Unique and 158 lead 357mag ?

I just recieved some 158TCBB lead slugs from Penn bullets. These are the match grade so they can be pushed pretty hard. So far I found HP-38 right at 5 grains to be pretty accurate and quite mild. I havve used Universal clays from 5 to 6.2 grains in .3 incriments. Right around 6 worked the best, still mild but more peppy than the previous. Next I loaded 15 through 16 of H-110 with great results. This was definately peppier than the others, very clean and accurate. I have some Unique on hand and wondered what has worked for you guy's. From Alliants site it shows 6 being the max. Some of the loads I hear others shooting say 6 is mild and up to 6.8 is closer to the max. I was going to start at 5 and work up to 5.9, I trust the book data I have over hear say. Just curious what your pet loads are with this and lead. Maybe you can point me in the direction of some good published data. The gun is a GP 100 6". Thanks to all.

Alliant shows 6 grains Unique giving 1000fps out of a 6 inch barrel with a 158gr lswc.

6 is mild. My every day load is a bit higher than that 6.8 load and gives me ~1100 fps out of 4" M-19.

Max is 6.8 with generic 158 grain LWSC. 6.0 must be for dead-soft lead bullets.

8.0 grains of Herco is a sweet load. I haven't tried Unique yet because I've got lots of Herco and only 1 pound of Unique that I use for other calibers.

Alliant now uses Speer bullets for their data. Speers lead bullet is swagged and rather soft so it shouldn't be driven much more than 1,000 fps. Prior to using Speer components the maximum load for a 158gr LSWC was listed at 6.8grs by Alliant. My old Speer No 9 said 7.0grs was maximum and 6.5grs was start.

I have used a 6.5 gr load of Unique behind a 158gr LSWC's for my magnum target load for the last 30 years.

6.5 gr Unique is a perennial best choice - I, too, have used it for years, and it is a mild to moderate load in my 4" 686. I like it...:cool:

6 grains of Unique gives me 1102 fps out of a 6" bbl and 1095 fps out of a 4" bbl with a 158g LRNFP

It's a mild load as 357 mag goes........

Thanks much guy's. Maybe I'll load 5.6, 5.9, 6.2 and 6.5 to see how it does.

38, 357, 41, 44 (spcl and mag), & 45.

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