357 Mag recommended loads

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Wing Rider

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I was just reading the "How to select what powder to use" thread and that has some great info in it. There was a comment that said to just ask so that you dont have to reinvent the wheel so to say. So here goes, I am just starting my reloading quest and I will be loading 357 mag. I have not made a single cartridge yet (guess I am too busy researching) but I have bought starline brass and hornady 158gr FP/XTP bullets so far. I also based on the Lyman #50 bought a pound of 2400 powder. My question is what have others found that is a good load setup for 357 mag? Currently just plan to punch holes in paper. Thanks for any info.
 
I don't have my load data in front of me, so can't give you precision. 2400 is a great powder for full-house magnum loads. But I shoot a lot more .357 loaded with hard cast bullets over Unique than anything else. If you're primarily shooting paper, no need for the magnum recoil.

I use three powders regularly in .357 and .44 magnum cases: Trail Boss for light plinking loads, Unique for intermediate power loads, and 2400 for full-power magnum loads. I'll try to remember to post my specific .357 loads when I get home from work this evening.

Edit: See post #31.
 
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2400 is a high velocity powder https://www.alliantpowder.com/products/handgun.aspx
and you don't need high velocity for poking holes in papers.
I would suggest Unique also if your want to stay with Alliant, its going to have a bit less velocity https://www.alliantpowder.com/reloa...owderlist.aspx&type=1&powderid=3&cartridge=28

I haven't read that how to select your powder thread yet but I'm still learning myself and started out just buying whatever powder was available back when there were shortages. I've been lately going through each manufacturer and listing all their powders and the use so I can have a simple chart to choose from.
 
I have bought starline brass and hornady 158gr FP/XTP bullets so far. I also based on the Lyman #50 bought a pound of 2400 powder
IMO you did awesome on the component choices! Actually I don't think you could have done better.
Starline .357 brass is the best I know of and XTP's are great bullets. 2400 powder will give you "Full-House" loads which are fun to shoot in a full size revolver. If you plan on shooting them in a compact revolver then maybe you should pick a different powder. Unique and Herco are my favorites for medium to medium-heavy loads.
Also IMO, revolver cartridges are the best to start for a new reloader, they are the most forgiving. The biggest mistake I have seen with new reloaders of magnum revolver cartridges is too light on the crimp. Heavy crimp is necessary especially when shooting heavy loads.
Good luck!
Edit: Actually I wouldn't recommend Herco to a new reloader because there isn't a lot of good data for .357. Actually there is some bad data to stay away from!
 
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I think you have done well so far in your selections. I will comment though that, while I do have a mild load for Unique, it gives me too much of a jolt when pushed too hard. IMR4227, while a magnum powder, in a max load is actually more satisfying and less punishing to shoot. A2400 can be pretty sharp too. I use IMR4227 for serious stuff in 357, 41, and 44 Magnums. Most of the others are not what I would chose, if some bullets were lead.
 
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Currently just plan to punch holes in paper.

2400 is great for full throttle magnum loads.
Hornady XTP bullets are good hollow point bullets if you're using them for protection or hunting purposes.

For punching paper, no need for magnum stuff, unless you want it. If you are wanting to shoot full throttle magnum loads just because, there is certainly nothing wrong with that.
However if it were me, I'd get some wadcutters and some Unique if paper punching was all that was on my agenda.

Hope this helps. In any event, enjoy your journey into handloading.
 
Thanks for the great info. I got the 2400 because that was the "most accurate" listed in the Lyman manual. Also, I will be shooting these in a Ruger GP100 6" barrel. I think this is one of those learning opportunities because I was not aware of 2400 being a full magnum load. I am certainly interested in some lighter loads as well. I also have some 110gr bullet coming due to the Hornady rebate so I will be looking at a load for them as well.
 
I've loaded nothing but H110 for 20 years. Remington small pistol magnum primers, either 158 hard cast lead (plinkers), or 125 JHP to duplicate my factory duty/SD loads.

If I want less power, I load .38 specials.
 
As other have said, you made good choices. 2400 is for full-throttle loads, and it does not require magnum primers.

For mid-range loads, I really like BE86. It is position insensitive so it gives more consistent velocities than other powders that don't fill the case. For soft loads, Trailboss is good.

