Lyman's 49th and .357 Magnum

[Seedtick]

Greetings Ya'll,
I have a new toy to play with, a 6 1/2" NM Blackhawk Convertible in .357/.38 and 9mm.

Can't wait to try it out.

My Lyman's 49th says to use a CCI 550 small pistol magnum primer with every .357 load, at least that's the way I read it. That goes against everything ya'll have been trying teaching me. I could see it if they had a qualifier, like use a mag primer if you're gonna be shooting in frigid temperatures with Xtra-wh0mPum Powder. But it looks to me like they use a mag primer with each load they have listed - stem to stern, jacketed and lead.

Am I reading it all wrong? Wouldn't be the first time.
I would think a mag primer across the board would give erratic results in some, if not most, recipes.

What say ye?

ST

 

[Walkalong]

Speer #13 only recommends mag primers for H-110, W-296, HS-6, & HS-7.

 

[bullseye308]

Could depend on the powder, but I load CCI 500 SP primers in all my pistols, 38, 357, & 9mm. Of course I also use bullseye in everything too. I really don't think you are gonna need the magnums for everyday shooting.

 

[Ol` Joe]

I don`t have the #49 but the #48 Lyman is like you report. The data is built around the CCI 550 primer. I would use the components listed and load with the mag primers when using the Lyman powder charges, although I don`t believe they are needed with most flake or extruded powders in handgun cartridges. JMO

 

[Seedtick]

Speer #13 only recommends mag primers for H-110, W-296, HS-6, & HS-7.

I should have added that Speer #12, Speer #13, Lee 2nd Edition, and a few online sources only said to use a mag primer with a few specific powders.

I wonder why Lyman's calls for mag primers for everything?

ST

 

[warnerwh]

Only hard to ignite powders do you want to use Magnum primers. I know h110 and winchester 296 the makers recommend a magnum primer. I quit using those powders and just use 2400 so I could load an 80% power load if I like. Other people here will know of other powders where a magnum primer is best to use. I avoid using magnum primers because in my guns shooting the mid power loads I shoot accuracy is significantly worse. Typically 1" or so at 25 yards. So my 1.5" group will be 2.5 with the same effort. The only change is the primer. This has been my experience in 3 different guns. No need to test those loads any more. I use CCI primers btw.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I think it's just a matter of making things simple for the testers. They use a magnum primer for everything that's named Magnum even if the powder being used doesn't require a magnum primer.

Even though it's best to follow what the manual says in this case I feel you are justified in changing the primer. I would only use a magnum primer for powders that are hard to ignite like W296/H110, HS-6 and HS-7. (and a few ball rifle powders too)

 

[Crowbar Muldoon]

"Speer #13 only recommends mag primers for H-110, W-296, HS-6, & HS-7."

Speer #14 added Lil' Gun to that list.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Lyman figures that you are going to load magnums you just might use magnum primers so their data reflects that. Some powders do need magnum primers and some don't.

 

[showmebob]

As I recall my Hornday book calls for magnum primers for all powders in 357. I danced around the same issues and reduced loads a touch for the mag primers. So far, so good.

 

[Seedtick]

Hey Guys, thanks for all the help.

Mostly what I'll be shooting will be .357 Special loads so I'll be using standard primers for those. When I start loading mag loads, like with HS-6, I'll use some magnum primers.

I loaded up a few Bullseye plinking loads today and the next powder I want to try is Power Pistol. I like how it works in 9mm. Then I want to load some with HP38, Unique, and Accurate #5 and....

Hopefully I'll get to try some these out in a few days.

ST

 

[icanthitabarn]

Go right to 231 or hp 38

 

[Crashbox]

I read Lyman's 49th exactly the same way- magnum primers for all of their .357 Magnum listings, so that's what I did. Only exception was that I'm using Federal instead of CCI but all is good so far, even with 17.3 grains of 2400 pushing a 125-grain JHP in my GP100. Said load makes a fairly good BANG, too.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Mostly what I'll be shooting will be .357 Special loads so I'll be using standard primers for those. When I start loading mag loads, like with HS-6, I'll use some magnum primers.

I loaded up a few Bullseye plinking loads today and the next powder I want to try is Power Pistol. I like how it works in 9mm. Then I want to load some with HP38, Unique, and Accurate #5 and....

Using a magnum primer with HS-6 is a good idea. My SD numbers shrink to single digits when I use a magnum primer. I'm a big fan of HS-6 and use it more for medium/medium heavy .357 Magnum ammo with lead bullets especially since Hodgdon stopped selling HS-7.

Power Pistol is a medium burn powder that will give you similar results to Unique, Universal, SR-7625 and HS-6. I like how medium power magnum rounds shoot using Power Pistol but I can't get past the excessive flash it produced. I do use it to replicate Speer 135gr Short Barrel .357 Magnum Gold Dot ammo. Other than that I would use HS-6 or Universal instead. (or even Longshot with jacketed bullets)

For Unique, I covered some of it in the above statement. It's a little dirtier than some of the other powders in it's burn rate range but will clean up nicely at higher pressures. (like most powders) Universal shoots a lot like Unique only cleaner.

HP-38/W231 is a good powder for medium velocity or plinking rounds for the .357 Magnum, especially when loading lead bullets. Even though it's the fastest powder you mentioned you can still achieve respectable velocities in a .357 Magnum. That said, it's really more suited for loading .38 Special pressures in a .357 Magnum case.

AA#5 is faster than Unique, Universal and HS-6 but quite a bit slower than HP-38. It's a clean powder that I find much more useful for loading .38 Special +P ammo instead of .357 Magnum ammo. (AA#5 is a very good powder for loading the .45 Auto considering it was specifically designed for that purpose) AA#5 can be used for magnum ammo just like HP-38/W231 but it's not one of the better choices unless you want to load .38 Special/.38 Special +P pressures in a .357 Magnum case.

These are just my opinions on the powders you mentioned. I'm sure other reloaders feel differently about some or all of those powders.