Alternative 9mm Powders: TiteWad, Nitro 100NF, MP254

[steve urquell]

Well, it's time to embark on the next stage of this. .38/.357. I ordered a Rossi LWC in .357 mag and it is here. I have to pick it up from my FFL hopefully on Monday. I have a Primary Arms 1-6x24 30mm scope on the way as well.



I dorked around a little with .38spl loads with MP254 and the 180gr bullets I have. Arrived at a decent load that shot good out of my Rossi revolver. I have a few of those loaded as well as a few 160gr boolits loaded over 2.2gr of TiteWad.



Trying not to get too far ahead until I start shooting it and chrono'ing the loads. A big ol' question mark is how well the 30:1 twist barrel is gonna handle subsonic. I wish that twist was faster. We will see how it goes. I'll back down bullet weight until I get to something it likes.

For now I'm prepping .38 brass. I have ~150 sized, flared and primed and waiting...

[sharkey]

Beautiful Bench Steve! How do you keep everything so clean?

[steve urquell]

Beautiful Bench Steve! How do you keep everything so clean?

Thanks. I sometimes let it get cluttered but clear it off when I start a new project. I recently refurbed this bench and built a top out of maple butcher block I harvested from semi-trailers I used to work on for a living.

[Agent1187]

Nice stuff!
I haven't gotten around to fiddling with the MP powders in 38/357, but if subs is your goal then the 358-200FN rifle bullet mold from RCBS or Lee is perfect.

[Recycled bullet]

That rate of twist is so slow though. My 77 357 will shoot the RCBS Lee clone 358-200 bullet into circular bullet holes with three grains of Red Dot. Then that mold broke and I found out that 125 grain bullets are more accurate out of that rifle anyways.

[steve urquell]

That rate of twist is so slow though. My 77 357 will shoot the RCBS Lee clone 358-200 bullet into circular bullet holes with three grains of Red Dot. Then that mold broke and I found out that 125 grain bullets are more accurate out of that rifle anyways.

Yeah, I really don't like that twist rate for heavy subs. We will see what it will do. I've read a bunch of threads about the Rossi .357 lever guns with the same twist. Some can get it to group fine with that twist.

[Recycled bullet]

I wonder if you can send Supersonics up to Max without leading because of the slow twist

[Recycled bullet]

I like the 38 blackout it's a very interesting idea.

[steve urquell]

I wonder if you can send Supersonics up to Max without leading because of the slow twist

Maybe. I don't know if I can shoot them thru my suppressor though. I did just send a message to YHM and asked them what the maximum rated velocity on a .357 with 16" bbl would be for my suppressor. Haven't heard back yet.

[1eyedjack]

What if that was a metric twist say1 in 30 centimeters? That would convert roughly to 1 in 16 inches....otherwise with a barrel that short you would see less than one revolution of twist looking down the barrel

[steve urquell]

What if that was a metric twist say1 in 30 centimeters? That would convert roughly to 1 in 16 inches....otherwise with a barrel that short you would see less than one revolution of twist looking down the barrel

All the Rossi .357 rifles have the 1:30" twist. I wish it was 1:16"