357 Magnum advice needed!

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LeadFlyFly

LeadFlyFly

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I've reloaded 222 Remington and 9mm (decades ago), and lately I've gotten back into it and reload 9mm for my Glock 48- maybe 500 or 600 rounds lately. I've never loaded 357!!

Saw a GP100 at the LGS and it was giving me the sad puppy eyes so I couldn't say no. When I walked in the door I just said "honey I got you a gift!!!" LOL. It worked. My wife is tiny and from the Philippines so would like to make some light loads for her. I would like some fun heavy loads.

I have 500 of these coming:

https://summitcitybullets.com/pistol-bullets/158-grain-38 -SP-SWC-BB

I also pulled the trigger on Powder Valley on a couple of pounds of HS-6. It looks like this will only work for the light loads- if anyone has ideas for a load (or where to look) for heavy loads with that bullet I am all ears!! Recommendations for powder would be great. Any other tips or advice most appreciated as I've never reloaded revolver loads at all. I guess they get a lot more crimp than my 9mms do- I have to leave that "ledge" at the case mouth with 9mm so they headspace on it.

One other complication- they had a bag of 200 357 mag primed cases. I grabbed them, but I don't actually know if whoever primed them used magnum primers or not. Luckily enough, they also had a used set of dies there so I grabbed those. They are Lee- 4 piece set. I do the 9mm with the Hornady 3-piece set and have had no trouble crimping and seating the bullet with the same die but I guess I won't have that option with the Lee set, which is fine.

This is from Hodgdon- out of a 10" barrel? Alrighty then. So with the starting load of 6 grains maybe I will get 800 fps or something like that (5" barrel)?

Screen Shot 2021-07-26 at 11.44.18 PM.png

I think I've heard that you shouldn't go below minimum, and of course above maximum. So to start do I just load up a half dozen at 6 grains and see what happens?

Thanks for any warnings, tips, or help of any type!!! My Lyman reloading manual (50th edition) does not have this bullet listed, and I'm a beginner all over again so I don't want to wing it based on some other weight or design.
 
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38 special case loaded with 6 grains of HS6 with a magnum primer and a 158 grain Campro bullet is a tack driver out of any of my 38 or 357 revolvers.
With a 357 case 8 to 9 grains with same bullet works the best for me.
With a Kieth style SWC the same amount of powder.
 
You can go even lighter with the HS-6. See the Lyman 50th and the 38 Special data for the 160 gr RN bullet.

Seat your bullet to that same overall length (1.550")in the 357 brass and you can drop the HS-6 powder down to 4.5 grains. That would be a powder puff load.

Also, search the web for a Lyman 44th edition PDF. It has many light loads for the 38 special.

And yes, you can seat the bullets in your 357 magnum cases deep so they are the same OAL as 38 Special.
 
Hs-6 and light loads dont really mix, at least in my experience. You end up with a bunch of un burnt powder and crud. Bring a toothbrush to scrub under the extractor star if you are dead set on using the hs-6 with light loads.

For 357 mag, I used hodgdons jacketed data in 357 while loading rim rock 158gr wn-lswc. Since the bullets fit the gun well and hardness is where it should be, I got minimal leading in my 4" gp100.

A max charge of 9.5gr hs-6 with cci small pistol magnum 550's got me an average of 1233 fps with an extreme spread of 63 fps, and standard deviation of 18 fps. This was using a sample of 17 shots (one didnt register). This load smacks steel at 50 yards with authority but isnt all that unpleasant to shoot.

Hp-38 / w231 will make a nice mild load for your wife with 158's.

Or if you can find some 38 spl. Brass and 148gr wadcutters, that would be even better.

One more thing - you will want a firm crimp to assure complete ignition of the powder with 357 mag. Not so much that it buckles the case, but enough so that the bullets dont creep out of the case when shooting.
 
