Any of you guys load for the Marlin 357? I am looking for an accurate jacketed bullet. I fired it today for the first time with Remington 158 jhps. These are there bulk bullets. I used 2400 with cci 500 and rem spm. It averaged about 4 inch groups at 100 yards. I bought this to shoot cowboy silhouette, but it will need to shoot better than this to compete. I am using a Leupold 4x to find an accurate bullet and then a receiver sight will of course be used for competition. Any one have an idea before I purchase many diferent ones?

If you want plain old accuracy. Try the Hornady Leverevolution rounds, the are extremely accurate.

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Dyin ain't much of a livin

A lead bullet will be preferred for gonging steel at 20 yards. 4" at 100 is plenty good enough for cowboy action shooting, seriously.

All of that being said, I have several loads that we use in my wife's Marlin 1894 CS. Oh, make sure yours has the Ballard type of rifling first. If it has micro groove, shooting lead can be a challenge.

The first load is a 160gr LSWC from an H&G #290BB mould, of the Phil Sharpe design. It is loaded over a Speer #8 load of SR4756 and is a one hole shooter @ 50 yards.

The other load is a load from the Rifle Magazine where Brian Pearce tested Lil' Gun in the Marlin 1894 357Mag platform. With that load, I am getting a 158gr Hornady XTP out of the 20" barrel at just over 2000fps. Listen, that is at the bottom of 35 Remington ballistics. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

You will need nothing like that for Cowboy shooting. A 38spl load in a 357Mag case will do you much better.

FWIW

Thanks, I am not shooting cowboy action. This is metallic silhouette, we shoot out to 100 yards. We shoot chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams. I will shoot lead bullets later, but wanted to get a load for jacketed fast for our next match. It is lever action pistol cartridge class. Half size targets out to 100 yards. I will give Hornady a try next. I am a devoted lead bullet shooter that is why i ask about a jacketed bullet, as i shoot very few if any. Thanks

I used this RCBS .35-200 FN with 2400 for this group at 50 yards out of a Handi rifle. It may do well at 100 yards too, but I haven't checked it yet.



The numbers around the 1st shot are the scope adjustments to get the next three shots.

The Remington 158 JHP/JSP shoots just fine in my 1894C, right around two inches at 100 yards, but if your gun doesn't like them I'd try the Hornady offerings. I've never seen a 357 rifle that didn't shoot the XTP's well, and most rifles I've shot prefer the 140-grain and heavier bullets. Another good choice for silhouette would be the 170-grain Sierra, and Nosler also makes a "Non-expanding" 180-grain bullet that appears to be designed for Sillywet shooters. My Marlin didn't really shine with them, but yours might.

Good morning
So why bother with the jacketed types ? Do you not have a 158 grain GC model sized to .360 on hand ?..
Mike in Peru

The most accurate jacketed bullet I've ever shot in my 1894C was the Hornady 158 grain FPXTP. The Remington 158 JSP doesn't give up much to that bullet however and if I was going to be shooting the number required for competition, the lower cost of bulk Remington would certainly get the nod.

I suspect that you could get better results playing with the load than the bullet. Have you tried Lil' Gun? It works particularly well in the 1894...

As far as jacketed bullets go, I've had the best luck with Sierra Bullets. I've actually tried them along side other brands in the same gun and they won the day.
Marlin made your rifle in both ballard and microgroove rifling. As stated, lead bullets are not likely to excel in a MG BBL.

Took the wife to the range today. Shot a bunch of stuff. Here is a picture, well, kind of, one of her 100 yard groups with the aforementioned 158gr XTP @ 2016fps.

The upper three shots are from a 44Mag I was playing with. The lower ones are hers. The closest ones are after the scope was set for her.

Take a look! Pretty good in my book!

I'm with Kitch, Sierra bullets are the best with Speers a close second.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I loaded some 158 xtps with 12gr. 2400 and it shot under 2 inces at 100 yds. That will work for the upcoming match. After that I will have time to go back to casting and find a cast bullet it will shoot, which I have more experience with than shooting jacketed. This is a Marlin cowboy with cut grooves. I am amazed at how expensive jacketed bullets are and this will be the last ones i will buy. Just needed something in a hurry and did not have time to do any casting. Now if i can just hit those little half size turkeys, they always give me trouble.

When you get to that point, I have some suggestions with a H&G #290BB and a healthy heapin' of SR4756. Give about 1580 from the wife's Marlin.

p.s. The 158gr XTP's in the picture above were traveling a bit more than that! Right at 2000fps.

For a 357 Magnum Gas Check bullets are the way to go when shooting cast bullets at high velocities. This is, I've heard, especially true for rifles where leading has more room to inflict its damage.
I've got some GC 158 gr HP bullets I got from Rim Rock Bullets. I am trying to work up a good load for them now, but will likely go with a full house 2400 load.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with gas checks for rifle loads. If you will match lead hardness to pressure and not velocity you will be amazed at how little leading will occur, and the accuracy goes up at the same time. Of course with good bullet lube. If there were more molds for rifles that did not use gas checks I might never use them.