357 mag bhn

[Aburkh4]

Lee 125 rnfp or 105 swc- what alloy/bhn is needed to send these 1800+ down a rifle? Planning to use plain base gas checks and powder coat. I would like them to be as soft as possible to get some expansion.


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[Bazoo]

Howdy and welcome to the forum.

I've had good results using WW+Sn for full pressure loads, even with a plain based bullet like the RCBS 38-150-SWC that's traditionally lubed with 50/50 and pushed by W296. WW alloy will give you some expansion at rifle velocities.

[lar45]

You might get away with a 50-50 mix of Wheel Weights and pure lead going that fast if they are powder coated. I don't have any experience with PB gas checks.
And welcome to the forum

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Lee 125 rnfp or 105 swc- what alloy/bhn is needed to send these 1800+ down a rifle? Planning to use plain base gas checks and powder coat. I would like them to be as soft as possible to get some expansion.


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Aburkh4,
welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure what your goal is? But I'd want a heavier boolit for a Rifle, like a 158gr.

If this is all new to you, and it seems to be? I'd try standard GCs first, and maybe hold off with the PC, until after you have some success with lubed boolits. It's not all as simple as you might think.

Lastly, Expansion with a cast boolit isn't usually necessary if you have a heavy enough bullet with a good size meplat.

[Aburkh4]

Aburkh4,
welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure what your goal is? But I'd want a heavier boolit for a Rifle, like a 158gr.

If this is all new to you, and it seems to be? I'd try standard GCs first, and maybe hold off with the PC, until after you have some success with lubed boolits. It's not all as simple as you might think.

Lastly, Expansion with a cast boolit isn't usually necessary if you have a heavy enough bullet with a good size meplat.

Not new to casting or powder coating- previously casting hp for 9mm, lee 7/8oz slugs and 00 buckshot. My goal is a cheap predator load around the farm out to ~200ish. I have a lovely 357 mag whitetail load using 158 xtp but i would rather save those for filling the freezer.


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[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Oh OK. I'd probably use BHN 14 or 15.

[mnewcomb59]

The 125-rf shoots great up to 2100 fps with anything I tried from 9 BHN and up. I shot a lot of them with 17.7gr 2400 using range scrap and powder coated. They would shoot 10 shots into 1.5 inches at 50 yards with 2000+ fps magnum loads from 9 to 15 BHN and they were slightly less accurate with really hard lead like 3-6.5-90.5 (which was about as close to hardball as I could get with foundry type and wheel weights).

With the softer lead they don't really penetrate enough for deer other than broadside shots with no bone. I moved on to 158 gr bullets for the better BC which means less blowing in the wind and more power at 100 yards.

[Aburkh4]

The 125-rf shoots great up to 2100 fps with anything I tried from 9 BHN and up. I shot a lot of them with 17.7gr 2400 using range scrap and powder coated. They would shoot 10 shots into 1.5 inches at 50 yards with 2000+ fps magnum loads from 9 to 15 BHN and they were slightly less accurate with really hard lead like 3-6.5-90.5 (which was about as close to hardball as I could get with foundry type and wheel weights).

With the softer lead they don't really penetrate enough for deer other than broadside shots with no bone. I moved on to 158 gr bullets for the better BC which means less blowing in the wind and more power at 100 yards.

Looking for coyote medicine. Do you use gas checks?


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[Recycled bullet]

Do you need explosive decompression? These are plain based, cast of 90-5-5, powder coat chrome and blue. I shoot them over compressed load of 296 and hit the paper plate hundreds of times at 50 yards offhand with the black hawk. When i shot the steel plate with the ruger 77-357 carbine it whacked the ar500 plate almost as hard as the 30-30 henry rifle does with 170 grain soft tip.

[lar45]

Now those are some purty boolits

[HamGunner]

An informative group of Blogs about your question, perhaps?

Since you are thinking of powder coating, the hardness suggested per psi is not going to need to be nearly as hard as many charts suggest anyway. Many over harden cast, especially if they are higher velocity hunting bullets, but hardness is not always the answer to leading or accuracy for good high velocity results. Bullet fit it king. With powder coating, you will likely do well with a more malleable alloy, especially if using a gas check. The gas check also helps get the cast bullet spinning without first having a good bit of skidding, which helps increase the accuracy.

http://357shooter.blogspot.com/2010/...and-alloy.html

http://357shooter.blogspot.com/2013/...as-checks.html

http://357shooter.blogspot.com/2012/...nch-round.html

For my personal experience with lighter weight bullets in a carbine, although I do not have a .357 carbine, I do have a 94 Win. 44 Mag. It shoots a fat Lyman 429215gc bullet at 1,900 fps very accurately with only 9-10 BHN alloy at around 220 gr., but I normally do cast them a little bit harder like around 12 BHN as expansion is not my desire. They kill deer well and since my carbine has a slow twist, the shorter bullet has worked better for me, plus it cycles well.

Good luck with your load work up.

[Aburkh4]

Do you need explosive decompression? These are plain based, cast of 90-5-5, powder coat chrome and blue. I shoot them over compressed load of 296 and hit the paper plate hundreds of times at 50 yards offhand with the black hawk. When i shot the steel plate with the ruger 77-357 carbine it whacked the ar500 plate almost as hard as the 30-30 henry rifle does with 170 grain soft tip.

What mold/pin are those? Mp 357 Hammer?


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[Recycled bullet]

What mold/pin are those? Mp 357 Hammer?


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Yes the blue bullets are MP359 hammer with the deepest pins. The chrome bullets are MP358429 with the deepest pins.