Matt_G
10-29-2009, 01:50 PM
Got my wife a new Ruger SP 101 in 357 Magnum and I want to load some light practice loads for her.
I have 38 and 357 brass but I want to try 38 loads in 357 brass because I've read that accuracy is usually better out of the longer brass.
Boolit I want to use is the Lyman 358495. It's a 141 grain wadcutter. Out of my WW metal it drops at 146 grains on average. For those not familiar with this boolit, it has 3 grease grooves and a crimp groove.
Now before we got this gun for her, she shot some light 38 loads out of my Ruger Bisley and really liked the low recoil etc. She just hated the gun, it was too big for her.
Those were in 38 brass, same boolit, standard small pistol primers and pushed by 3.1 grains of Bullseye or 3.9 grains of Win. 231.
I didn't chronograph them, but I'm guessing they ran about 800 fps.
So that's what I want to duplicate out of 357 brass.
After reading another thread here where some folks said you could use 38 special data in 357 brass by increasing the powder charge 10% to get the same ballistics, I started looking through my manuals.
What I'm seeing there doesn't really bear out what I read in that thread.
For instance:
38 special - Lyman 358495 - small pistol primer - Bullseye powder
Starting load: 3.0 grains - 778 fps - 11,000 c.u.p.
Max load: 4.1 grains - 973 fps - 16,800 c.u.p.
357 Magnum - Lyman 358495 - small pistol magnum primer - Bullseye powder
Starting load: 4.8 grains - 730 fps - 18,000 c.u.p.
Max load: 6.8 grains - 1157 fps - 40,600 c.u.p.
Obviously, going by the above data, that 10% rule doesn't work with Bullseye powder. :lol:
Now I'm leaning towards just using the above data and just loading those boolits up over 5.0 grains of Bullseye. The mag primer does make me scratch my head a little though.
Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone here has any safe loads for this boolit, in 357 brass, in the 800 fps range using Win 231 or Red Dot powder. I also have a bunch of Unique.
Any pet loads you may have that fit the bill would be appreciated.
And one other question.
Would you taper or roll crimp on that 358495 boolit?
I've been roll crimping but I'm wondering if taper might be better.
I have 38 and 357 brass but I want to try 38 loads in 357 brass because I've read that accuracy is usually better out of the longer brass.
Boolit I want to use is the Lyman 358495. It's a 141 grain wadcutter. Out of my WW metal it drops at 146 grains on average. For those not familiar with this boolit, it has 3 grease grooves and a crimp groove.
Now before we got this gun for her, she shot some light 38 loads out of my Ruger Bisley and really liked the low recoil etc. She just hated the gun, it was too big for her.
Those were in 38 brass, same boolit, standard small pistol primers and pushed by 3.1 grains of Bullseye or 3.9 grains of Win. 231.
I didn't chronograph them, but I'm guessing they ran about 800 fps.
So that's what I want to duplicate out of 357 brass.
After reading another thread here where some folks said you could use 38 special data in 357 brass by increasing the powder charge 10% to get the same ballistics, I started looking through my manuals.
What I'm seeing there doesn't really bear out what I read in that thread.
For instance:
38 special - Lyman 358495 - small pistol primer - Bullseye powder
Starting load: 3.0 grains - 778 fps - 11,000 c.u.p.
Max load: 4.1 grains - 973 fps - 16,800 c.u.p.
357 Magnum - Lyman 358495 - small pistol magnum primer - Bullseye powder
Starting load: 4.8 grains - 730 fps - 18,000 c.u.p.
Max load: 6.8 grains - 1157 fps - 40,600 c.u.p.
Obviously, going by the above data, that 10% rule doesn't work with Bullseye powder. :lol:
Now I'm leaning towards just using the above data and just loading those boolits up over 5.0 grains of Bullseye. The mag primer does make me scratch my head a little though.
Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone here has any safe loads for this boolit, in 357 brass, in the 800 fps range using Win 231 or Red Dot powder. I also have a bunch of Unique.
Any pet loads you may have that fit the bill would be appreciated.
And one other question.
Would you taper or roll crimp on that 358495 boolit?
I've been roll crimping but I'm wondering if taper might be better.