Round ball load .357?

[wonderwolf]

I've been loading .38spl loads for my girlfriend and I came across a handful of .357mag brass that is primed and about 400 or so .35 cal round balls...2 together weigh about 124gr. I'm just wanting to load up a few to see how it would work but I'm concerned about how far down that 2nd ball is...about 1/2 down in the case. I was thinking 3.0 of red dot but I can't find any data to help with this. I know I've seen threads on this but nothing came up when I did a search. I'm not all that worried about leading mostly just curious is all. :Fire:


By the way the load I've worked up for my girl is 3.3gr of red dot with a 358242 92gr bullet on a .38 spl case.....gonna be shot out of a 6" target 586 and a 4" 681.

[beagle]

Look on castpics in the article section. One on loading round balls. I've done it with a two ball load in both the .38 Special and .357.

The expander die is just right for a seater.

The 2 ball .38 load is my favorite in teh summertime for snakes and what have you./beagle

[Baron von Trollwhack]

I used the 2 ball loads in my 38 special, j-frame, using 0000 buckshot. Seems like the balls hit within an inch of each other at 12 yards. Figured from a standard velocity powder charge for the throw weight minus 10% and roll crimped.. Reccommend you coat the shot with alox as I did not and had plenty of leading. BvT

[Bullshop]

Baron
What we do to eliminate leading and not have to coat the balls themselves is to put a lube wad between each ball. In the magnum cases we use three balls. The loading proceedure is to prime the case then add your powder. Once primed and charged seat the first ball. We use the expander die to seat the first two balls. After seating the first ball below flush with the mouth press a lube ribbon over the mouth. Then seat the second ball the same way and apply the second lube ribbon. On the third ball adjust the expander die so it seats the ball past the mouth just past the half way point of the ball. Then finally in a sepperate step crimp.
BIC/BS