How fast .357

[Charlie Two Tracks]

How fast can I push a .357 cast boolit? I have been using a commercially cast 158 gr SWC bullet and seating it above 7.2 gr. of Unique. That has worked quite well. I am casting a flat nose 158 gr boolit right now made of straight wheel weights and lubing with ALOX cut with mineral spirits. The 7.2 gr. of Unique is above the newer manuals but the older ones show using up to 8 gr. I hope this is the right place to be posting this.

[NuJudge]

You can push a .357 158 SWC bullet a good bit faster with a powder such as 2400, although you may want to only try doing it with a Gas Check design.

Older manuals did report higher charges with most or all of the Alliant powders. I would not stray above the current published figures.

CDD

[GP100man]

I have a alloy that is a consistent 10.5 bhn & push it to 1200-1250 with carnauba red from Lars45 & have no leadin , any faster & I have to GC or tuffen up the mix .

This alloy is tuff enuff to spring back to 359. after sizin.

1200 is at the upper side of my comfort zone with AR hands & fingers though !

[Bass Ackward]

Quickload says that 7.2 is @ 28k.

8 gr is 35k.

This depends on gun and seating depth, blah, blah, blah.

What pressure you get will depend on how far up your lube / hardness combo in THAT gun holds out. If (and when) it fails, pressure will jump rapidly.

Some will interpret this as spiky powder.

If it does, then harden or change lube or slow burn rate.

[kawalekm]

I shoot Lyman's 358477 plain-base SWC at 1400 fps in my revolver with 12.0 grains of Blue Dot. The same load in my rifle is going 1800 fps. Bullets lubed with Thompson's Blue Angel. Minimal leading that cleans out with a tight cotton patch. Bullet alloy is Lyman #2, bullets sized to .358".

[357maximum]

It also depends on the gun in which you are using. I can take the same upper end cast load with 2400 and run it through my DanWesson 15 and a S&W 686 and get different pressure indicators. My Dan would show pressure earlier than the smith, but then again the dan would also show considerably more velocity than the smith with the same load/barrel length. Cylinder gap and bore size were the main things at play here.

[LowPE]

You will probably want to upgrade your lube -- alox is fine for plinking.

Gas checks will add to the pressure but remove leading.

Think of what purpose you want the cartridge to perform and tailor your load for that.

Chasing after velocity, for the sake of velocity, is unrewarding. IMHO.

[fryboy]

Chasing after velocity, for the sake of velocity, is unrewarding. IMHO.

i often state the same thing yet am always amazed at how many do just that ....

[missionary5155]

Chasing after velocity, for the sake of velocity, is unrewarding. IMHO.[/QUOTE]

I totaly agree... that is why someone thought of calibers that start with 4... and now 5´s...
And then there are the Supermags that will let you choose some slower powders and get after velocities but even that has sanity boundries.

[Blammer]

I think chasing after velocity to see how fast you can go without leading is fairly interesting.

I always come back to accuracy but hey, it's entertaining to me.

I'd say you can get 1500 fps or so. I've done that velocity with plain base boolits in my 357 mag lever gun.

[454PB]

I shoot Lyman's 358477 plain-base SWC at 1400 fps in my revolver with 12.0 grains of Blue Dot. The same load in my rifle is going 1800 fps. Bullets lubed with Thompson's Blue Angel. Minimal leading that cleans out with a tight cotton patch. Bullet alloy is Lyman #2, bullets sized to .358".

Wow! that's one hot load. I've gone as high as 10 grs. of Bluedot, and the Alliant web site says 10.2 grs. is maximum when using a 158 gr. jacketed bullet. They don't even list Bluedot with lead boolits.

[miestro_jerry]

I can make a 357 go as fast as my hands can handle in the L FRame, but with some bullets you may be cleaning the lead out of the barrel for a while.

I keep my 357s modest, about 1,100 fps. I have a Lyman 158 SWC mold from many years ago and it cast great bullets. You should be using some other form of Luber/Sizer than the Lee Alox combination. I recommend a synthetic lube if you can get it or try the different lubes from http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/. They work very well.

After owning the old Lee Cookie Cutter lube system and a RCBS sizer, I bought a Star. I like the Star much better than all of the others. For some bullets I cast, I use the Lee Sizer, but use Xlox as my lube.

