What magnum powder besides 2400 for 4” - 5” barreled 357’s?

[farmbif]

I guess I'm the only one who likes Alliant 300 mp for my highest velocity mag pistol rounds. meters like water and gives great performance and accuracy in guns ive used it in.

[megasupermagnum]

Bluedot is my go to for sure. It's basically fast 2400. I'm not sure why the comments on it being dirty or metering bad. It meters at least as good as 2400, and it actually meters pretty dang good for any flake powder. As for being dirty, if anything it is cleaner than 2400. Out of the remaining "magnum" powders, bluedot is by far the best for loading down with. Generally muzzle flash/blast is less with bluedot than the ball powders like H110.

H110 has been the mainstay magnum powder for good reason. You can't go wrong it it for full power loads. It's almost impossible to overload a 357 magnum with it. It works really well in any barrel length. Accuracy is almost always very good to excellent. The downside is it is a one trick pony. Outside of magnum handguns with full power loads, H110 is basically useless. .410 shotgun is an exception. The myth that H110 has to be loaded no less than 10% of maximum is just that, a myth. That said, H110 does not load down very much before velocities become inconsistent.

I'm not a big fan of IMR 4227. It's kind of cool in 44 magnum giving an oddly soft recoil, but in 357 magnum I just don't like how much speed you are giving up.

Lil' Gun is one I haven't seen mentioned. It's pretty much the same thing as H110. Sometimes Lil'Gun can get more velocity, sometimes not. It's a perfectly viable alternative to 2400 or H110.

300MP is still relatively new to me. I did a bunch of testing with it last year. It is a good powder. It is on the slow side for 357 magnum, but it does seem to allow good velocities at lower pressures than H110. It is marketed as not needing magnum primers. I've tried it both ways, and it seems like H110 to me. Sometimes a standard is better, a lot of times a magnum is better. Metering, cleanliness, and anything else is about the same as the other magnum ball powders. With more and more Hodgdon powder being discontinued at random, I can see myself going more to this 300MP in the future.

Accurate #9 is about between 2400 and Bluedot, except it is a ball powder. It's suitable powder. I see nothing real impressive about it though, and one problem I'm seeing with Accurate powders in general is they can vary in burn rate a ton from lot to lot.

Accurate #11fs is closer to 300MP than anything. I've not tried it due to me not being impressed with AA #5, #7, or #9. One feature of this powder that might be worthwhile is supposedly this powder produces low muzzle flash.

Vhitavouri N110 is an interesting powder if you find it. Technically N105 should be closer to 2400, but I like N110. At first you might think it is just another H110 wannabe, but you will find that it is actually a stick (extruded) powder with fine kernels. It meters fairly well. What I like about N110 is that it truly does perform best with standard primers from what I've seen. It can be downloaded, but not nearly as well as bluedot. Accuracy with this powder can be really good. I don't use it for two reasons. #1 it's expensive (not that it matters much with the state of things today) #2 it's kind of rare, and loading data can be sparse. There's a fair amount of data for 357 magnum though.

One last powder I have no experience with is Ramshot Enforcer.

[AlaskaMike]

I guess I'm the only one who likes Alliant 300 mp for my highest velocity mag pistol rounds. meters like water and gives great performance and accuracy in guns ive used it in.

I haven't tried it in my revolvers yet, but I love 300MP in my carbine loads. My copy of Propellant Profiles has some interesting information that seems to indicate it's basically 296 but with an added flash suppressant. Of course, published data shows that there's more to it than that--it's clearly slower burning than 296.

[MattOrgan]

Alliant 300 MP produces higher velocities that H110, W296, A#9, or 2400 in the .357, .41 Magnum and .480 Ruger loads I’ve tried using cast bullets that are “standard” weight or heavier for caliber. I use 170 grain, 220 grain, and 400 grain bullets respectively. But any of the above powders are excellent for heavy bullet loads in .357. I’ve got soft spot for 2400 after 50+ years of use, but haven’t been able to find any for a while. Luckily the other powders have occasionally been available so I can still shoot.

[justindad]

I’m using Enforcer with the NOE-360-160-WFN. This bullet leaves more space in the case than available load data. I worked up the charge to get to a point where nearly all powder was burnt, and available data says I’m not likely to be overpressure. Odd thing is, the felt recoil is softer than using moderate charges of True Blue and Accurate #7.
*
Oddly soft recoiling, slow burning powders is what I am after because I have a 3” K6S with hard wood grips, and it doesn’t weigh much. I am considering IMR4227 and/or a 170 grain wadcutter from Accurate Molds. The grips are so purdy that I’m hoping my hands toughen up before I get something rubber.

[Daekar]

Another vote for Lil'Gun. I would've preferred to use H110 initially, but it wasn't available in my area when I started loading 357. It can be surprisingly effectively, especially in long barrels. In a rifle it's like cheating, the power you can get is just ridiculous.

[gc45]

Another vote for H110 and #9.

[Three44s]

HS 6 is my favorite magnum revolver powder for upper medium field loads.

For full power it’s 2400 and then max full power H110!

Three44s

[Newtire]

Enforcer, HS6, CFE Pistol. Depends what you're shooting, didn't mention weight of bullet.

HS-6 here too.

[Ramjet-SS]

Some questions I hope you can help me with:

What other powders do you recommend besides 2400 (only magnum powder I’ve ever used in handguns over last 45 years) for use in shorter 357 Magnum revolvers as the Ruger BH 4 5/8”?

I would think that H110/WW296 would be more appropriate with longer barrels 6 inches and up for better and complete powder burn? Does anyone have experience with H110/WW296 powder n shorter barreled 357 Magnums say 4 to 5 inches?

