Snubbie .357 Load for 2.5" BBL S&W 640-1 .357

[Gray Fox]

I just picked up a mint S&W 640-1 Pro Series .357 mag. It has the 2.5" barrel and dovetailed front and rear night sights, and is cut for moon clips which I have. I'm looking for a moderate, non- bone-rending load shooting my Lyman 358156 HP GC boolits cast from 1:20 lubed with LLA. I have Unique, 2400, 231, Titegroup, Red Dot, HS-6 and CFE Pistol to play with. All advice will be appreciated. GF

[Forrest r]

You're going to have fun with that 1!!!

You might want to visit the buffalo bore ammunition website and look at their 38spl & 357mag ammo's. They have real world testing with short bbl'd revolvers listed that will give you an idea of what to expect velocity wise.
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=9fa413176ab4a57bJmltdHM9MTY3NjMzMjgwMCZpZ3VpZD0z ZDBlODBlYS1hYjBjLTY4MGUtMDNiMi05MjhkYWE3MjY5ZGImaW 5zaWQ9NTE4NQ&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=3d0e80ea-ab0c-680e-03b2-928daa7269db&psq=buffalo+bore+ammunition&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnVmZmFsb2JvcmUuY29tLw&ntb=1

I tested that same bullet (358156hp) , actually 2 different versions small and large diameter hp pins along with 9 other cast and swaged bullets in a snub nosed 38spl (2" bbl). And a snubnosed 357mag that had a 2 1/2" bbl.

Recoil was pretty intense with the snubnosed ca undercover with max p+ loads and heavy bullets. My brother has a ported 640 357mag and it's still a handful with hot 357mag loads. Most 38spl and 357mag ammo uses a +/- 158gr bullet and their sights are chosen accordingly.

What I ended up doing is testing lighter bullets in the snubnosed 38spl and was impressed with the cramer #33 115gr bullet. It was designed for "indoor" use but did 1100fps+ in that snubnosed 38spl. Recoil was impressively less than the +/- 158gr bullets/loads. That 115gr bullet shot 5" low @ 7yds which was no big deal to me. Smaller/shorter front sights are a good thing on ccw pieces.
https://i.imgur.com/g01GjxQ.jpg

For the snubnosed 357mag I went with a heavy bullet, a 170gr fn. I cast it with a mp 640 series mold, 158gr hp's left/170gr fn right.
https://i.imgur.com/fjXhK9L.jpg

Ended up using a 14.7gr load of 2400 with that 170gr bullet. It did 1200fps+ in this 2 1/2" bbl'd s&w 586 l-comp revolver.
https://i.imgur.com/5vi2mrE.jpg

The comp does what it should & the revolver is also cut for moon clips and holds 7 shots.

Anyway I'd do a bunch of testing with different bullets/bullet weights. That snubnosed 640 is a fantastic carry revolver and you'll end up with several impressive loads with it.

[405grain]

I've got a Ruger Security Six with a 2.75" barrel. My load for it is the plain-Jane bread & butter rcbs 158 grain swc with 6.0 grains of Unique. Not flashy, but it works every time.

[rintinglen]

6.0 Grains of Unique, 6.0 grains of 231, 5.0 grains of Reddot or Titegroup: any of these will give a healthy boost over 38 special loads, without being too much of a good thing. I have used the Reddot, 231 and Unique loads with a 358-477 the most, but I cannot say that any one of them was much better than the others. The Unique load I have used with the 358-156 with very good accuracy, though mine is not hollow-pointed.

The 358-156 is a darned good boolit in the 357 mag, but I have mostly used it with H-110 in a carbine, because gas checks cost money, and I can get by with plain base boolits in my revolvers, as long as I don't try to reach mach II with them.