what is your favorite .357 mag load?

[Bula]

A great load is 13.5g of 2400 under a 358429. Shoots great in my Ruger and Smith. Not abusive, but it hits with all the authority you'll need from a .357. I do go a grain or so higher with the 358156 but I like not having to use GC's (i'm really cheap). I save those for the carbine loads.

[GH1]

I use 13.5 gr AA#9 underneath a 158 gr RNFP with CCI 500 primers. I have no idea on velocity, I'm guessing it's around 1250 in my revolver and a little bit higher in my levergun.
Oddly enough, I found that the #9 produced much less leading than 6.0 gr Bullseye. I'm guessing it's due to obturation.
GH1

[Al57]

Well, I'm new to casting, but i sure like the look of the lee 358-158-rf (my mold is in mail) . Nice big meplat, should work almost like a wadcutter for light target / plinkers. should hit like a hammer when loaded hot.

In the past, i've carried Hornaday's 158gr FP/xtp with 13gr blue dot (this is a max load). The flat point XTP is a flat point with a small hollow. It's designed for higher velocity than their big hollow point, and doesn't over expand.

It's my pick for a woods just in case load. I don't know what type of critters you may have, but i would not hesitate on a cougar or black bear, or as a deer hunting load.

LB

Lyle, 13.0 grs ? ( Are you sure ? ) of Blue Dot under a 158 gr. jacketed bullet has to be one heck of a warm thumper. In the past, I worked up to 10.7 grs of BD under a 158 gr jhp, and it was a plenty from 4" GP100's from a recoil & blast standpoint. Alliant & Speer now list 10.2 as max with 158 J's.

[NHlever]

I agree with the last post, and have settled on 10.0 grains of Blue dot as a max load behind any of my 158 grain .357 mag loads. 13 grains is way too hot.

[roverboy]

I used to shoot a lot of 2400 behind 158 gr. cast swc. But my cousin gave me a 25# keg of Herco and I'll probably never shoot it all, but I'm trying. I have worked up to 9 gr. with a 158 gr. cast. I load some H110 with 158 gr. behind 15 gr. Does anybody have data with Dupont 5066? I've looked on the net for .357 and .38 sp. loasd and have not found much. Its been discontinued for a long time. I was given a whole pound that looks good and I want to use it.

[HANDYMAN]

I have stuck with lil' gun ever since I first tried it. I shoot the lee 158 swc TL over 14gr. Forgot what the FPS is but it's accurate as all hell out of my 686, 28, and blackhawk. My winchester 94 trapper likes it too! For hunting I use 18gr with a 158 XTP or 15gr with 180 XTP.

[357Mag]

Howdy !

By all means, DO try 14.5gr WW296 ( or H110 as it is variously known ) and a Magnum SP primer under any Lyman lead SWC of 158-172gr.
These don't have to be gas checked, either.

#2 is: 7gr IMR 4756 and standard SP primer under same weight-range Lyman
SWCs.


With regards,
.357Mag

[Little Big Oz]

Newbie here so I hope you'll forgive my late arrival to this thread. I've used 10.3 gr Blue Dot with a 158 gr LSWC and Win small pistol primer with pretty good success. Chronographs ~1350 fps from a 6" bbl S&W 686.

[9.3X62AL]

L/B Oz--

Welcome aboard, sir. I'm fond of what Unique, Herco, and Blue Dot can do in all the straightwall revolver Magnums.

Roverboy--

Per your Dupont #5066 request........from P.O. Ackley's "Handbook For Shooters & Reloaders" (C. 1962)--

pp. 515, 357 Magnum--

148 grain bullet--4.0 grains of 5066--1000 FPS

161 " " 5.3 " " " 1090 FPS

pp. 517, 38 Special--

144 grain bullet--4.0 grains of 5066--980 FPS

Volume 2 of P.O. Ackley's "Handbook........" (C. 1966) offered quite a bit more data using #5066.

pp. 486-488, 357 Magnum--

125 grain bullet--3.0 grains of 5066--840 FPS
" " " 5.8 " " " 1240 FPS

146 grain bullet--3.5 grains of 5066--629 FPS
" " " 4.0 " " " 713 FPS
" " " 4.5 " " " 816 fPS

158 grain bullet--3.5 grains of 5066--680 FPS
" " " 5.5 " " " 1190 FPS

160 grain bullet--3.5 grains of 5066--616 FPS
" " " 4.0 " " " 767 FPS
" " " 4.5 " " " 844 FPS

165 grain bullet--3.0 grains of 5066--650 FPS
" " " 5.0 " " " 1100 FPS

200 grain bullet--3.0 grains of 5066--555 FPS
" " " 3.7 " " " 860 FPS

pp. 488-491 38 Special--

115 grain bullet--3.5 grains of 5066--690 FPS
" " " 5.5 " " " 1060 FPS

125 grain bullet--3.5 grains of 5066--700 FPS
" " " 5.5 " " " 1080 FPS

146 grain bullet--4.0 grains of 5066--850 FPS
" " " 4.5 " " " 866 FPS
" " " 5.0 " " " 965 FPS

148 grain bullet--2.5 grains of 5066--718 FPS
" " " 2.7 " " " 790 FPS

150 grain bullet--3.5 grains of 5066--710 FPS
" " " 4.6 " " " 880 FPS

160 grain bullet--4.0 grains of 5066--813 FPS
" " " 4.5 " " " 898 FPS
" " " 5.0 " " " 934 FPS

Use caution with this data, ol' Parker wasn't afraid to pour on the coal from time to time.

