htm

http://www.lasc.us/RangingShotFreedomArms357CastBulletPT2.htm

Here's a good starting point for you. You'll need to do your own load development of course, but the principles are sound.

[sixpointfive]

Thanks all

[David LaPell]

I am a bit biased, so I would have to go with the heavy cast Lyman #358429 170 grain bullet. It is a heavy flat bullet which is what you want because it hits hard when pushed along. With the 686 your cylinder is long enough so that your bullet should seat ok with that crimp groove. That bullet and 13.0 grains of 2400 will do everything you want.

[Artful]

I used a Seaco 180 flat nose rounded - plain base with 2400 as recall - it was a heavy load and I soon moved up to 44 mag with a med load to get same results with less pressure.

Had one fellow turn up with factory JHP and could it but the bullet frag'd and wouldn't take down targets - live and learn it aint energy but momentum that works on steel

[sixpointfive]

Gas check or no gas check bullet? I thnk my friend has the Lyman 173 pb bullet mould.

[Beerd]

I too showed up at my first silly-wet match with a Ruger Blackhawk and a box of 110gr JHP's. Missed a bunch, hit a few and even knocked some down.

I moved on to a 175gr NEI plain base SWC that worked a lot better.
..

[DragoonDrake]

My 7mm is GC, my 357 is too, my 44mag is not.

[Blammer]

I'm thinking a 180gr Pointy boolit would be the ticket. :)

[Artful]

Blammer if your not shooting a revolver I found a 220 NEI RN in contender worked well but that was out of 357 Herrett. I need to try that in my newly aquired 357 max contender barrel.

[missionary5155]

I do have 2400 what powder charge are you running? How does the dan wesson stck up against the 686 silouette?

Greetings I do not own a 686 to test side by side. But I would have to say the Dan Wesson revolvers are tough to beat and get to the winners circle. I have not heard any bad reports about the 686 but I do not know if they will stand up to the hundreds of heavy rounds a DW will shoot without falling apart. I still have my origonal DW 15-2 I bought in 1978. In 1982 I started shooting steel and bought a 10" barrel. I then started loading a 180 grain GC long seated and put as much 296 into the case as was possible. I will not print how much powder.. but it would knock down rams reliably if the ram was hit in the top 2/3 of the body. Accuracy was good enough I would practice at 200 meters by head shooting the rams.
So that is what I know about my DW 357. The only other revolvers I knew of that could give a DW a run to the winners place was the Freedom Arms revolvers.. but then they cost 3x that of a DW. Ruger single actions were about and won here and there. I never saw a S&W win a steel match and only saw a few posted as winners in the IHMSA paper. Where I shot everyone used a DW or Ruger. After 1986 I lost track of steel shooting.
So that is my limited knowlege. Me I would find a steel shooting forum and find out what the winners are shooting.

[bhn22]

I guess we should ask, are you planning on shooting long range or Field/Hunter pistol? This would really make a big difference in recommendations. Big bore loads are unnecessarily powerful for 100 yard shooting.


It must be fate... post #357!

[fourarmed]

In loading for my wife's .357 maximum, I did quite a bit of work with the 358429. It was superb to 100 yards, adequate to 150, but totally unpredictable past 150 m. If you will be shooting at 200 yards, you definitely need to try a 180 gr., and a 200 gr. would be better.

[Rafe Covington]

Lyman mold #358429, drops a 165-170 gr bullet. Used 13.5 grs of 2400 for years in tender and revolver in 357 mag for steel shooting.

Rafe:redneck: