Made and ran my First .357 Magnum Loads this Weekend

Analogkid · Mar 15, 2015

I finally picked up some H110 a few weeks ago and have been itching to get some rounds loaded. Cannot hardly afford factory 357 ammo anymore so I figured since I am reloading .38's anyway I might as well start making .357's

I Used the loading data on Hodgdon's site for hornady xtp's

Made 10 of each throughout the load range on my old lee press.

Stayed a few grs shy of max on their load data site though since I was running it all out of my SP101 2.250 barrel. Pretty happy with all of them. All of them especially the hottests ones were pretty awesome!

Im sure its pretty wasteful with the hot loads with the little bitty barrel.

But its pretty fun! And its pretty nice to be able to shoot .357 again!

Ex · Mar 15, 2015

Congrats and yes, may as well since there are no extra components needed. Just a little tweaking of the dies!

Ccctennis · Mar 15, 2015

H110 is my favorite powder In my 357. I shoot a 3 inch gp100 wiley clapp. I love the flash and recoil of it!

ljnowell · Mar 16, 2015

I would be careful loading a few grains shy when using h110 or w296. They give specific warnings about downloading them n

Analogkid · Mar 16, 2015

Only a few grs shy at the top the range. Was still above starting load.

johnc486 · Mar 16, 2015

Glad to hear your success with H110. I was fortunate to come across 8# a while back for the purpose of loading 357 mag. I cast 1000 ea 148 gr lwc and 158 gr lswc and need to start loading them, did you use small pistol or small pistol mag primers? I have each but would rather use small pistol primers as these will be for punching paper only and will be shot out of my 686 4". Thanks for sharing your experience.

gamestalker · Mar 16, 2015

That's about all I shoot brother. I just love that H110 / 296, i burn a bunch of that stuff. That and +P 38 spcl Longshot loads.

Which XTP are you loading, 140's, 158's I imagine?

You mentioned that you started a few grains under max. If I may, let me warn you, don't reduce H110 / 296 to below published start charge. It's alright to use start charges if you want, but H110 is much more satisfying and predictably accurate when worked up toward the top end, which is where I run it.

GS

Analogkid · Mar 16, 2015

I definetly didn't go below published start charges. I made sure of it. 2 scales.

Also I was using 140xtps and small magnum pistol primers. It all worked out great.

I think I'll sit right at the mid range charge. It's a cannon/flamethrower with it.

TimSr · Mar 16, 2015

did you use small pistol or small pistol mag primers?

Every published source I have ever seen specifies magnum primers for 110 or 296 though many on the internet post of using standard primers with no differences. I have more confidence in published data, but thats just me.

johnc486 · Mar 16, 2015

Thanks, I'll also use small mag primers when using H110. I've used small pistol primers when loading Bullseye and Unique but this will be my 1st experience with H110.

Made and ran my First .357 Magnum Loads this Weekend

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