357 is pretty easy to load. And you may find you don't want max loads at all. And if you're not using magnum loads, you can use a regular primer. I load all my 357s light. Heck, my current loads are pushing a 125grn bullet 900ish fps out of a 6" barrel using true blue. Use a fast powder and you can load bullets that just barely fall out the barrel. The cowboy shooters use trail boss and shoot stuff six or seven hundred fps.
You can load and shoot 38"s out of a 357 as well. You use the same dies, you just have to adjust the seater and powder dies.
 
Welcome to THR!
Faster powders and lighter bullets for her, slower powders and heavier bullets for you.
Tightgroup, IMR Target, Red, Clays, N320 all are great for lighter loads. You’ve got the slower powders already in hand. Good luck.
 
lordpaxman said:
Welcome to THR!
Faster powders and lighter bullets for her, slower powders and heavier bullets for you.
Tightgroup, IMR Target, Red, Clays, N320 all are great for lighter loads. You’ve got the slower powders already in hand. Good luck.
Click to expand...
My wife liked my light 158 loads better than the 125 ones. Both were loaded with fast powders. I've never loaded wadcutters
My advice is 38 plus p data in a 357 case. It is roughly equivalent to standard 38 spl.
 
Bfh_auto said:
My wife liked my light 158 loads better than the 125 ones. Both were loaded with fast powders. I've never loaded wadcutters
My advice is 38 plus p data in a 357 case. It is roughly equivalent to standard 38 spl.
Click to expand...
Nice! You’ll never know what anyone likes until they try it. My statement was a general one with regards to loading powder puff loads. You’ll have less recoil from a lighter bullet at slower velocities, that’s all. An SCSA guy I shoot with loads Clays and 138s and the bullets barely make a mark on the plate. Fun times.
 
I load 6.9gr of HS-6 with a 158gr LSWC with a magnum primer to use in a SA 5.5" barrel 357, I don't like magnum loads. You could probably drop down. I ran out of magnum primers and switched to a standard small pistol primer and it's a little softer, I'll stick with that until I can find small pistol magnum primers at a decent price.
 
Based on my loading of the 357, I suggest:

Use HS-6 with magnum primers. That powder burns cleaner when used with magnum primers. Start at the starting load and work up to the max load. In the case of the Hodgdon data with the 158Gr LSWC, pressures are held well below maximum due to the bullet selected. Apparently they didn't like pushing that particular bullet (probably a soft swaged bullet) beyond the level published. As you can see with the 158 gr. Hornady XTP data, more powder and higher pressures are acceptable with an appropriate bullet. Since you don't know what primers (standard or magnum) are in the primed cases, I'd use them with a different powder.

2400 generally gives more consistent results with standard primers. And loads with 2400 are going to generate higher velocity/blast/power than those with HS-6. If you want to use those cases with unknown primers under 2400, I would stop short of the maximum published loads (unless magnum primers were used with your data source for 2400). Note: Alliant's current published loads using 2400 in the 357 Mag all specify standard primers (CCI 500).

Just my suggestions.
 
My two favorite loads:
357: Just about any 158 grain bullet, but only Hi-Tek coated cast designed for 357 velocities (you can shoot hard cast lead out of most short revolvers without to awful much leading, but I choose not too...) -- 16.5 grains of H110. My pet load is a 158 grain SJSP, I prefer the Zero bullets. My Marlin lever gun flings these bad boys at just under 1800 fps. My Coonan 1911, ~ 1300 FPS, and they are a tack driver out of the Blackhawk. Out of a 3 Inch SP101, they average right about 1000 fps. This is basically my all time favorite .357 Load that works the best in the widest variety of .357s, and if you are only shooting it out of 1, you can tune it quite a bit. 357-love.jpg

38 SPC, just about any 158 gr bullet, 3.5 grains of TiteGroup. I use the same load in Coated SWC's, RNFP, and SJSP's. Variety of bullets from MBC and Zero, and I shoot these suppressed in my Marlin Lever gun a lot.... Very nice shooting load in short revolvers and death quiet in the Marlin with a Hybrid 46.
 
