I'm proud of myself (I think)

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NorthBorder

NorthBorder

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I can now call myself a reloader. :) I've been buying equipment for about a year now. Stuff is hard to find since the crunch was on. Finally got the boolits and powder, made up 5 loads and shot 'em. Started with a Lee Classic turret press, tumbled and cleaned a load of .357 brass. Primed them using small mag pistol primers, added 13.0 grains of W296 under a 158 g LRNFP. Took my Ruger SP101 to the range and blasted away. Actually went slower than that as I inspected each case. Came home and loaded up 20 more rounds stepping up the charge incrementally to 13.8 grains. Any critique would be greatly appreciated.
 
Well you should be proud of yourself. Congratulations on your first hand loads. You also got into rolling your own at a time when finding components is on the difficult side. The more you load the more proficient you will become. Nothing I can critique, just always be vigilant of what you are doing and always work from published loading data.

Ron
 
Awesome !

Welcome to the club !

Its a great feeling, isn't it ?

Sounds like you are off to a great start.

If I may ask, what reloading manuals do you have ?
 
Congratulations on making and shooting your first reloads! Feels good doesn't it?

From what you say I don't see any problems so far except that charge weight sounds a little low. W296/H110 does not react well to being downloaded more than 3%, not the usual 10% like with other powders. Lead bullet load data is different than jacketed bullet load data.

With a 158gr lead bullet the Lyman 4th Edition Cast Bullet Handbook lists a charge weight for H110 as 14.4gr to 15.9gr. DO NOT TRUST THIS LOAD DATA, ALWAYS VERIFY LOAD DATA YOU SEE ON THE NET! Some of the older Winchester load data from before they were taken over by Hodgdon shows a Max charge of 14.5gr W296 under a 158gr LSWC/LRN bullet so be careful with the charge weights...

How well did those rounds shoot?
Accuracy?
Any leading?
Who made the bullets?
Bullet hardness?
Where did you get the load data?

Sorry so many questions, I like to know everything about the loads being made... :banghead:
 
Congrats! I also have an SP101 (3 inch barrel) and have not yet loaded for it so I'm interested to know what works and doesn't work for you :)
 
Well now you have done it. Once you have been bitten by the bug there is no going back. Symptoms include: Scrounging brass at the range, laughing as you pass the ammo counters, having huge heavy boxes of bullets delivered to your house, and always having more ammo than your friends..

congrats and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have this last year.
Are you loading just .357? I would donate you some brass however I dont have any of that flavor yet.
 
Oh No!!!! Not another innocent soul lost to the addiction! Woe unto those that tread into the murky depths of the arcane arts...

Congrats and welcome to the sickness, the best part of this loony bin is that you are not alone.

And if you are enjoying those 357s, wait till you load some near powder puff 38s to shoot in your gun. You'll grin like a kid.
 
Congrats I bought most of my equipment in the 90's Ammo was cheep and plentiful but I had a Lee Hand loader in the early 70's and wanted to get back into reloading .. Set it all up last year Had everything I needed Stored and ready to go . 4000 rounds and all I had to buy was a hand primer and within two weeks Bullets. . The old powder is working perfectly every primer detonated perfect. Sticker shock replaced the 4000 primers and bought more powder . A few parts did get missing from my RCBS Rock Chucker KIT Surprise I Emailed RCBS to order a few things and never heard back >>> the stuff was sent out free .. About 20 years after buying this kit RCBS sent me free replacement parts .. Can you beat this bunch for service ???? I love RCBS
 
Good Job! Now you can really save some money:evil:






that was a joke
 
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Thanks for the kind words. Blarby, I am using Lyman's 49th, Lee's 2nd, and an older Nosler. Angel, W296 may not have been my 1st choice; it was my only choice. W296 wasn't even listed in Lyman and Lee only warned not to exceed 14.5 grains. I used loaddata.com to find my minimum which suggested 13.1 gr. Interestingly. I thought I had it right with the Lee double disc but after loading 2 bullets I checked my charge weight and it showed 13 grains. So, I continued with that weight for continuity. It worked great. At 7 yds 4 rounds were in a nice tight group in the center bull. Recoil was light. Not quite sure of the bullet maker. I suspect they came from a mfg. in Ronan, MT. The distributer said they were brinell 18. Funny thing, the powder residue smelled just like a shot wad from a shotgun. Don't know if that is indicative of anything. Just never encountered that from a handgun round.
 
North border, congratulations on your reloading success, the only thing I might add is if you use 296 or H110 I'd suggest you use a Magnum Primer, for a cleaner burning load, and like Arch said I would not go much below the suggested load. BTW you can also get data on your loads via the internet.
 
