Rookie needs some help

[gliebegott]

OK, here is the deal.

I have been handloading for about 15 years or so and recently got into cast bullets. Have all the equipment that I need and also a hardness tester. The only question that I have is looking at the lyman manual some of the powder is very foreign to me. Does anyone have any mainstrean load ideas. I am looking to load some 8mm and 357 rounds.

Thanks,
George

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Hi George. What weight and type of boolit are you casting? What do you want to do with the round? Target or hunting? The doors are wide open now that you are casting. There are so many choices. In my .357 I am using AA#9 and H-110 for full house loads (158 gr. RNFP). I use Bullseye in .38 cases for plinking (148 gr. WC.)

[Tinbullet]

I would suggest using the SEARCH function on this web site. I've just looked into info on testing cast hollow points for expansion and got what I was looking for. As they say in the Jesse Stone movies "The informations out there, you just gotta let it in"

[runfiverun]

which lyman manual?
if it's number 4, theres a lot of xmp5744 data it's made by accurate arms a company in the northwest united states.

[MtGun44]

George,

Give us a hint on your location. Are you in the USA? If so you will have plenty of powders
avaialble. If you are overseas, the choices are different.

You can't go far wrong starting out with Unique for cast boolits. It works well in pretty much
any pistol and any rifle caliber - WITHIN IT'S LIMITS. Basically for smaller pistols and non-mags
it will usually make full power loads or anything lower, for rifles, at the smaller end of calibers it can
give you up to ~3/4 power loads; for the bottle neck cases you should be able to load up to
about 1700-1800 fps with it. Try 10 gr Unique in the 8mm (I presume Mauser 8x57) with
any boolit wt and you'll probably have good results. For the .357 you can use in the 4 to 5 gr
range for moderate to medium power loads.

For higher loads, use a manual, like your Lyman book. Two manuals is better.
Bill

[gliebegott]

I am using the above mentioned .357 round and 165gr rn for the 8mm.

[gliebegott]

USA, PA to be exact

[Echo]

My old standard 357M load was 15 grs 2400 under a 155-gr SWCGC (Lyman 358156 or Lee equivalent) but some say newer 2400 is somewhat hotter. I suggest you start @ 13 grs of 2400 and move up slowly (.2 grs per 5-shot group) with a similar-weight boolit until you hit either 15 grains or your desired accuracy. If the accuracy isn't there, then you must change something - powder, boolits, diameter, &cetera.

And, Sorry, I don't load for an 8mm.

[Bret4207]

For the 357 Unique is good for midrange and 2400 for the magnum stuff. For the 8mm Red Dot (13.0) or 2400 (16.0) are good standard starter loads for mid range paper and close up game. For heavier hunting loads in the 2K+ area the standard medium rifle powders recommended for jacketed work, start with the starting loads.

If you could be a little more specific on your guns, boolits, desires...it would help.

[gliebegott]

Plan to use the 8mm in a few of my rifles. Military ones and also the ones I use for hunting and general shooting. Yes, I have as many 8mm as I do .30 Cal.

It has yet to let me down on anything I have ever shot at. I dont think that I will hunt with them just an econical shooter.

[Lizard333]

I use HP-39/WIN 231 for my 38 and light 357 loads. Good stuff. Meters well. Minimum smoke and doesn't dirty up you gun like unique can. Can't help you on the 8mm. Don't load for that. Good luck.

[whisler]

Lizard333: do you mean HP-38?

[44man]

While new powders are always being made, the old powders are still with us and still work. Some data has changed over the years so just keep up to date.
I am one of those codgers that can't buy all the new stuff to play with. The guys are correct, some powders will never go away because they work. I still have half a keg of Red dot I bought over 50 years ago for shotguns. No bird hunting where I live now so the rest is for play but it still works.
Unique and 2400 are still hard to beat. H110 and 296 will never go away.
Most powder makers have a site with load info.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Dang 44man. Two more posts and you go over 10,000.

[44man]

Dang 44man. Two more posts and you go over 10,000.
It is because all of you are my friends.
The worst thing ever is that we live so far apart.

[geargnasher]

It is because all of you are my friends.
The worst thing ever is that we live so far apart.

Ain't that the truth. But if not for this site and the fandangled internet, we wouldn't have "met" at all!

George, give us an idea of what level of power you're looking for, and also boolit weight and powder brands that you're familiar with, and we can make some more recommendations. Those two calibers are very versatile, so just about any "correct" powder will do.

Gear

[Char-Gar]

2400 will be a good cast bullet powder for you in the 8mm and also the .357.

[garym1a2]

14.5 grains of 2400 wakes up my .357 Rossi Rifle, its a little stiff for my S&W686. I do not like its recoil. 6grains of unique works well for the 686. Also 3 grains of bullseye in 38 cases is a tackdriver.
My old standard 357M load was 15 grs 2400 under a 155-gr SWCGC (Lyman 358156 or Lee equivalent) but some say newer 2400 is somewhat hotter. I suggest you start @ 13 grs of 2400 and move up slowly (.2 grs per 5-shot group) with a similar-weight boolit until you hit either 15 grains or your desired accuracy. If the accuracy isn't there, then you must change something - powder, boolits, diameter, &cetera.

And, Sorry, I don't load for an 8mm.

[gliebegott]

Ain't that the truth. But if not for this site and the fandangled internet, we wouldn't have "met" at all!

George, give us an idea of what level of power you're looking for, and also boolit weight and powder brands that you're familiar with, and we can make some more recommendations. Those two calibers are very versatile, so just about any "correct" powder will do.

Gear

I have always been partial to IMR and hodgen powders. What I learned on and what is available around me.

[gliebegott]

IMR and Hodgen. What I learned with and what is always available around me.

[gliebegott]

The bullet weight for the 8mm is 165 gr and 160 for the 357/38.

[Bret4207]

Okay George, I got that you don't intend to hunt with them, correct? To be honest, your answers to our attempts to help are cryptic at best. Could you just spell out plainly what guns you want to shoot these in and what brand and design moulds you're using please? The help is here and offered freely, but there are at least a dozen 160 gr .358 moulds out there and the 8mm is found in everything from Rem 700's to 1888 Commission rifles. Being specific would be a help sir.