ChristopherG
July 31, 2003, 03:45 PM
When out shooting my Redhawk today (detailed in another thread), I also took a batch of a load I've worked up for my S&W 340PD--the much maligned and much loved scandium .357 snub that weighs in at 12 oz.
This gun is more finnicky with regard to ammo than any other I have, and presents a challenge for load selection. I've tried shooting/carrying the 38+p LSWCHP; they do shoot to point of aim, and reasonably accurately, but they're terribly messy, and they're only .38s, after all. Recent tests at ammolab.com don't look very promising for their performance, either.
I've tried the lightweight .357s, from Remington and Federal. They're cleaner, and they're controllable (with the right grips--a whole different saga; took me months to decide I really wanted the control of grips that covered the backstrap of this beast badly enough to live with the slight extra bulk), but they don't shoot to point of aim (only 158s do), and they are not as accurate as the heavier bullets in this gun, for whatever reason. Yet full-bore/factory .357 is more than I feel I can control reasonably. So I decided to download.
Today's load, which falls in between a couple of others I'd tried earlier, is simply 6.0 grs of W231 under a 158 gr. JHP (Gold Dots for real rounds, cheap roze JHP for practice). I don't know what this clocks; I'm guessing about a thousand fps. It's certainly within the operational perameters of the Gold Dot (though 10 layers of denim and 2 parkas might clog it, I realize), and more importantly, it's both accurate and controllable. In my best showing, I set up 5 shotgun hulls at 20 yards and knocked four of them down with a cylinder in reasonable (though not Miculek) time.
This is a load I feel good about carrying (setting aside the whole legal question about handloads; my basic answer to that concern is that I don't plan to shoot anyone), something that just wasn't out there among factory ammo. One more reason I'm glad I got into reloading.
CG
This gun is more finnicky with regard to ammo than any other I have, and presents a challenge for load selection. I've tried shooting/carrying the 38+p LSWCHP; they do shoot to point of aim, and reasonably accurately, but they're terribly messy, and they're only .38s, after all. Recent tests at ammolab.com don't look very promising for their performance, either.
I've tried the lightweight .357s, from Remington and Federal. They're cleaner, and they're controllable (with the right grips--a whole different saga; took me months to decide I really wanted the control of grips that covered the backstrap of this beast badly enough to live with the slight extra bulk), but they don't shoot to point of aim (only 158s do), and they are not as accurate as the heavier bullets in this gun, for whatever reason. Yet full-bore/factory .357 is more than I feel I can control reasonably. So I decided to download.
Today's load, which falls in between a couple of others I'd tried earlier, is simply 6.0 grs of W231 under a 158 gr. JHP (Gold Dots for real rounds, cheap roze JHP for practice). I don't know what this clocks; I'm guessing about a thousand fps. It's certainly within the operational perameters of the Gold Dot (though 10 layers of denim and 2 parkas might clog it, I realize), and more importantly, it's both accurate and controllable. In my best showing, I set up 5 shotgun hulls at 20 yards and knocked four of them down with a cylinder in reasonable (though not Miculek) time.
This is a load I feel good about carrying (setting aside the whole legal question about handloads; my basic answer to that concern is that I don't plan to shoot anyone), something that just wasn't out there among factory ammo. One more reason I'm glad I got into reloading.
CG