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Old 06-15-2018, 08:06 AM
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S&W Headstamp .357 Ammo - What bullet? S&W Headstamp .357 Ammo - What bullet? S&W Headstamp .357 Ammo - What bullet? S&W Headstamp .357 Ammo - What bullet? S&W Headstamp .357 Ammo - What bullet?  
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Default S&W Headstamp .357 Ammo - What bullet?

My Dad is a brass hound ... recently gave me some S&W Headstamped .357 nickel he had already cleaned and deprimed. At 78 years old, this is one of his hobbies. Thanks Pop!

Anyhow, I would love to find an actual box (or at least a photo) of the S&W Marked box for their .357 Load. NOT the Silvertips ... but the "historic" Blue/White box.

If I had a box to put them in, I would reload them with a similar bullet for some pinking loads. Pops would open those up at the gun club and shoot them --- most likely the other old Dudes there would protest for him shooting "vintage" ammo

So, can anyone help me out with at least a picture, or know what bullet S&W used with these "Back Then"?


Thanks, John
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Old 06-15-2018, 12:57 PM
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John,

It's been a very long time ago, and I don't remember if this ammo was made in more than one bullet weight, but AFAIR, what I was issued once upon a time was a 158 grain jacketed hollowpoint bullet. At that time, it would have been a garden variety bullet and could have come from about any vendor or the maker of the ammo if they had and sold their own.

There were no real specialty bullets in those days, just lead round nose, lead semi wadcutter, lead wadcutter, and jacketed lead core soft points or hollow points. I would say if you loaded about any 158 grain jacketed hollow point bullet in the standard configuration to what was regarded as standard .357 mag velocity of the day, you would have a very close approximation of that S&W loading.

At the time I remember getting some of this load, jacketed hollow points were a fairly new thing. The only "premium" load at the time was the stuff made by Super Vel. I remember these loads were a serious upgrade from the Remington and Winchester brands of copper washed lead semi wadcutter bullets that were notorious for leading barrels at magnum velocities. The jacketed bullets sure were an improvement, and the hollow points actually gave some expansion at magnum velocities.
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Old 06-16-2018, 12:48 AM
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My recollection is the bullet used was either a Sierra JHC in various weights, or one that very closely resembled it.
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Old 06-16-2018, 11:14 AM
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John,

I have 3 of the blue/white S&W .357 ammo boxes. One box is 125 gr jacketed hollow point, one box is 158 gr jacketed hollow point, one box is 158 gr jacketed soft point. All were purchased in '77 or '78. Don't recall what other loads were available. Will try to post pics of the boxes.
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Old 06-16-2018, 11:26 AM
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Default S&W .357 factory loads

There was a 110gr JHP .357 load with a VERY shallow HP. I still have a few S&W 158 gr .357 lead hollow point loads with a wax (?) coating on the bullet. I thought this load might have "taken off" given the popularity of the FBI .38 round with the same style bullet, but this did not happen. Sorry, I have no boxes.

Hope this helps a bit.

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Old 06-19-2018, 12:09 AM
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I had a box of 125 gr jacketed hollowpoints. I have no idea who might have made the bullets
. What i DO remember is that they felt like they were losded pretty hot and flattened primers seemed to bear that out. Did anyone else have similar experience with the S&W loads?
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Old 06-19-2018, 12:50 AM
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I have quite a few S&W rounds here. No 110s in 357 though. Got 44s 45 auto even some 25s IIRC..and 25 auto brass. Don't remember who made the bullets for them but it may have been Speer. They changed some of the bullets after they bought out the Alcan line originally with Fiocchi... Fiocchi made many items for Alcan anyway. I still have some small pistol primers sold by S&W...Looked to be the same primers Alcan used. I think I have some powder here sold by S&W too. Have to look..It was in the Alcan containers with S&W on the address bar. S&W had some great shotshell loads.. I think one I used a bit was a 2 3/4 in 12 ga 4 1/4 DE and an ounce and a half of copper plated shot for waterfowl. Hard on guns though
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Old 06-19-2018, 02:57 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scout789 View Post
I had a box of 125 gr jacketed hollowpoints. I have no idea who might have made the bullets
. What i DO remember is that they felt like they were losded pretty hot and flattened primers seemed to bear that out. Did anyone else have similar experience with the S&W loads?
^^^^what he said. They seemed to be loaded with a slower-burning powder: after ignition in a 4" bbl, you could pour a lot of unused powder granules from the fired case. Ditto for their .38 +P loads.

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Old 06-19-2018, 02:42 PM
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Back in the day when I had a Mdl 27 and shot it so much I dang near wore it out I tried the S&W 357. It was 125 gr HP I am sure. I was comparing it to Super Vel at the time. SEEMED to me the lead was softer in the S&W than the Super Vel.
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Old 06-19-2018, 03:08 PM
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Didn't Fiocchi loaded this ammo?
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Old 06-19-2018, 08:40 PM
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I have a full box of 125 grain .357. The bullets look a lot like some 125 grain Federal .357 that I have from back in the early 1990s.
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Old 06-20-2018, 07:22 AM
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Back in the 70’s I shot quite a bit of their ammo. Here is their brochure detailing their ammo line. As you can see they had a bunch of different loads. I still have some of their ammo stashed and some loaded in a M-28 I keep handy.

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Old 06-20-2018, 07:42 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by loc n load View Post
Here is their brochure detailing their ammo line.
Awesome! This is by far the best reference information I've seen, thank you. Keep that brochure, almost a historic document.

I did some searching in the ammo forum, ran the search words: Blue White and got some good results, and a few pictures. But Loc-n-Load's brochure sums it all up!

I did put a WTB post looking for an empty box. Thanks everyone, John
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Old 06-20-2018, 07:46 AM
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Here is a box of the 357 magnum 158 JHP, and a round of that ammo. The magnum loads were good ammo IMO. I shot primarily the 158 JHP’s and some their SWC +P 38’s. And yes, I am a pack rat and never throw anything away. The next time my wife start’s eye balling my “clutter”, I am going to tell her that it is all historic artifacts. Wanna bet how that will turn out?

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Old 06-20-2018, 11:12 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by loc n load View Post
Here is their brochure detailing their ammo line. As you can see they had a bunch of different loads..
I also have that brochure and I have their loading guide. It is date coded 02-02-78. They listed 38/357 jacketed bullets in 90 gr 110 gr 125 gr and of course 158s. I never had any of the 90 gr bullets but did have the others. I may even have some 148 gr lead bullets back east in my storage barn. The ammo I have says that it was made in the US so while they may have used Fiocchi components it was probably loaded here. The one pic shows their partial component line..typical Alcan packaging with the S&W logo.
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Old 06-20-2018, 12:58 PM
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Too bad that S&W doesn't team up with a manufacturer and have them make a few runs of brass bearing the S&W headstamp. I'd buy a few hundred cases just for the novelty of having the "house brand" S&W marked brass to fire in my S&W revolvers.
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Old 06-20-2018, 05:35 PM
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To OP,AR Black,I can send you an empty box with foam insert. Take your choice of 125JHP or 158JHP(no,you can't have both). I have all my old ammunition boxes from the 70s' from before I started reloading. I collect 'handgun ammo from the past'. Always looking for at gunshows;the old Super Vel,Norma,Remington,Winchester.
PM me your mailing/shipping address.
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