If you want jacketed bullets that can be pushed hard but cost less than the XTPs, try the Zero bullets.
 
Like other have said 2400 is a good powder for Mag loads and it does good at min listed loads too. I've used that combo for years alone with W296/H110 for full power loads. Look to see if they list the 2400 being used for the 38 spl. You can use the +P loads and not have to worry about over pressure in a 357 mag brass. I load a lot of 158gr LSWC using WST for my soft plinking loads. Because I hate the way Unique meters, though it's not real sensitive to wide variations.

I would pick up some the HyTec coated bullets for plinking and save the XTP for serious mag loads.
 
The powders like H110, 2400, and Lil Gun that give the highest velocities with heavy bullets do not make good light loads. They're also more expensive since they typically take ~15 grains of powder instead of ~5, which means you'll be paying about 3 times as much for powder since the powder price per pound (7000 grains) is about the same. Nevertheless, I've come to reload that type of powder because I prefer the safety margin allowed due to filling the case. You can easily overcharge a case with faster powders like W231 or Unique or even BE86 and Longshot. Because of that, I'd suggest Trail Boss as a powder that you can make up light loads with and still have a good margin of safety. The 2400 you have will be good for exploring the upper-end of .357 which I think you'll find difficult to shoot well from a 6" barrel where it can produce big energy and recoil. I'm not saying you can't do it -- you've admitted to be starting out reloading, but you may not be a beginner shooter at all. Still, the recoil of a full house .357 Magnum out of a 6" barrel is a lot of force for anyone to deal with. It's not going to knock your forehead, but it won't give the fastest split times either.

As was already pointed out, .357 Magnum loads do not always call for magnum primers. I have found standard primers work best for most loads, but there are some powders and compressed loads out there that will benefit from magnum primers.

From the 6" barrel, cast and plated bullets will exceed the velocities where they produce lead fouling in the barrel if you're shooting a powder like 2400. If you shot Trail Boss, then you could shoot cast or plated bullets. I also shoot 158 gr. plated bullets with full-house magnum-powder loads with snub nose barrels, because they're not much more than 1200 fps.
 
To the op I see h110 mentioned it is a very good powder but for max loads only same for Winchester 296 witch is the same powder. These powders should not be downloaded. If you are going to try these two powders look up info on them beforehand. And have fun
 
Does anybody have a load for 125 gr. bullets?
I got about 1000 plated and 500 cast Berrys in a bulk purchase. I have Bullseye and BE-86.
 
I load 357 magnum for my 4" GP-100. For full power loads I use Hornady 158gr. XTP with H110 and CCI Small Pistol Magnum primers. 16.3gr. H110 yields 1224 fps, a large muzzle flash and a loud BOOM. This is an expensive load to produce given the XTP bullet and 16.3gr. of powder. Be certain to use a heavy crimp with this load. As others have stated, you may find that this is overkill for target shooting but is is pleasant to shoot out of the GP-100. For a much less expensive and lighter load I use MBC coated 158gr. LSWC with CFE Pistol and a CCI Small Magnum Primer. This is a soft shooting load out of my GP-100.
 
158gr FP/XTP bullets so far. I also based on the Lyman #50 bought a pound of 2400 powder.
Two good choices that go together like peanut butter and jelly, although I substitute a cheaper coated 158 Gr SWC with 2400.

158 Gr XTP & 14.5 Grs 2400 @ 1.577 OAL @ 76 Degrees 27% RH

6" Trooper Mk III
6 shots Powder Back Powder Forward Powder Level
HI 1253 1254 1241
LO 1098 1075 1169
AVG 1195 1196 1202
ES 155 179 72
SD 53 67 29

158 Gr SNS coated SWC & 14.5 Grs 2400 @ 1.605 OAL @ 85 Degrees 68% RH
4" 586
6 shots Powder Back Powder Forward Powder Level
HI 1278 1298 1289
LO 1178 1234 1193
AVG 1234 1257 1241
ES 100 64 96
SD 35 25 38

Both very accurate, "full" (Enough for me) power, and fun.

Paper punching at light to midrange power? 2400 isn't suitable.

BE-86 is great for mid level, and WST or competition are great for light level, both of which I use the X-Treme 158 gr SWC, but the coated 158 SWCs also or well.
 
