A good 38 load in 357 case?

[triker]

What is a good 38 load to load in 357 cases? I have the "old" unique and bullseye, plus w231, titegroup. I will be using Missouri Bullets 158 SWC. I have several loading books to look at, but would like to hear of some pet loads that work good. Like I said, these will be lighter loads in 357 cases at 38 levels. I have tried the search here and all I get is fatal error message. triker

 

[Jimbo357mag]

5.0gr of W-231 and a 158gr bullet in a 357mag case with WSP primer (regular) works real well for me. Very accurate. It's like a 38special+P. 8) 8)

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

...Jimbo

 

[GP100man]

I`ll vote for jimbos load, never liked unique or be.

Just too sooty.

I use CLAYS at 4.5 grs. for the majority of the plinkers.

 

[brutus]

Triker
I have shot this load for years, very mild and very accurate. 3.0 gr of Bullseye w/ 148 gr wc

 

[Nowata]

My plinker in a .357 case(don't use 38 cases) is 4.2gr. Trail boss and a 158gr. SWC.

 

[Rclark]

Some chrono results for what I recently tested :

.357, BH 6 1/2" barrel

5.0g Unique, 158g SWC, CCI-500, _958 avg, 28 SD, 80 ES, 13 shots
5.5g Unique, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 1027 avg, 19 SD, 64 ES, 13 shots
6.0g Unique, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 1082 avg, 14 SD, 48 ES, 13 shots (Accurate)
6.5g Unique, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 1152 avg, 10 SD, 36 ES, 19 shots (Accurate)

5.0g W-231, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 926 avg, 13 SD, 46 ES, 28 shots

4.5g Red Dot, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 970 avg, 10 SD, 35 ES, 15 shots

I tried the Trail Boss load too and it was okay. A bit low on Velocity for me but numbers were ok.

4.2g Trail Boss, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 713 avg, 14 SD, 47 ES, 15 shots

I've tried some other powders too, but so far the above loads gave the best results (so far) . I've got a 5.0g Red Dot load, and 7.0g Unique load (and a couple of others) in my range bag next to try next.

 

[jnyav8r]

How dirty did 6.5 grains of Unique get your gun?

 

[Rclark]

Hard to tell. I shot all the Unique loads in one session. Revolver did not seem abnormally dirty.... But then I shoot a lot of Unique and don't think it's bad as some say it is . Haven't loaded any 6.5g loads since I ran the initial tests.... yet. Have some 5.0g of Red Dot loaded up for some more testing as I found it shot really well during its test. In the velocity range I am looking for too (~1000fps).

.357, BH 6 1/2" barrel

5.0g Red Dot, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 1019 avg, 9 SD, 30 ES, 14 shots

Oh, to round out the Unique tests :

7.0g Unique, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 1191 avg, 14 SD, 50 ES, 14 shots

Might as well post the w-231 results too.

5.5g W-231, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 1011 avg, 12 SD, 36 ES, 14 shots
6.0g W-231, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 1072 avg, _9 SD, 35 ES, 28 shots

Yep been busy testing....

Oh, no significant leading found in barrel for all tests. Using Rimrock 158g SWC general bullets of 12 BHN

 

[LAH]

Like others here I think you'll find 5grs. of 231/HP38 or Unique to be super.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Rclark has done a great job of testing some of the most common plinking rounds in the 357mag. I am glad to see two of my favorates (5.0gr and 6.0gr of HP-38 ) were right in there. Well done.

...Jimbo

 

[Rclark]

I see you have Titegroup as well... Here is recent data on that powder.

.357, BH 6 1/2" barrel

4.5g Titegroup, 158g SWC, CCI-500, _959 avg, 13 SD, 45 ES, 14 shots
5.0g Titegroup, 158g SWC, CCI-500, 1000 avg, 10 SD, 30 ES, 14 shots

Plenty of choices .

 

[mr surveyor]

I've only been tinkering with loading for about a year, and probably loaded less than a thousand .357 rounds, but all have been in the 6.4-6.5 gr loads of Unique. I've never noticed any more fouling than what I get from Factory Win or Rem rounds.

I'm also under the impression that since the OP said "old" Unique that the load recipes for the older powder may be quite different than those with the newer powder. May be something to consider.

Still getting my wings though


surv

 

[Rclark]

I didn't noticed any difference between 'old' Unique and 'new' Unique. My recipes have stayed the same down through the years.

 

[LAH]

I didn't noticed any difference between 'old' Unique and 'new' Unique. My recipes have stayed the same down through the years.

+1

 

[mr surveyor]

That's good to know about Unique.

Aren't there several powders that have either changed, or the load recommendations have changed, for whatever reason?

 

[Rclark]

Well, 2400 was rumored as such ... but according to this test ... not so : http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=72355

 

[mr surveyor]

maybe I'm confusing this with changes in the pressure specs?

you'll have to excuse my ignorance.... I'm a lifetime student of too many subjects dealing with too many numbers for far too long

 

[azrn]

for the 158 grain swc i liked the 4.5 bullseye and sometimes would use 5.5 of unique. i also have used unique for decades and have had no issues with it. have fun at the range. azrn