Are there any other magnum powders you would recommend to duplicate a 1,250 fps load in this shorter barrel length besides 2400?

Little more muzzle flash with 296 and 110 but I use it with 158 grain hard cast in a 2” all the time. Then when run in the rifle it’s absolutely perfect.

[TurnipEaterDown]

I see the replies above cover the original question well.
Worth adding is: WC820 is most often similar to AA#9 and is flash suppressed.
Accurate #11FS is flash suppressed, and I believe that is what the "FS" is for.
I also remember an article recently (last year or two) where a powder distributor (believe it was Western rep) was quoted as stating that 300MP, W296, H110, 11FS were all actually within the same specification. i.e. They are 'the same' for pressure curves for a given loading condition within allowable lot-lot variation.

[scottyp99]

I'm a big fan of HS-6 for medium to "approaching full power" loads in .357 Magnum with lead 158 grain boolits. My favorite handload for .357 Magnum is 8.5 grains of HS-6 under a 158 grain LSWC. I get about 1150 fps out of my 4.2" Ruger GP100, which figures out to 464 foot pounds of energy.....not full blast by any means, but still, not too shabby either. And 8.5 grains is pretty close to the starting load for this powder and boolit, I'm sure you could easily push it up past 1200 fps with no problems.

Scotty

[Newtire]

I'm a big fan of HS-6 for medium to "approaching full power" loads in .357 Magnum with lead 158 grain boolits. My favorite handload for .357 Magnum is 8.5 grains of HS-6 under a 158 grain LSWC. I get about 1150 fps out of my 4.2" Ruger GP100, which figures out to 464 foot pounds of energy.....not full blast by any means, but still, not too shabby either. And 8.5 grains is pretty close to the starting load for this powder and boolit, I'm sure you could easily push it up past 1200 fps with no problems.

Scotty

I got avg. 1110 fps using 8.0 gr. HS-6/540 and a 160 gr. P/C NOE roundnose in my 6" gp100. I'd be careful about using any more of powders that fast. 6.0 gr. Unique is another great load as is 8.0 gr. Herco in that same gun, using same boolit. These loads are all very accurate but I'm not going any higher in charge wt. I have some other loads using 2400, Win. 296/H110 and a few using lil'gun that give great accuracy as well but this thread is not for those powders. I use Small rifle primers and seat to the crimp groove. Am using a taper-crimp if that makes any difference. These loads do great in the .357 Rossi rifle (24") that I just picked up as well. Not much recoil in the Rossi rifle. HS-6 is some pretty good stuff as far as I'm concerned. Our local Bi-Mart just got some in at around $31.00 a 1 pound can. Don't hear much about Herco anymore but it really does the trick if you have any lying around.

[mcgrathjosh30]

Bluedot is my go to for sure. It's basically fast 2400. I'm not sure why the comments on it being dirty or metering bad. It meters at least as good as 2400, and it actually meters pretty dang good for any flake powder. As for being dirty, if anything it is cleaner than 2400. Out of the remaining "magnum" powders, bluedot is by far the best for loading down with. Generally muzzle flash/blast is less with bluedot than the ball powders like H110.

H110 has been the mainstay magnum powder for good reason. You can't go wrong it it for full power loads. It's almost impossible to overload a 357 magnum with it. It works really well in any barrel length. Accuracy is almost always very good to excellent. The downside is it is a one trick pony. Outside of magnum handguns with full power loads, H110 is basically useless. .410 shotgun is an exception. The myth that H110 has to be loaded no less than 10% of maximum is just that, a myth. That said, H110 does not load down very much before velocities become inconsistent.

I'm not a big fan of IMR 4227. It's kind of cool in 44 magnum giving an oddly soft recoil, but in 357 magnum I just don't like how much speed you are giving up.

Lil' Gun is one I haven't seen mentioned. It's pretty much the same thing as H110. Sometimes Lil'Gun can get more velocity, sometimes not. It's a perfectly viable alternative to 2400 or H110.

300MP is still relatively new to me. I did a bunch of testing with it last year. It is a good powder. It is on the slow side for 357 magnum, but it does seem to allow good velocities at lower pressures than H110. It is marketed as not needing magnum primers. I've tried it both ways, and it seems like H110 to me. Sometimes a standard is better, a lot of times a magnum is better. Metering, cleanliness, and anything else is about the same as the other magnum ball powders. With more and more Hodgdon powder being discontinued at random, I can see myself going more to this 300MP in the future.

Accurate #9 is about between 2400 and Bluedot, except it is a ball powder. It's suitable powder. I see nothing real impressive about it though, and one problem I'm seeing with Accurate powders in general is they can vary in burn rate a ton from lot to lot.

Accurate #11fs is closer to 300MP than anything. I've not tried it due to me not being impressed with AA #5, #7, or #9. One feature of this powder that might be worthwhile is supposedly this powder produces low muzzle flash.

Vhitavouri N110 is an interesting powder if you find it. Technically N105 should be closer to 2400, but I like N110. At first you might think it is just another H110 wannabe, but you will find that it is actually a stick (extruded) powder with fine kernels. It meters fairly well. What I like about N110 is that it truly does perform best with standard primers from what I've seen. It can be downloaded, but not nearly as well as bluedot. Accuracy with this powder can be really good. I don't use it for two reasons. #1 it's expensive (not that it matters much with the state of things today) #2 it's kind of rare, and loading data can be sparse. There's a fair amount of data for 357 magnum though.

One last powder I have no experience with is Ramshot Enforcer.

I agree with everything except that h110 is only good for magnum handguns. I live in a straight wall state, and have had good results with h110 in 450 bushmaster as well.