357 Wadcutter Magnum Loads

[bluetopper]

I have some good hard cast (18brinell) 148gr lead DEWC bullets and want to load some at magnum pressures or maybe slightly below in 357 cases and just wondering what loads people here have had experience with.
I like to load them with just the bevel sticking out.

Should be some great accurate loads with all the bearing surface that pack a wallop.

The powders I have that I think would be suitable are 2400, AA4100, Universal, Power Pistol, Green Dot, Red Dot, & Bullseye.

 

[zxcvbob]

5.5 grains of Bullseye is a good load (max is 5.7 grains.)

 

[bullseye308]

I just wanna know where you got hardcast DEWC's from.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

R Dot will do well to, 5 gr around 1100 fps with 158 lswc.
for me tighter groups and cleaner than BE.

 

[fourdollarbill]

I have never shot a hard cast (18bhn) wad cutter before. I would assume you could try 2400 if your bullet is sized to the cylinder throat. Now that you mention it I'm going to cast some and find out myself. I have shot 155LSWC so much I have nothing to work up to anymore.

 

[Sidewinder72]

W231 for me for leads,and 296 for jacketed.

 

[Jim Watson]

Lyman has some full power magnum loads with wadcutters. A good stout charge of 2400 will give the highest velocity of the powders you list.

 

[243winxb]

I like to load them with just the bevel sticking out.

Loading near maximum loads will get high pressure if seating that bullet that deep in a 357 mag. Only use data for that bullet, not a LSWC. Start low on the powder charge, work up.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Most of the powders you listed will work but if you want a "real Magnum" round I would suggest using 2400. With a bullet that hard you can probably push that bullet well over 1200 fps without leading. Actually, if you push it too slow you will get some leading. If you're looking for less velocity all the other powders you listed except for 4100 will work too.

 

[MissouriBullet]

I just wanna know where you got hardcast DEWC's from.

We can make them in 18 BHN sized to .357 or .358. Just include a note with your order. We'd need a 2k order to accommodate the lead volume requirement that our pots need.

Brad

 

[GP100man]

With all the boolit in the case I run 3.1grs. of reddot.

 

[bluetopper]

Just wanted to post an update on this thread.

Today I chrono'd some 357, 148gr DEWC. I seated them out to the first crimp groove and put 15.7gr of AA4100 powder behind them and averaged 1490fps out of my Smith 686 with a 6" barrel.
I settled upon this load via case volume more than anything else but saw no signs of over pressure.

Seemed like a great load to me and recoil was lower than I expected. As you might guess.......these make extremely hard hitting rounds.

Also, a couple of weeks a go I chrono'd some 148gr DEWC with a charge of 6.2gr of Universal and got 1283fps.