[Little Big Oz]

9.3X62AL,

Thanks for the welcome. Have already learned some very useful info from this forum before joining. I bought a Super Blackhawk a couple of months ago and have decided that I'll have to start casting my own bullets to thoroughly enjoy that gun.

[ColColt]

Too many good ones to decide on a favorite but, all in all I'd say...

7.5 gr of HS-6 and the 158 gr

5.5 gr of Universal-same boolit

13.5 gr of 2400-same boolit

9 gr of HS-6 and 170 gr boolit

All lead and all with CCI500 primers and Starline cases.
Ruger GP100

[MT2DAY]

looking for info using power pistol w/cast in 357

[yeahbub]

My two favorites with a 158gr paper patched is 16gr of 2400 or 19gr of Lilgun and standard primers.

[Hickok]

For years I have always used the Lyman 358429 Keith with 2400 powder, the "classic" load for the .357 mag. Just recently, I started using the Lee 358-158 RNFP and 10.5 gr of Bluedot, for 1261fps out of my Smith 686.

The Lee boolit has a wide flat meplat which I like.

[dougader]

For "serious" .357 woods duty my load is the lyman 358429 173 grain Keith bullet over 15.5 grains of lil gun. One note-many people report great performance from lil gun in rifles and lackluster performance in revolvers....bullet pull/start resistance is extremely important with lil gun. I happen to have a set of tight C&H dies for my .357 loads that help me get consistent velocities and match the velocity of 10% higher charges from "looser" dies. FWIW , My old .357 load was 10 gr of Blue Dot under 158grain bullets-still a good load.

I use that 358429 with 10 grains Hercules Blue Dot and a standard primer, a max charge listed in the Lyman manual. When I first started shooting IHMSA with a 357 mag revolver, it knocked down the 200 meter rams just fine.

You'll need to work up to this load, especially with the newer Alliant Blue Dot.

[dougader]

Lyle, 13.0 grs ? ( Are you sure ? ) of Blue Dot under a 158 gr. jacketed bullet has to be one heck of a warm thumper. In the past, I worked up to 10.7 grs of BD under a 158 gr jhp, and it was a plenty from 4" GP100's from a recoil & blast standpoint. Alliant & Speer now list 10.2 as max with 158 J's.

Old Speer 11 data lists some heavy doses of Blue Dot in every bullet weight. In working up my 357 loads back then - late 1980's - I never worked my way all the way up to a book max load with that Speer 11 Blue Dot data.

Still, my old loads were/are quite a bit hotter than what you see today in Speer 14. Heck, the old Start load in Speer 11 can be higher than the NEW max load in Speer 14.

My OLD loads with BD were:

125 jhp and 14.5 - 15.2 grains BD
140 jhp and 13.5 grains BD
158 jhp and 12.5 grains BD

I still use 10 grains BD with the Lyman 358429, a load (as noted in my previous post) that is still listed in Lyman 49th but worked up to by me when I was using the Lyman 45th.

I always use standard primers with Blue Dot. Mag primers can get "spikey" on a fella when using BD.

I'm still using a keg of Hercules Blue Dot and have never used the newer Alliant Blue Dot. I suggest using current data when it's available... and it is available.

[wbrco]

I see a lot of posts about BlueDot (and 6.8gr under 158 lswc is my favorite .38spc load).

What I don't understand is why there is such a lack of data for .38 and .357 for BlueDot in the Alliant data books..

I have yet to work up a .357 load with BlueDot, but at least now I have a bunch of posts to reference. Looks like 10grs is the high end.

As an old shotgun reloader I've used BlueDot for a long time, but didn't realize they changed the formula. What's the main difference
in the versions?

[Treeman]

wbrco, They didn't change the formula. Past data seems to indicate that lot to lot variations in Blue dot showed more in handgun loads than they did in shotguns but most specifically and importantly it was discovered that in SOME revolvers the pressure peak with BDot and 125grain bullets was occurring precisely as the bullet base left the cylinder, punching up the base and causing a pressure spike as it swaged back down in the forcing cone.....in other words pressures have been known to be higher in revolvers than in pressure barrels due that action but BDot and 125s in .357 was taking it way beyond "normal". Therefore Alliant warns against Bdot in .357 with light bullets and pulled their old .41 Mag daa because they found issues with it also.

Resurrecting this old thread causes me to mention that I moved away from l'il gun due to the erosion reports regarding it I didn't want to use it in my Mod 19. My new"thumper" in .357 is the 173 grain Keith and 14 grains of 2400.

[6thtexas]

I generally stuck to a 358429/13.0 grains of 2400 seated out to crimp in the crimp groove as I am running a S&WM19 and a couple of Rugers. On occasion I will load a few 358416s up with a max load of 2400 for a Ruger Bisley.

[Char-Gar]

Another thread back from the dead!