Buck13
Member
Except Lil'gun, there doesn't seem to be any data for rifle loads in the .357 using the very fast rifle powders like AA1680, IMR4198 or Reloader 7. (I know, Lil'gun is a shotgun powder. ) Is the case just too small to take advantage of these, or does it not work for some other reason I don't understand? Or have they just not bothered to work up something that would not be suitable for barrels under a foot long?
In Lyman 49, they have pistol and rifle data pages for .32-20 in which pistol uses all the usual suspects (Unique, 231, #5), and the rifle data uses mostly the rifle powders I've listed. Pressure is still the 16,000 limit in both cases, so the difference is not that the rifle loads are higher pressure for sturdier guns. The .32-20 case has a very slight bottleneck. It's so minimal, you might not even notice it in a glance at a dirty case. I know diddly about internal ballistics, so I don't know if this tips the case volume to bore volume ratio just enough to make the rifle powders work in a way that they wouldn't in the straight-walled cartridges, or what.
I'm guessing that if this could work in .357 (or .44), I'd have run across it by now, but correct me if I'm wrong.
In Lyman 49, they have pistol and rifle data pages for .32-20 in which pistol uses all the usual suspects (Unique, 231, #5), and the rifle data uses mostly the rifle powders I've listed. Pressure is still the 16,000 limit in both cases, so the difference is not that the rifle loads are higher pressure for sturdier guns. The .32-20 case has a very slight bottleneck. It's so minimal, you might not even notice it in a glance at a dirty case. I know diddly about internal ballistics, so I don't know if this tips the case volume to bore volume ratio just enough to make the rifle powders work in a way that they wouldn't in the straight-walled cartridges, or what.
I'm guessing that if this could work in .357 (or .44), I'd have run across it by now, but correct me if I'm wrong.