357 Rossi 92 and soft lead SWCHP

[songdog204]

I recently joined the world of lever actions and lead bullets. I’ve reloaded for bottle neck cartridges for the last 6 years or so and consider myself a decent reloaded. However the lead bullet world is entirely different. I bought a Rossi 92 in 357 mag and immediately started buying components. I bought a box of .358 Hornady SWCHP and a pound of titegroup. After looking more deeply into load development it seems these bullets are mainly for pistol loads, as in its a swaged soft lead bullet. Can you guys point in the direction if I can come up with a viable plinking load that won’t lead the barrel? Or do I cut my losses and source a different projectile?

[trapper9260]

Welcome , do you have a reloading manual ? if so Lyman is the best one for cast bullet . The manual have both for handgun and rifle. Have you slug your barrel? that is the first thing to do . That way you will know what size boolit to use .

[Thumbcocker]

Some Rossi, from what I have read, have large bores. Slug it first. A soft boolit, oversized bore, and fast powder is not a recipe for happiness.

[Larry Gibson]

Try 3.5 gr of Bullseye. Problem with those swaged SWCHPs in pistols and rifles is, being soft lead, they cannot be driven very fast....much over 900 fps, or inaccuracy and leading occurs. A light coat of LLA (Lee Liquid Alox, a light coat used per the instructions and let dry thoroughly) lube will help mitigate that but the velocity must still be kept under 1000 fps in the rifle.

[songdog204]

No I haven’t slugged the barrel. I just picked up the rifle on Friday. As far as the manuals go, i don’t have one for lead bullets. I was using Hogdons website and the rifle data shows 4.5-5.0g of Titegroup for a velocity of 1157-1220fps. However if you check 38 special load data it shows 3.2-3.8g. Velocity is unknown as that is found on the pistol side (as far as I can tell the only difference in rifle and pistol data on the Hodgdon site is the velocity).

[Froogal]

I cast my own from 1-20 lead. About 10bhn. I cast for both .38 special and .45 Colt. Same bullets are used in both the revolvers AND the Rossi lever action rifles. NO problems whatsoever with leading, etc. in the bores and no problems with accuracy.

[songdog204]

So basically if I keep them in 38 special territory sub 1000fps I should be alright?

[ABJ]

So basically if I keep them in 38 special territory sub 1000fps I should be alright?

I load down around 3.2/3.4 titegroup and get 750/775 out of single action revolvers and 950/980 out of a 20 inch 357 Rossi lever gun. The 200 fps is pretty close also on 44's and 45 colt's when starting at 750 ish on handguns. I think Larry's suggestion of 3.5 Bullseye would also fit close on my Titegroup numbers.
Tony

[fecmech]

I would check those Hornaday bullets for size. I bought some about 2 yrs ago and they were undersize (like .354) sent them back to Hornaday and got another undersize box back. Ran them through my Lyman sizer and swaged them up to .358 to get rid of them. Once swaged up to .358 they shot good. If they are undersize like mine were they will lead. Good luck

[lar45]

I used to have a Rossi 357 levergun, it's my Son's now, It's a great gun, very accurate, smooth action and lots of fun.
Like everyone else said, keep your loads light and you should be good.
If you want to run hot and heavy loads, get some harder bullets.
Matt's Bullets has a 160gn bullet that looks pretty good.
https://www.mattsbullets.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=266&zenid=pmkhk8kh96edb7qnc1elbpqfa3
https://www.mattsbullets.com/images/Img_7418.jpg

SWC bullets can be used, but I've had much better luck with the round nose flat points, RF,

[songdog204]

Alright so I slugged my barrel and it came out .355. I also checked those horandys and they ranged from .356-.358 with most actually being .357. So if I’m not mistaken in my limited understanding just keep ‘em lower than 1000fps and I’ll be alright.

[Driver man]

You dont say what the bullet weight is.

[songdog204]

158 swchp

[Driver man]

4.5 grains coal 1.610 1157 fps. max load is 5 grains.

[songdog204]

4.5 grains coal 1.610 1157 fps. max load is 5 grains.

Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of keeping around 1000fps?

[yeahbub]

You're right, they are intended for use in short barrels and they may lack lube for a carbine. I don't know what lube is on those, usually some dry stuff, but you have options, like Ben's Liquid Lube or straight Lee Liquid Alox. I prefer Ben's since it's less tacky when dry. This is the easiest and simplest way and may well add enough for good performance, depending on how hard you drive them.

A tecnique I've used to increase the velocity I could push soft boolits and reduce or prevent leading, particularly boolits which didn't carry much lube on them is to employ a card wad and lube cookie under the boolit. I make lube sheets by melting Emmert's BP lube about 1/8" deep on hot water in a pie tin and let it cool to room temp, cut it around the outside, lift it off the water and dry it on paper towels. Charge the case, insert a card wad and use the case mouth to cut through the lube sheet. Seat the boolit on top of this (no air space between card, lube and boolit) and you'll have plenty lube for the longer barrel. You should get a visible lube star on the muzzle after a few, a sign you have sufficient lube. Pressure against the card wad/lube cookie leaves a layer of lube in the bore on its way out, prepping it for the next shot. When I shoot the often-too-hard or improperly sized (for my chamber throats) commercial cast boolits in a competition and I have some degree of leading, I shoot a few of these and all leading is removed, leaving nothing but powder residue and a layer of lube in the bore. Those I use for this purpose usually have a mild plinking load.

CAUTION: It is necessary to reduce the load somewhat to account for the reduction in case volume due to the card wad and lube thickness. All other things being equal, nothing raises pressuer faster than reduced internal volume. I started with .38 Spl data in .357 Mag brass and developed my loads from there.

[Kosh75287]

THIS is my favorite bullet for lever-action .357s.

https://missouribullet.com/details.php?prodId=214&category=5&secondary=10&keywords=

[songdog204]

Thanks for all the replies! I loaded up some test loads tonight from 3.3 up to 4.5. Gonna run them over the chrono and check for leading in between. As long as I can get them to shoot accurately enough for plinking without any leading issues I’ll be happy.

[songdog204]

So I was able to make it to the range today and test these out. Good news was no leading! Bad news is I don't think my chronograph was reading right.... Here's what came of my test. Remember this is a 158 Hornady LSWCHP out of a 16" barrel using Titegroup.
3.3 - Avg 687
3.6 - Avg 702
3.9 - Avg 762
4.2 - Avg 793
4.5 - Avg 847
:confused:

Hogdon shows higher velocitys for the 38 spcl load out of 7" barrel at 920fps! Needless to say something doesn't seem right. So I shot a few Federal 158jsp's over the chrono and those were reading 2569 for an average 3?!?! Surely I was getting false readings... right?

[farmbif]

you said your just starting out, great. pistol loads is what you shoot in that gun. I cast my own from several bullet molds using just clip on wheel weights with a little bit of tin added and lube size to .360 with carnauba red lube and push them to full power using powders such as 300mp, 296/h110, 2400, no9. and I also put together lesser loads using 38 spl brass with powders such as bullseye, be86, red dot and others. two bullet designs that always seems to work well for me in my old Rossi in both 38 and 357 brass are mp molds 359125 and the 360640

[Kosh75287]

How well did the LSWCs feed through your Rossi's action? They're noteworthy for often hanging up on the sharp shoulder. If you did not experience this problem, then I congratulate you.

[songdog204]

I fed 25 without a hitch!