For light loads I use .38 Special cases, heavy loads in .357 Mag cases.
Unique and Bullseye powders for .38 Spec., 148 gr HBWC is a great bullet for light/target loads, with a taper crimp. Cases will last almost forever.
2400, H110/W296 in .357 Mag heaviest loads. 125 gr JHP makes a very fast SD load.
A good firm roll crimp for .357 Mag
Get a good reloading Manual for more info.
 
The 357 Mag/158 SWC is so popular you're going to get a lot more than 20 replies. I pay no attention to load data I see on a forum, so I;ll suggest data from a Lyman manual for a 158-160 gr cast bullet. One of my favorite powders for my 357 is Universal, followed closely by 2400 when I want boomer loads. I have also found mediun loads of around 1,000 fps are much easier/fun to shoot then 1,300 fps loads with 160 gr cast bullets, and the only time I'll carry some upper, 1,300+ loads is if I might run into a 4 legged critter that's as big as I am...

I also have some pretty good results from Blue Dot, True Blue and Universal, and of course Unique under a Lachmiller 160 gr SWC. And my 12 year old daughter did fine with a plain 38 Special/W231 DEWC load...
 
HS6 flat out performs. I see it as powdered Unique but it does not light as easily. You need a magnum primer and not expect the best performance until you get near the top of the charge range. I use 7 grains with 158 grain bullets both jacketed and cast with a SRP. I use 6.4 grains with heavier cast.

If it were any other powder the guys above mentioned I would trust the primers. But with HS6 I have not had any luck running standard primers. Even the Win LPPs that claim to be both.
 
lordpaxman said:
Nice! You’ll never know what anyone likes until they try it. My statement was a general one with regards to loading powder puff loads. You’ll have less recoil from a lighter bullet at slower velocities, that’s all. An SCSA guy I shoot with loads Clays and 138s and the bullets barely make a mark on the plate. Fun times.
Click to expand...
The powder definitely makes a huge difference.
 
EricBu said:
My two favorite loads:
357: Just about any 158 grain bullet, but only Hi-Tek coated cast designed for 357 velocities (you can shoot hard cast lead out of most short revolvers without to awful much leading, but I choose not too...) -- 16.5 grains of H110. My pet load is a 158 grain SJSP, I prefer the Zero bullets. My Marlin lever gun flings these bad boys at just under 1800 fps. My Coonan 1911, ~ 1300 FPS, and they are a tack driver out of the Blackhawk. Out of a 3 Inch SP101, they average right about 1000 fps. This is basically my all time favorite .357 Load that works the best in the widest variety of .357s, and if you are only shooting it out of 1, you can tune it quite a bit.View attachment 1014308

38 SPC, just about any 158 gr bullet, 3.5 grains of TiteGroup. I use the same load in Coated SWC's, RNFP, and SJSP's. Variety of bullets from MBC and Zero, and I shoot these suppressed in my Marlin Lever gun a lot.... Very nice shooting load in short revolvers and death quiet in the Marlin with a Hybrid 46.
Click to expand...
That used to my load. I've since moved to using jacketed data under a coated 180 wfn. This load is stout. But doesn't eat my brass.
 
In 357 all I’m shooting is a home cast 158 lswc tumble lubed over 5.0 grains of bullseye and in 38 a 148 Lee soupcan tumble lubed over 2.7 grains of bullseye. Lots of fun, super economical, and everyone can shoot them.

My 357 is dialed in just right, the barrel is self cleaning and hasn’t been cleaned in 4200+ rounds. Once you find the right combination of hardness, lube, size, and velocity, it is a wonderful thing. I used to load jacketed from Zero and Winchester with 2400 but I don’t hunt and the paper doesn’t know the difference.

EricBu said:
View attachment 1014308
Click to expand...
Beautiful family pic. I really want a 357 lever and 1911, those would definitely be my fun guns.
 
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