There is alot of basic introduction loading information here at Accurate Powders "free" PDF Download.
It lists lots of good basic information (a lot is rifle but the principles are the same) It also lists a chart of powder usage.
Across the many brands of powders many are so darn similar that it doesn't matter what brand you use (other than the loyalist that just thing Brand X is better than Brand Y

The 357 Mag was developed with 2400 Powder but it is pretty much a full magnum powder, it can be reduce some and doesn't need a mag primer unlike H110/W296

Folks often think the want full house magnum loads, but those get tiresome shooting a lot of them. For hunting fine, but they can get brutal. So then folks what "plinking" loads which are just then 38 Special loads. So there are many many powders for those,

Scroll down to page 18 and it lists powders, (read the other pages also)
Hodgdon has a burn rate chart which you can use for there powders similar to the Accurate powders So the powders right around 2400 would be about the same results using THEIR load data (not a substitute or equivalent!)

The XTP bullets are excellent but for punching paper, coated lead bullets are a lot less expensive. There are also plated but I am not a fan of those in revolvers.

http://www.accuratepowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/WPHandloading-Guide-7.0-Web-REV.pdf

https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/burn-rate-color.pdf

Also good to obtain OTHER manuals like Hornady and Speer.
 
@Wing Rider , I also have Lyman 50th. If you look at the .38 special data you will see there is a listing for 2400 with a 158gr JHP. Look at those pressures and you will see that 2400 can be reduced quite a lot from the suggested starting loads in the .357 mag data. The same is evident with .44 mag and .44 special data.

As to the accuracy with reduced loads of 2400, I can't really speak to that with any quantitative evidence backing me. I simply haven't tested this powder for accuracy with reduced charges. But I have shot a few that were below the suggested starting charge for .44 mag, and they didn't seem inaccurate during casual shooting.

I'd suggest trying a few at the starting charge of the .357 mag data using the 2400, and see how they feel to you. Bear in mind that the velocities listed in the data are from the test barrel length (I believe it's a 4" barrel for the Lyman data). So with the 6" GP100, you can expect a bit more.

As far as projectiles go, I have enjoyed the coated 158gr LSWC from SNS Casting in my .357 target loads. Which have gone from a very mild 3.8gr of WST in a .357 case, to a charge of 15.5gr with 2400 which I do NOT recommend! And this is where the Lyman 50th gets tricky, because there is no data in it for a 158gr LSWC. There is data for both 155gr and 160gr lead bullets, using 2400. And the charges for both seem at odds with each other given the 5gr difference in bullet weight. Getting data for this combo (158gr LSWC and 2400) from a reputable source proved difficult for me. However, I then found Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook 4th Edition. This manual does have data for a 158gr LSWC, which is listed as 13.5gr maximum. The 15.5gr load was pretty scary and surely over pressure, plus I did see flattened primers and leading towards the muzzle. I backed way off after that range session. This is not an experience I have shared on this forum before, and only do so now to help you avoid getting confused but the data you do have and doing something foolish like I did. Perhaps other test data exists with a higher charge than the 13.5gr, but I have yet to find it.

Having said all that, the SNS coated bullets have performed well for me at a wide range of velocities, and so from .38 special up to that 13.5gr of 2400 in a .357 mag, should cause you no issues at all. They are also much cheaper than XTPs.
 
I run h110 in 357 for fire breathing loads.
For targets, a 125 or 158 cast with universal powder is hard to beat.
Universal is similar to Unique, just cleaner and easier to meter.
If you decide to try it, but whichever is cheaper or more readily available.
 
X-Treme 158 Gr Plated SWC & 7.3 Grs BE-86 @ 1.560 OAL @ 48 Degrees 31% RH
4" 586-3
6 shots Powder Back
HI 1074
LO 1040
AVG 1057
ES 34
SD 11

Very accurate, medium recoil, lot's of fun.
 
X-Treme 158 Gr Plated SWC & 3.8 Grs Competition @ 1.560 OAL @ 87 Degrees 57% RH
4" 586-3
6 shots Powder Back Powder Forward Powder Level
HI 753 693 706
LO 695 645 641
AVG 725 665 (-60) 668 (-57)
ES 58 48 65
SD 20 17 27

Very accurate, lots of fun, low recoil you can shoot all day.
 
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