True Blue & 357 Magnum

[cmcgehee]

I am using Ramshot True Blue to reload 38 Special using 158 gn Plated Flat Points and would like to use the same powder & bullets for 357 magnum but cannot find any load data for the 357 magnum using this combo. Does anyone have any info or recipes on this?

 

[JO JO]

Have you checked their web site?
I believe they list load data that your
Looking for also I would go with posted data from Ramshot only due to the fact that they
Retest true blue and changed its burn rate and load data , older data may put you over max
And cause an issue

 

[ku4hx]

Trueblue is my favorite powder and the Ramshot file does show several .357 Magnum loads for TB. There is no plated-specific data but you can interpolate.

From my experience with TB, keeping plated bullet's velocity limits in mind it should work well in .357 Magnum cases. But it seems a bit pointless to me. If I want true magnum level performance, slower powders are going to work better, otherwise I just stick with .38 Special. Powders like 2400, H110 and W296 for top magnum loadings; of course there are others. But then the plated bullets will likely not hold up well at velocities above about 1,200fps.

 

[JO JO]

For what it's worth I load jacketed with 2400 and I also have had real good results with
Trail Boss and plated semi wad cuters from xtreame bullets

 

[ku4hx]

Hercules 2400 was my first "magnum" powder many years ago and is still one of my favorites. For cast boolits in .357 and .44 Magnums, it's still my goto powder.

 

[kcofohio]

cmcgehee, ku4hx has a valid point about plated bullets in 357 and the limitations set for them.

Even the thick plated bullets usually are limited to 1500 fps.

 

[Walkalong]

Use the .38 Spl +P data or the .357 Mag data from the Accurate/Ramshot/Western Powders 5.0 PDF on the website. It should work well for midrange .357 Mag loads. Work up to max carefully on the .357 data. They show some very optimistic FPS with light bullets.

What bullets? Jacketed, plated?

http://www.accuratepowder.com/load-data/

 

[DWFan]

True Blue should work well for this but, if you are wanting full-power loads, I'd switch to Enforcer. Then again, I wouldn't use plated bullets in a full-power Magnum. Jacketted or hard-cast would be better.

 

[cmcgehee]

Thanks for all the good information. Ramshot's data does not show anything for plated bullets. After reading all the above replies, I think the best thing for me to do is stay with LSWC for the 357 loadings. I was just trying to be able to use the True Blue and either Plated or FMJ for both.

 

[Walkalong]

No reason you can use the plated bullet as long as you don't push it too hard.

I recently switched to a coated 158 Gr SWC in .357 Mag for full loads with 2400 and like them a lot.

I use the X-Treme 158 Gr SWC for light plinkers in .357 brass. The coated would probably work for that as well, I just haven't tried it.

 

[PJSprog]

You can use plated bullets in .357 loads. As already noted, though, be mindful of velocity. You won't likely find plated data, so use data for lead bullets of the same weight and similar design.

 

[Walkalong]

Plated bullets are not lead bullets and no plated bullet maker says to use lead data anymore.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=9897359&postcount=10

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I use a lot of Xtreme plated SWC bullets, better listen to Walkalong, their only good for about 1200 fps which seems to be what modern data calls a .357 these days.

Any more than that and you'll be cleaning copper out of your barrel. Ask me how I know. If you want to go faster than that you might as well shoot hard cast if you don't want to pay for jacketed.