So, I went to the range this morning and shot my other loads: 13.3g, 13.4g, 13.5g 13.8g. The 1st I shot DA and my shot strung a little. The rest I shot SA and of course grouped better with the 13.8 the best group. Still very controllable. Then I shot 5 rds of Double Tap 180's to guage. I'm not there yet, probably not even close. But that is fine. The 13.8 gr loads seem like a good choice. Another thing I noticed with my 13.0 grain loads, and probably with others, is the cylinder chambers seemed to foul a little with one slightly sticky after only one round. That should not be unexpected since I was shooting 10% under the max load for W296. Thanks again guys for all your comments and suggestions.;)
 
What was it lacking that the factory rounds had?

As it was said above. Don't go below 3% on 296/H110. As it says in the Speer book, powder pressure does not change on a linear curve with an increase or decrease of weight or volume. 296 and H110 have a habit of doing unpredictable thing.
 
Ya buddy!! Cangrats on your first.

But now your hooked, and if like me, you'll probably never want to shoot anything but your own.

IMO, you couldn't have started with a better combination. I've been hooked on 296 for a very long time.

BTW, don't reduce 296 / H110 more than 3%. It gets very unpredictable if not loaded at published. Also, use magnum primers, and a good roll crimp, it is a difficult powder to light.

GS
 
Don't believe those who say you'll save money, you'll just shoot more. I much prefer my own loads, my Ruger LCR 357 hasn't seen more than 100 rounds of factory loads.
 
NorthBorder said:
So I should be loading minimum 14.0 grains? I am using mag primers. Also, my COAL is about 1.57".
Click to expand...

For your minimum charge to be 14.0, you would have to have a max charge of 14.42 when using H110/W296 to be safe (I AM NOT RECOMMENDING A LOAD). This powder performs well at the high end and does poorly when loaded below 3% as mentioned. Magnum primers are a must with H110 also. COL of 1.57" should be fine, but make sure you verify all your load data in a book somewhere.
 
NorthBorder said:
So I should be loading minimum 14.0 grains? I am using mag primers. Also, my COAL is about 1.57".
Click to expand...
I'm sorry I can't help you with your W296 load because I won't use W296/H110 with lead bullets. I just feel it's too hot a powder and since it can't be downloaded it's not a good fit. I understand you had no choice of powders. When loading lead bullets in the .357 Magnum I use HS-6 almost exclusively. I get good accuracy and no leading even though the velocities are high. That's mostly because the pressures developed by HS-6 are lower than other powders with a similar burn rate.

The original "Powder Trinity" is Bullseye, Unique and 2400.

My Powder Trinity is W231(HP-38), W540(HS-6) and W296(H110).
I can load everything with those 3 powders and do so very well...
 
Very Interesting Hogdon's site's numbers actually

Identical figures so yes, still the same powder but I wonder if the warning about downloading the new formula powders no longer matters because that's a 10% reduction their new site pops up.

I'm calling on Tuesday to check myself. I still have a bunch of older 296 but some new 110 so.

Btw does anyone else miss their old site layout? It was just more like a load book to me than the new setup.

Winchester 296 .357" 1.580"
Min 15.0 --- 1,418 --- 28,600 CUP
Max 16.7 --- 1,591 --- 40,700 CUP

Hodgdon H110 .357" 1.580"
Min 15.0 --- 1,418 --- 28,600 CUP
Max 16.7 --- 1,591 --- 40,700 CUP

That's an 158 XTP btw, not lead. I'm curious myself for a gas cked
358156 Lyman I cast that I have had very good luck with 296 cast of ww, water dropped and aged a bit.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol
 
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Good morning
The caliber 357 revolver is where I got started after the Pickle Suit Brigade turned me loose in 1974. Dad and his Navy buddy did 38 Special for years so I had that exposure. I remember my cheek hurting smiles ! Then comes that perfect load for that revolver !

Do beware some powders have what is called a "Minimum Load" . This is due to propellant conditions needing certain initial pressure to ignite properly. 296 is one of those.
Do verify loading info before sliding a potential bomb into a handheld revolver. I have seen the results of one "Ooops". Top strap peeled forward and upper part of a cylinder removed on a S&W revolver. Not me or mine but the owner and shooter had tingly fingers for a week. His revolver made a great visual aid.
Mike in Peru
 
NorthBorder said:
Thanks for the kind words. Blarby, I am using Lyman's 49th, Lee's 2nd, and an older Nosler. Angel, W296 may not have been my 1st choice; it was my only choice. W296 wasn't even listed in Lyman and Lee only warned not to exceed 14.5 grains. I used loaddata.com to find my minimum which suggested 13.1 gr. Interestingly. I thought I had it right with the Lee double disc but after loading 2 bullets I checked my charge weight and it showed 13 grains. So, I continued with that weight for continuity. It worked great. At 7 yds 4 rounds were in a nice tight group in the center bull. Recoil was light. Not quite sure of the bullet maker. I suspect they came from a mfg. in Ronan, MT. The distributer said they were brinell 18. Funny thing, the powder residue smelled just like a shot wad from a shotgun. Don't know if that is indicative of anything. Just never encountered that from a handgun round.
Click to expand...
Perhaps the reason it smelled like a shotgun wad is W296 is also a shotgun powder!
 
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