Howdy:
I shot some of my plinker .357mag reloads (Rucker 158gr LSWC, 4.0gr TB, SPM primer, taper crimp).
I ran them through my S&W 686 4" and my Taurus 651 Total Ti 2" snubby.
Observations
1. They were pretty soft-shooting. Not target wadcutter soft, but soft.
2. Pretty darned accurate, offhand. 25 yard headshots on IPSC & IDPA cardboard targets were no problem with 686 or snubby.
3. Clean-shooting (in the bbl) & easyeasyeasy cleanup. Granted, I start with a light coat of oil on the steel surfaces. My 686 cleaned up in a jiffy. I used a brush only in the forcing cone/top strap area. The rest of the powder residue wiped off clean with a paper towel damp with lemon oil. A bore snake through bore & chambers finished it off. The bore & chambers were free of unburned powder residue and the bbl looked pretty darned clean after 35 shots.
I did have one problem: I either did not seat some of the primers well enough, or a taper crimp for this handload is inappropriate. About 1/10 rounds did not fire the first time 'round (all fired on a second strike). I was not happy.
I only shot 1/2 of my reloads. I will apply a heavy roll crimp on the remaining cartridges to see if this is the problem. If not, I will assume my priming technique (RCBS hand primer) is faulty & reload some, making sure the primers are good & seated.
I shot some of my plinker .357mag reloads (Rucker 158gr LSWC, 4.0gr TB, SPM primer, taper crimp).
I ran them through my S&W 686 4" and my Taurus 651 Total Ti 2" snubby.
Observations
1. They were pretty soft-shooting. Not target wadcutter soft, but soft.
2. Pretty darned accurate, offhand. 25 yard headshots on IPSC & IDPA cardboard targets were no problem with 686 or snubby.
3. Clean-shooting (in the bbl) & easyeasyeasy cleanup. Granted, I start with a light coat of oil on the steel surfaces. My 686 cleaned up in a jiffy. I used a brush only in the forcing cone/top strap area. The rest of the powder residue wiped off clean with a paper towel damp with lemon oil. A bore snake through bore & chambers finished it off. The bore & chambers were free of unburned powder residue and the bbl looked pretty darned clean after 35 shots.
I did have one problem: I either did not seat some of the primers well enough, or a taper crimp for this handload is inappropriate. About 1/10 rounds did not fire the first time 'round (all fired on a second strike). I was not happy.
I only shot 1/2 of my reloads. I will apply a heavy roll crimp on the remaining cartridges to see if this is the problem. If not, I will assume my priming technique (RCBS hand primer) is faulty & reload some, making sure the primers are good & seated.