Planning first 38/357 loads

[Dudedog]

Here are a couple I did the other night. These are medium .357 loads with a say light-med crimp.
I used the Lee FCD on these.

Picture is not the greatest.

 

[vaalpens]

Here are a couple I did the other night. These are medium .357 loads with a say light-med crimp.
I used the Lee FCD on these.

Picture is not the greatest.

Dudedog,

Thanks for taking the time to post the picture. Is that the RMR on the left?

The crimp looks very good to me. Pictures distort things sometimes, but it looks like the one on the left has a bit more crmp. Or it just looks like that.

I took a picture of the RMR (bullets you sent me) loaded in a 38special. Loaded with 4.0gr of 700-X. Looks like I will be using more 700-X now that I am loading 38special.

To me it looks like I have more crimp then I need, but what the heck. I will shoot it and see how it performs.

 

[IWAC]

Vaal and Dude; Good- looking ammo, and the crimps look good! It should be enough to avoid any bullet creep.
BTW, the left crimp looks tighter to me, too.

 

[Dudedog]

Yes RMR 125 Target HP on the left, HSM 125 on the right.
Your crimp looks fine IMO. You might be able to get by with a little less but I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[RealGun]

Good to get some confirmation on my planned starting load of 5.4gr Unique. What type of crimp did you apply for your 5.5gr load. At 860fps I assume you don't need much more than a light crimp.

I had extrapolated that same 5.4 gr Unique on my own and yesterday test fired a dozen rounds in a 4" K-frame Model 19 with .357 lead bullets. It was a bit mild for what I expect from a 357 but should be excellent in the smaller guns. I also tested 7.3 gr of BE-86 (10% off Alliant's max), and that was more like it, an excellent load for my taste (and that size gun).

 

[vaalpens]

Vaal and Dude; Good- looking ammo, and the crimps look good! It should be enough to avoid any bullet creep.
BTW, the left crimp looks tighter to me, too.

Thanks. I will definitely have my caliper with me when I shoot these loads for the first time.

 

[vaalpens]

Yes RMR 125 Target HP on the left, HSM 125 on the right.
Your crimp looks fine IMO. You might be able to get by with a little less but I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks Dudedog.

I have decided to play it safe in the beginning and rather apply a bit more crimp then less, even if it impact accuracy. I can always work on accuracy later once I have a baseline.

 

[vaalpens]

I had extrapolated that same 5.4 gr Unique on my own and yesterday test fired a dozen rounds in a 4" K-frame Model 19 with .357 lead bullets. It was a bit mild for what I expect from a 357 but should be excellent in the smaller guns. I also tested 7.3 gr of BE-86 (10% off Alliant's max), and that was more like it, an excellent load for my taste (and that size gun).

Thanks for the comments RealGun, and thanks again for the PIF of 38special brass. They have all been resized and are ready to go. Looks like two 357mag cases also made it in the PIF.

I saw your comments about the 7.3gr BE-86 load in another post. In my next round of loads I will probably also include BE-86 loads, unless I can decide on a load today and create it. I just need to decide between a 38 or 357 load.

 

[vaalpens]

I started adding to this thread but decided to create a new thread showing my first test and chrono data. The data can be found here:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=797796