Looking for a good .357 mag Handi-Rifle load

[mje]

Picked up a Handi-Rifle at Gander Mountain last week and took it to he range with a variety of loads that worked well in my Blackhawk. The "cowboy" loads (125gr LRN over Trail Boss) grouped well but my "Keith" load (158gr hard cast SWC over 13.5gr 2400) was all over the place.

Any suggestions? I have Bullseye, Unique, 2400, W231 and Red Dot on hand, as well as the 125, 158 and 180gr RNFP cast boolits, all from Dardas and all .358".

[Larry Gibson]

The magnum load of yours simply pushed the PB'd SWC too hard for accuracy out of the rifle barrel. A common problem with magnum PB'd cast bullet loads in rifles.

The 125 gr Cowboy loads aren't broke so don't fix'em......

The hard cast commercial 158 and 180 gr bullets can be loaded to top end performance with 2400. Suggest you use a starting load and work up to the maximum load as recommended for revolvers in loading manuals. Test for accuracy at 100 yards and when accuracy goes south stop (or if you reach the max revolver load). That accuracy load for the rifle will then probably shoot well in the revolver but more than likely won't be a top end load for the revolver.

Other solution is to use GC'd cast bullets. Those can be driven to the maximum safe load level with accuracy in the rifle and revolver.

Larry Gibson

[fecmech]

I have done some work with plain base bullets in .357 lever guns but not any commercially cast. Using the Lyman 358429,sized correctly with good lube I can average 3-4 moa@100 yds in the 1600 fps range. The only powders I had any luck with were 296/H110. I think they tend to give PB slugs a little gentler start,4227 might be a good one also but I haven't tried it. My understanding of Handi rifle throats is they are very large and long so Larry's suggestion of gas checks is a good one. With the mag loads you are probably gas cutting the daylights out of your pb bullets with that 2400 load you are using.

[357Mag]

MJE -

Howdy !

I've had great success shooting .357" cal Lyman PB SWCs of 158 - 172gr, over 14.5gr WW296 ( H-110 same stuff ); and SP Mag primers.

This load has always shot well .... in both revolvera ( 4" - 6" ), and Marlin 1984SC .357Mag.
" Leading " was not a problem, for me.

You might also want to try 7.0gr IMR 4756 and standard SP primers, under same grain-wt of PB bullets. It's a tad "sooty", but is economical & ( for me ) accurate.


With regards,
357Mag

[Scharfschuetze]

I shoot a Marlin Model 1894 26" rifle with Ballard rifling and have developed a few good loads for it. Hopefully they will be of some use to you.

For a heavy (180 grain bullet) my loading notes show the following:

Bullet: Oregon Trail 180 grain RNPB hard cast bullet with their hard wax lube
Primer: Remington 5 1/2
Cases: Remington with a heavy crimp at the bullet's crimping groove
Powder: 13.5 grains of Hodgdon's Lil'gun

10 shot strings produced the following:

Velocity: 1628 fps
SD: 15
Accuracy: 2 MOA at 100 yards and good results on plinking targets at 200 yards

This seems to be a pretty mild load for Lil'gun. No ejection problems were noted and the primers did not exhibit any signs of high pressure. I tried a stouter charge, but accuracy went south so this seemed to be the limit for the plain base bullet that I used. It is well within Hogdgon's loading data for Lil'gun.

For a milder load, I tried 2400 powder.

Bullet: Oregon Trail 180 grain RNFPPB hard cast bullet with their hard wax lube
Primer: Remington 5 1/2
Cases: Remington with a heavy crimp at the bullet's crimping groove
Powder: 11.7 grains of 2400

Velocity 1326 fps, SD 15, accuracy of 2 MOA

No leading noted, but some soot and powder debris in the barrel and action indicating pressures were probably not high enough and I should probably up the charge a bit or go to a faster burning powder for this velocity range.

I selected the 180 grain bullet for the rifle for its better ballistic properties at the longer ranges rifles are generally shot at, although this bullet works well in my 357 revolvers too.

I have an RCBS 180 grain rifle mold for a gas check bullet. It shoots well in a K-frame revolver, but is too long for my Model 28's shorter cylinder. I eventually want to see if it works in the Marlin, although it may produce a round that is too long for use in the magazine. In your Handi-Rifle, it might be just the ticket.

[mje]

Great stuff, guys. Lots of good load ideas. Keep it coming!

[nanuk]

I'm going to try some 250gr boolits in my Handi, loaded up to around 900fps or even less.... going to try for a nice quite "don't disturb the neighbours" type treestand load.

shots on deer will be around 35yds.

[SteveUSP]

I am new to reloading, and have a related question. I'll be reloading for a Marlin 1895c and a S&W 586, both in .357. Should I try to find a load they can share, or would it be better to have a dedicated load for each. I like the ease of only having 1 load, but I want both guns to work their best.

[fecmech]

I am new to reloading, and have a related question. I'll be reloading for a Marlin 1895c and a S&W 586, both in .357. Should I try to find a load they can share, or would it be better to have a dedicated load for each. I like the ease of only having 1 load, but I want both guns to work their best.
You won't know till you try. My experience has been that good accurate ammunition is generally just that and works well in a number of firearms. Is it necessarily the "most" accurate in each gun maybe not, but generally very good from an accuracy standpoint. In the .357, for magnum loads 296/H110 (my first choice)and 2400 are your friend. For .38 spl level loads Bullseye,231 and Unique are my go to powders. There are many others that will do the job but these have worked well for me over the past 30 yrs or so. Pick the bullet and velocity you want to run at then choose an appropriate powder and have at it. good luck.

[MT Gianni]

Handi's in 357 have a very long throat. If the throat is not filled with a long bullet and you spank it hard bullet deformation is a common result. Try a long bullet starting with the 358429 and moving on to the 35-200 RCBS or 3358627.

[hendere]

I don't have any hard data, but I used to shoot a gc 158 gr SWC with 12 gr of 2400 out of my Handi and it did fine. I also played around with a Ranch Dog 175 gr with gas check (tumble lubed) over about 12 gr of 2400 and it seemed to be a better load, but then the world ran out of powder so my experiments came to a rest. I like that rifle a lot.

[SteveUSP]

Thanks fecmech. I guess now the big question is whether or not I can find the powder I want.