Good Luck,

Jerry

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Thanks for the info. guys. I was wondering if ALOX was just for slower speeds. The revolver I shoot these in is an SP-101 with a 3" barrel. I just wanted some hot loads for it and mostly use a lighter load for the target practice.
I guess I should have asked: How fast can you push a 158 gr. boolit using ALOX. I guess I don't explain what I am meaning at times.

[lar45]

How fast can I push a .357 cast boolit? I have been using a commercially cast 158 gr SWC bullet and seating it above 7.2 gr. of Unique.
The 7.2 gr. of Unique is above the newer manuals
but the older ones show using up to 8 gr. I hope this is the right place to be posting this.

One thing that might need pointing out here is the Herculese powder company was bought out and is now the Alliant Powder company. They kept the same powder names, but the formulas of the powders are slightly different now. So if you have some old Herculese powder, then the old manual is probably fine. For the newer Alliant powder, stick with a more modern manual.

I really like BlueDot for heavy 357 mag loads. When compared to WW296, I was able to get higher velocities with less felt recoil. I think that's because the faster powder can be more completely consumed in the short barrels.

I like Quickload and usually use it to put loading manual data in for another reference before I start loading a new bullet powder combination.

[badbob85037]

The max for a .357 158 grain SWC is 6.8 which will give you 1,295 FPS with 33,900 psi. If it is speed you are looking Hercules 2400 with a max charge of 15.3 grains will give you 1,620 fps only uping the pressure 100 pounds to 34,000 psi. Unless your firing that out of a canon I would bring that charge down. At least bring a few jacketed bullets with you to clean the lead out of the barrel unless you want to spend a couple hours and a lot of elbow grease cleaning out the lead.

[KYCaster]

I really like BlueDot for heavy 357 mag loads. When compared to WW296, I was able to get higher velocities with less felt recoil. I think that's because the faster powder can be more completely consumed in the short barrels.


Hmmmm...I've found just the opposite to be true. Every time I tried Blue Dot I got pressure signs and punishing recoil before W296 maxed out.

Go figger. :confused:

Jerry

ETA: Maybe barrel length is the difference??????

[lar45]

I was working with a 4" GP-100 at the time and we also tested in a 6.5" Blackhawk.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Using commercial lead bullets, I have got no leading issues with the 7 grains. I am now casting 158 FN. I will start these out at 6 grains and see how it goes.

[Shiloh]

Normally keep them less than 1200 have gone to around 1350. This is with flat base or bevel base. Stiff recoil.

Shiloh

[StarMetal]

It also depends on the gun in which you are using. I can take the same upper end cast load with 2400 and run it through my DanWesson 15 and a S&W 686 and get different pressure indicators. My Dan would show pressure earlier than the smith, but then again the dan would also show considerably more velocity than the smith with the same load/barrel length. Cylinder gap and bore size were the main things at play here.

Mike, that may be just because of a difference between the two bore/groove diameter between the two different brand revolvers.

Colts were notorious for having very tight diameters...you could call them 9mm specification size.

Another difference is how tight or loose the chamber specs are.

I've even seen this in two identical brand/guns.

[357maximum]

I sure would think BORE SIZE would cover groove VS bore ratios........but then again I tend to make things too simple sometimes.:mrgreen::veryconfu

[StarMetal]

I sure would think BORE SIZE would cover groove VS bore ratios........but then again I tend to make things too simple sometimes.:mrgreen::veryconfu

I was just emphasizing that they made a lot of difference is all Mike.
I have an example, a friend and I both had the early Rossi Puma 357 Mag lever actions bought out of the same production run. I worked up a very stiff 4227 load with a 150 grain cast bullet. I gave Frank the load the loaded the same bullet, same load, in the same rifle. His blew every primer in every round he shot. He pulled the rest of them down. I told him apparently there's something different on his rifle, bore, groove, chambers...that caused it to do that. He agreed. Yes we checked the firing pins and those weren't it nor was the head space.

[rockrat]

I was shooting a Max today, using Ww's + some tin, lubed with LBT soft. Nearing 2300fps, no leading, 357-180Sil mould. Rifle