Hey all you fine folks at THR! I'm new to reloading as of this month. So far I've only loaded .38 special cowboy loads at low velocities using Trailboss, but so far everything has worked out great!
Last night I picked up a box of Berry's 125gr .357 (.38 cal) target HPs and some W231 powder. I have some .357 mag cases laying around (also picked up 100 new brass for .357) that I want to load.
Everything I've read says that Berry's plated bullets should be loaded using data for lead. I'm not looking to load any barn burners, just some nice mid-level target loads in .357 for range plinking.
So I found some good load data on Hodgdon's website for 125gr LRNFP .357 magnum, with max velocities around 1185fps (per the load data) using W231. However, the data says they used WSPM (small pistol magnum) primers. I've also seen posts by people saying they've used this load with regular small pistol primers.
I do not have any SPM primers on hand, but have plenty of WSP. Since I'm not pushing magnum velocities and W231 powder seems to perform fine without using magnum primers, is it ok to use regular small pistol primers or should I stick to the magnum primers listed in the load data?
Sorry if this has been answered repeatedly. I've read and learned a ton from using the search function, but I can't seem to find an answer to this particular question. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Last night I picked up a box of Berry's 125gr .357 (.38 cal) target HPs and some W231 powder. I have some .357 mag cases laying around (also picked up 100 new brass for .357) that I want to load.
Everything I've read says that Berry's plated bullets should be loaded using data for lead. I'm not looking to load any barn burners, just some nice mid-level target loads in .357 for range plinking.
So I found some good load data on Hodgdon's website for 125gr LRNFP .357 magnum, with max velocities around 1185fps (per the load data) using W231. However, the data says they used WSPM (small pistol magnum) primers. I've also seen posts by people saying they've used this load with regular small pistol primers.
I do not have any SPM primers on hand, but have plenty of WSP. Since I'm not pushing magnum velocities and W231 powder seems to perform fine without using magnum primers, is it ok to use regular small pistol primers or should I stick to the magnum primers listed in the load data?
Sorry if this has been answered repeatedly. I've read and learned a ton from using the search function, but I can't seem to find an answer to this particular question. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!