My new baby....

[Echale3]

A friend of mine is buying a house and offered my a great deal on a Freedom Arms 353 Silhouette revolver complete with a scope mount and a lock that fits down the bore. He also tossed in a bunch of 100 yard targets fired with W296 and H4227 pushing a bulk 160 grain jacketed slug. Group sizes run between about 1" and 1.5". He'd already checked the cylinder throat and bore diameters and it's good to go for cast bullets.

Anyway, I just picked it up this afternoon from a new LGS the next town over.

Now to see what I can get it to do with proper bullets dropped from the 35 caliber molds I have on hand.

Then again, designing a new mold just for this revolver would be a horrible thing to have to do... [\sarcasm]

154589

[Zim]

Very nice.

[dubber123]

My 353 really likes the RCBS 200 RF. It is long, but fits in the F/A easily. You can get them cooking right along too. The RCBS 180 Sil is another good mold. Have fun!

[John Allen]

That is a nice looker there.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

Those are so nice. Congratulations.

[Plastikosmd]

I run mine with taffin type loads, hot with 200g. The 353 is a blast to shoot

[Echale3]

My 353 really likes the RCBS 200 RF. It is long, but fits in the F/A easily. You can get them cooking right along too. The RCBS 180 Sil is another good mold. Have fun!

Cool--if you don't mind, would you PM me any load data you have on hand for those two slugs in your 353?


I run mine with taffin type loads, hot with 200g. The 353 is a blast to shoot

I used to use a DW 357 SuperMag in the IHMSA big-bore revolver class, and I had a 220 grain LBT WLN mold made to fit it. The gun's long gone, but I still have the mold. I checked the overall length of a 357 Mag case with that slug loaded in it in the 353 last night and it's a bit of a tight fit length-wise, even with the brass trimmed to 1.280. I'd love to work up a thumper of a load with it.

My 357 SuperMag load for competition would drive that slug a hair over 1500 FPS. I'm thinking I should be able to get in the 1200-1250 FPS range with the 353 without too much difficulty and not be stressing the brass much.

I also have an LBT 170 grain XS mold which was made for my two 4" S&W 357s--the XS profile isn't a catalog item, but it's available if you ask. It's got an extra-wide meplat and puts more lead outside the case than a normal 170 grain slug would, so you can drop more powder in w/o going over pressure. That one should be able to go screaming out the muzzle in a 353.

[dubber123]

Cool--if you don't mind, would you PM me any load data you have on hand for those two slugs in your 353?



I used to use a DW 357 SuperMag in the IHMSA big-bore revolver class, and I had a 220 grain LBT WLN mold made to fit it. The gun's long gone, but I still have the mold. I checked the overall length of a 357 Mag case with that slug loaded in it in the 353 last night and it's a bit of a tight fit length-wise, even with the brass trimmed to 1.280. I'd love to work up a thumper of a load with it.

My 357 SuperMag load for competition would drive that slug a hair over 1500 FPS. I'm thinking I should be able to get in the 1200-1250 FPS range with the 353 without too much difficulty and not be stressing the brass much.

I also have an LBT 170 grain XS mold which was made for my two 4" S&W 357s--the XS profile isn't a catalog item, but it's available if you ask. It's got an extra-wide meplat and puts more lead outside the case than a normal 170 grain slug would, so you can drop more powder in w/o going over pressure. That one should be able to go screaming out the muzzle in a 353.

You won't have any trouble exceeding 1,250 fps. with a 220gr. Add a couple hundred fps. to that figure with ease. Figure you have a 60,000 Psi capable gun, and it makes the .357 into a different cartridge. My loads I don't believe run quite up to that pressure, but they are up there. Brass life is very good. I am using well worn Winchester brass, and haven't had so much as a loose primer pocket yet. Pm coming.

[Jtarm]

Awesome[emoji106]