Low velocity .357 load for rifle

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Buck13

Buck13

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I have a Rossi 92 .357 lever gun with 24" octagonal barrel (I'd prefer a shorter round barrel model, but that was what I could find). Want to make a low-velocity, quiet round for it for discrete varmint shooting. I have 170 grain lead Keith (Lyman 358429 mold) bullets and a few 150 grain hollow point 358156 bullets. I'll probably load these in .38 Special brass

On the faster end of powders I have Trail Boss, HP-38 and Titegroup. Mid-range, I have plenty of Universal and a little AA#5. Using Trail Boss would be my first choice, since it always seemed quieter in revolvers. I've never used these bullets for light loads before. Anyone have a load that would give around 600 FPS?

My guess is that this rifle will give lower velocities with a light load than a mid-length revo due to the excess friction and outrageous expansion ratio. Don't want to go TOO low and stick a bullet in the barrel!

edited to add: These boolits were made for me by someone else, and I don't know what kind of lube was used. I will probably roll some Lee Alox onto them on top of the existing lube, just for good measure. A little extra smoke won't bother me!
 
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Right now I'm loading for a 22" 357 Handi rifle with 125 cast/coated.
600 fps seems a little low for a desired velocity with such a long barrel, but with 150/170 grain bullets, might be do-able.
I'm aiming for at least 900 fps, but using a lighter bullet. I'm using 5 grains Bulleye and 4 grains Trail Boss in magnum brass. Titegroup has worked well in the past.
(I'll skip the obligatory warnings about Titegroup, gets old)

Mid range 38 Special data should get you there. With handgun data and lead loads I estimate 15% gain at the top end of the data and 10% for starting loads in a carbine.

I used to run my Handi rifle exclusively with cast/swaged commercial bullets coated in Alox or the Alox/JPW/MS mix (the magic blend).
I coated the barrel with it too, 'buttering the bore'. Removing excess of course, and not shooting jacketed while the bore was buttered.
Very, very clean shooting, never leaded at all and cleaning the bore was just running patches wet with mineral spirits.
I could run some very light loads without fear of lodging one in the bore.
 
My light load for my Marlin 1894 is 3.5 grains of W231/HP38 under a 158 LSWC in a magnum case. It's generating 900 FPS out of the 18.5" barrel with a mild report. I would be concerned about sticking a bullet in the barrel by trying to achieve 600 FPS.
 
Hmm, hornady says that 2.9 grains of trail boss will do 650 fps out of a revolver with a 158 grain bullet in a 38 special case. I'd probably try something like that.
 
milsurpguy said:
Yeah small amounts of the fastest powders do better, a a little more consistent in 38spl cases.
Click to expand...

I mostly put 38s through mine. I found a 133 grain cast bullet over some hp38 that is very accurate and that is my preferred load.
 
I wasn't trying for quiet per se, but I found a mid .38 spl load per lyman data of HS-6 under a 158 cast to be quite mild and accurate from my Henry single shot. Accuracy held up well and it still burned clean. I might try a starting charge of this or HP 38 and see what you get.
 
brewer12345 said:
My copy of the same thing does so very well.
Click to expand...
Yep, no problem in mine, either. It might not like it if you loaded a SWC with the shoulder all the way down to the case mouth in .38 brass, but as long as a little bullet shoulder is sticking out, it runs fine.

My real problem is that it has a Skinner aperature rear sight, and that can't go low enough to get heavy bullets on target: they shoot high (at least with normal velocities...we'll see what these slow-pokes do but I assume the problem will persist at the ~25 yard range I'm interested in). I've been putting off dealing with this for years, and just shot 125 gr bullets from it. Either I need to get a taller front sight, or if it fits on the octagonal version, a Steve's Gunz single-slot picatinny rail and red dot. The latter would be ideal except for the extra height and the clash in style.
 
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PO2Hammer said:
Right now I'm loading for a 22" 357 Handi rifle with 125 cast/coated.
Click to expand...
Any sign of coated bullets being more draggy than lubed lead? I'd forgotten that I have a box of plastic coated non-Keith 158 gr SWCs somewhere. Not sure I want to use them for this project, but...

I used to run my Handi rifle exclusively with cast/swaged commercial bullets coated in Alox or the Alox/JPW/MS mix (the magic blend).
I coated the barrel with it too, 'buttering the bore'. Removing excess of course, and not shooting jacketed while the bore was buttered.
Very, very clean shooting, never leaded at all and cleaning the bore was just running patches wet with mineral spirits.
I could run some very light loads without fear of lodging one in the bore.
Click to expand...
So, run an Alox soaked patch through then a dry patch to remove excess?
 
Thomas Mayberry said:
My light load for my Marlin 1894 is 3.5 grains of W231/HP38 under a 158 LSWC in a magnum case. It's generating 900 FPS out of the 18.5" barrel with a mild report. I would be concerned about sticking a bullet in the barrel by trying to achieve 600 FPS.
Click to expand...
If I'm smart and cautious (not certain), I'll make a range of charges and work DOWN. As long as I don't see high variation shot-to-shot, going down to 600 doesn't worry me. I guess the problem would be if the barrel got more dirty and draggy, but I don't intend to shoot large numbers of this recipe. In fact, most days, hopefully only one round!
 
Buck13 said:
Yep, no problem in mine, either. It might not like it if you loaded a SWC with the shoulder all the way down to the case mouth in .38 brass, but as long as a little bullet shoulder is sticking out, it runs fine.

My real problem is that it has a Skinner aperature rear sight, and that can't go low enough to get heavy bullets on target: they shoot high (at least with normal velocities...we'll see what these slow-pokes do but I assume the problem will persist at the ~25 yard range I'm interested in). I've been putting off dealing with this for years, and just shot 125 gr bullets from it. Either I need to get a taller front sight, or if it fits on the octagonal version, a Steve's Gunz single-slot picatinny rail and red dot. The latter would be ideal except for the extra height and the clash in style.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I have a tang peep and one of Steve's fiber optic front sites on mine and have no issues. If you don't want to try the red dot, try a tang mounted peep.

Coated bullets are slicker than lead, if any difference. I use them interchangeably without problems.

I think what the other poster was saying is that you run a mineral spirits soaked patch down the bore, not alox. I rarely bother to clean mine unless I have shot a LOT or the action is getting dirty because the tumble lube formula keeps the bore really clean. IME, powder coated is even cleaner.
 
No negative signs with coated 125s. Seems just like plain cast/ lubed.
To season the barrel I started with a clean dry bore, a couple patches wet with the lube mix (tight fitting). Let that dry, then a couple tight fitting dry patches. (wax on, wax off).
Then run only bullets with the same lube.
I like thinned lla or the lla/jpw mix. My buddy likes just jpw on his tumble lube bullets.
 
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