Rossi/Puma 38/357 shooters, I need some help!

[Leatherhead Bullets]

I am picking up a new to me (my first lever) Puma 92 in 38/357 this week, and need a little help with some load data. It is the 20" octagon barrel. It has not, but will get a tune up via the Gunz DVD and spring kit. It is LNIB condition. I have been researching (and there is a lot) on the issues, pro, cons, etc., but would like to hear some of your pet loads. I will be shooting cast only. I do the Hi-tek coating on all my boolits. I have a 125 and 150 rn, and a 158 Keith style SWC. I also have a 147 grn TFP 9mm mold that throws a bit big that I have considered, but worry about the FP. I have a considerable amount of .38 brass and a few hundred 357 brass to play with. I have plenty of tightgroup, 2400, and 4227, and have access to H110. With all of my 38 brass and a couple of girls that love to shoot, a plinking/small varmit load would be nice. And a hunting load with the 158's if they will feed. I understand that I may have to load the 38's a bit long. Does tha powder charge need to be altered when loaded long?

You all have given so much insight and advised. Looking for what you all have found works best for you.

Thanks,
Chris

[plainsman456]

I load the 158 semi-wadcutters for the brother in law with Green dot powder.
Not in the shop for load data but you will get faster speeds that the same loads in a pistol.

[Leatherhead Bullets]

I have some green dot as well.
Thanks

[retiredPO]

I am a big believer in Clays.... there are several loads available....for most of what you want to do... and I have great
luck with building loads that new shooters enjoy while learning the proper shooting tech..... and then pick up the power.

[wbrco]

Try 6.5-6.8 gns of BlueDot under the 158 swc if you have access to some. My Marlin eats a steady diet of 38s loaded this way and they chrono about 1200fps.

[Deep Six]

The 150 RN and 147 TCFP sound good to me. I never could get Keith boolits or other wadcutters to feed/shoot right in lever guns. A longer nose will work better in special brass while the magnum brass will work better with a shorter nose. Plain base boolits will be fine with the faster powders up to light loads of 2400. Past that you'll want a gas checked design as it just becomes too difficult to keep a plain base boolit together at the velocities a 20" 357 stoked full of H110 is capable of.

That's my $0.02 worth of experience anyways. Others may have different advice.

[runfiverun]

some of the new ones don't like anything other than 125's.
something about Taurus buying the company and mucking things [barrels] up.
feeding 38's may or may not be a problem.
but you can alway's just single shoot them, most fast powders will do well in these rifles when 3-4 grains is used.

[Lonegun1894]

I load for two of these, both 20" round barrels. In mine, I use either the Lee 158gr SWCGC or the Lyman 358156, both over 14.5grs 2400 in .357 Mag brass, and for the other, I load 6.0 grs Unique and the Lee 158gr RNFP in a .38 Spl case. Both cycle smoothly in both guns, but obviously have two very different POIs, so one stays sighted in for one load, and the other for the other.

[Leatherhead Bullets]

Thank you all for the input! I really appreciate. I will hopefully start loading a few dummy rounds this week to see what will feed. Will keep you posted.

[robertbank]

I stick to .357 cases in my Rossi. Getting a ring build up would be to much of a pain but then I don't shoot Cowboy Action. Rounding off the edges of my FP boolits when I lube them in my lubricator seem to help the feeding issues using LSWC like the Keith designs.

Take Care

Bob

[helice]

It looks like you are ready to go. You can go with 4 gr. of RedDot, 700X, 231W, or BullsEye behind any one of your boolits. Or use the 2400 or H110 for full throttle loads. The 357 M-92s are light on recoil even with the heavy loads. I've never been able to trust the round nosed boolit at 38/357 speeds. (My problem.) I like a big flat nose that will displace tissue and body fluids sideways like a 360 degree full circle Rainbird sprinkler nozzle. I must warn you though - pistol calibers in these graceful little leverguns are horribly addicting. :) Have fun.
Karl

[BCRider]

If you are happy with a nice deliberate moderate speed lever cycle the gun will do just fine with .38Spl plinking loads. But once you start to speed up you're going to find that the shorter cases cause feed issues.

Keep in mind that depending on the lead alloy and hardness speeds over 1500fps may begin to cause rapid leading up of the bore. There's lots of reasons but assuming you fit the bullet right it's a case of the alloy not being right. With the right alloy and bullet size and a good lube you can sneak up on 1700 to 1800 fps without leading.

Now you mention that you use the Hi tek coating. I have no idea what that is. But if it'll avoid leading you can likely hit 1800 or higher if it's any good.

But your girls likely won't like such loads if they enjoy a lighter recoil. For easy plinking loads look at using the 125's with 3.7 to 3.8gns of Tightgroup in .38 length cases to give you around 1000 fps at the muzzle. To get the same thing with the magnum cases you'll need to drop 3.8 to 3.9 gns of Tightgroup. And if you do that you'll have my CAS rifle load. I've shot thousands of 130gn LRNFP bullets pushed by 3.9 to 4gns of Tightgroup. It's a light enough load that it sure isn't going to startle any but the VERY MOST recoil shy out there. But it's strong enough that I don't feel like a "gamer". That's solidly .38Spl territory for a rifle round. And it's a lovely load for plinking and general tin canning or target shooting so that you KNOW you're shooting a gun but it's only a little more than a .22.

[Leatherhead Bullets]

Wow, Lots of good info guys. Thanks. I have plenty of 125's and Tighgroup to start out with. I also have quite a few 150 RN's. The Hi-tek coating is great. We have pushed our 44 240's out of a Henry carbine at 1850 fps using H110 without gas checks. Zero leading! I will keep you posted on the progress.