h110 for cast in 357???

[hornsurgeon]

i'll be getting a blackhawk in 357. i had one years ago and foolishly traded it off. i used to load hornadays in it as i didn;t cast back then. i used a lot of h110 and bluedot with them.

i have heard that h110 needs full power loads with good pressure to opperate well. is it ok to use with cast? any suggestions? i'd like to load 158 or heavier for plinking and for whitetail.

[swheeler]

H110 works well with heavy cast bullets. I use a magnum primer and firm crimp with 168 gr Lee GC bullet sized .359, 14-15.2 grs from 4 5/8 bbl.

[hornsurgeon]

also, would there be a better "ideal" powder for mid to heavy cast in 357? 2400? bluedot?

[.357]

Found some H110 recently i'm looking forward to branching out, i have a 158 grain PBSWC mold that i'm just dying to put on top of some h110 i'll post my results. Hopefully this weekend.

[JIMinPHX]

H-110 is a great powder for heavy boolits that you want to push fast out of straight walled pistol cartridges. It is THE top performer for me in my .44 mag. It is also a good performer for heavy .357 loads. It's what I'm using with my Lyman 358477-CSGCM182. You can see more about that here -
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=76745
I've had poor results when I tried to load H-110 under plain base boolits. The bases of the recovered boolits were covered with pock marks after firing. I think that powder burns too hot for boolits without gas checks. As you've already been told, H-110 is happiest near the top end of the loading chart.

Blue Dot will let you load it down a little bit, but not a lot. It starts to get spooky when you load it too lite. when you start seeing velocities go up as the charge weight goes down, you are in the danger zone with that powder.

2400 performs well at mid to upper end loads too. I've seen it do good things in rifles of that caliber.

I'd use the H-110 if you really want to push them hard. I'd use the BD or 2400 if you want something just a notch or two below that. If you want to load genuine mid range stuff, you may be better off with something like Unique.

[Doc_Stihl]

+1 for what JiminPHX said.

H110 is THE powder for 44 and 357 for heavy weight boolits in my opinion.

I like unique for firmer plinking loads.

[9.3X62AL]

Jim in PHX summed it up very well. H-110 and WW-296 get used with gas-checked boolits at my house, because of the pock-marking in bullet/boolit bases that spherical powder granules are noted for leaving. Those powders are really at their best with loads best served by gas-check boolits, anyway.

Shotgun powders like Unique and Herco get the call for cast loads in the 900-1100 FPS envelope in the Magnum revolver calibers.

[BruceB]

In the past I used a good bit of H110 in .44 Magnum loads, where it worked well and gave me the highest velocities I obtained with cast bullets in that cartridge.

I also tried it in the .357, but for some reason now lost in the sands of time, I didn't care for it all that much in that cartridge.

It does give magnificent flash effects, even from the 7.5" .44 barrel.....a brilliant blue-white in reduced lighting (indoor range).

I now use 2400 in all three magnum revolver cartridges (.357, .41, .44), because it offers more flexibility over the recommended do-not-reduce status of H110. Unless it's absolutely necessary to obtain the utmost speed, I'd say one is better-off in keeping 2400 as a stock item, rather than H110. I don't miss it.

[454PB]

Again I beat the drum for Bluedot, it's my go-to powder for mid range loads in everything from 9mm to .454 Casull. In .357 magnum, it will push a 160 gr. cast SWC to 1250 fps. in a barrel over 4" long.

You might give a look at Lil'Gun, it really shines in the .357

[Doc_Stihl]

I tend to stay away from Lil'Gun in revolvers due to it's reputation for gas cutting. Not that I want to start that discussion. Lil'Gun run ALOT hotter from my experience than H110 with little improvement in the cartridges I've tried. (44Mag - 500SW single shots)

[45r]

Vitt N-110 is the best powder I've tried in 357 mag followed by unique and 2400.H-110,296 is hard on 357 throats and topstraps.I do use it for 41,44, and 45.

[Shiloh]

I've used it in .357 with heavy boolits. Also used it for .30 Carbine and 110 gr jacketed bullets.

Since gone to 2400 for .357

Shiloh

[dk17hmr]

I use it in my 4" 357, with a 358429. Works very well for heavy loads. For light loads I use trailboss and a 160gr wadcutter.