Low flash powder for mid-range .357 magnum ?

8.4 grains Silhouette

5.8gr of Titegroup works great for me. I put it through 686-6 with 4” barrel. Averaging about 1075fps

It’s not my favorite powder because I prefer lead flat nose bullets but with 14.5gr of Accurate No.11FS under a Speer 158gr JHP you’ll get around 1100fps from a 4” revolver. The FS is for Flash Suppressant. It’s low flash but a real slow powder kinda kin to W296. No good for lead but great for jacketed bullets as long as the jacket covers the base.

BE-86
it contains flash suppressant and although it isn't optimized for maximum velocity in 357 Magnum
It will get you into the velocities you desire.
(This powder is optimum for 9mm, 40s&w, 357 SIG and other Automatics.)
In low light in 357 Mag, even BE-86 will produce a noticeable flash especially via cylinder gap.

Otherwise there is always that "Huh" factor... sometimes certain combos just don't flash much, and others do, for no particular reason (that I can figure out)..... 2400 under any hardcast lubed lead doesn't flash much for me. Or at least a lot less flash than say WW-296 or Blue Dot.
I have also loaded AA#9 with a lot less flash than 296 or BD.

I use WW-296 under 158 gr jacketed deepcurls for deer. I never really have been bothered by any flash it creates, even in low light... but I recall seeing flash present for sure.

BE-86

I'll add Accurate #7 to the mix

Another vote for BE-86. An excellent powder.

CFE-P at near-max doesn't have much flash from my 3 inch Colt.

158 gr XTP JHP averages about 960 fps from that barrel & load. Not a barn-burner.

H-110 is NOT the powder you’re looking for



I find Unique and Bullseye are pretty low-flash for low and mid range .357 loads..I haven’t tried BE-86, that sounds like its pretty good according to the guys above.

Stay safe.

mikle76 said:

Thanks guys! I should add the powder will primarily go under a flat nose lead bullet from Rim Rock but I do have some JHP's on the bench that will get used also I'm sure.

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My profile picture is exactly my load....

I have never tried BE-86, but it sure sounds like what the OP is looking for. I like Power Pistol for my “less than W-296/H-110/300-MP” loads, but it is fairly flashy. Has anyone tried Ramshot True Blue in the upper mid range .357 Magnum loads?

2ndtimer said:

I have never tried BE-86, but it sure sounds like what the OP is looking for. I like Power Pistol for my “less than W-296/H-110/300-MP” loads, but it is fairly flashy. Has anyone tried Ramshot True Blue in the upper mid range .357 Magnum loads?

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Yes and at the starting load of 8.8 grains I start having signs of sticky extraction...

That's interesting, it looks like Hodgdon dropped True Blue from their online load data for .357 Magnum.
Wonder if there may be a problem there. I've not tried it in .357 yet, won't now.

tightgroup tiger said:

That's interesting, it looks like Hodgdon dropped True Blue from their online load data for .357 Magnum.
Wonder if there may be a problem there. I've not tried it in .357 yet, won't now.

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I've only tested it with lead and it may be better with jacketed.... my primary cartridges are 38 for broc and 357 for me so I would be bullet broke if I was buying jacketed....

I also recommend BE-86. I went through about 20 pounds of it when it was available but I haven't seen it on the shelves for the past 2+ years.

rsrocket1 said:

I also recommend BE-86. I went through about 20 pounds of it when it was available but I haven't seen it on the shelves for the past 2+ years.

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20 pounds!? Lawdy, you do a LOT of shooting. Whew.

tightgroup tiger said:

That's interesting, it looks like Hodgdon dropped True Blue from their online load data for .357 Magnum.
Wonder if there may be a problem there. I've not tried it in .357 yet, won't now.

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I tried it out. Not impressed. No.5 and No.7 are better. I've seen good reports for Silhouette but haven't tried it, yet.

The wife and I were doing a lot of indoor pistol shooting with short barreled guns and the range lanes themselves were not very brightly lite so we were seeing a lot of flash so I switched to Ramshot Silhouette and the problem vanished.

tightgroup tiger said:

That's interesting, it looks like Hodgdon dropped True Blue from their online load data for .357 Magnum.
Wonder if there may be a problem there. I've not tried it in .357 yet, won't now.

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Hmmm, Western Powders load data Edition 6.0 lists True Blue data with bullet weights from 110 gr JHP to 187 gr lead SWC. I guess I will have to load a few to see how they work. I will start low, based on AJC1’s post #15.

2ndtimer said:

Hmmm, Western Powders load data Edition 6.0 lists True Blue data with bullet weights from 110 gr JHP to 187 gr lead SWC. I guess I will have to load a few to see how they work. I will start low, based on AJC1’s post #15.

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What I referenced was printed in 2016. Western Powder's #1 manual
I just found Western Powders #8 manual and it still has same data as #1 and #6.
#8 = ©2020 Western Powders, Inc.
Guess Hodgdon's omitting Trueblue's data is a recent development.

AJC1 said:

I've only tested it with lead and it may be better with jacketed.... my primary cartridges are 38 for broc and 357 for me so I would be bullet broke if I was buying jacketed....

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So would I as much as I shoot .357 mag.

Silhouette is a low flash powder. But, so far I’ve only used it in 9mm.

kalielkslayer said:

Silhouette is a low flash powder. But, so far I’ve only used it in 9mm.

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I have used it in 380, 9mm 38Spl, 45acp and it has worked well in all of them and much better than some other powders I have tried..