M29....there are a bunch of handgun hunters over on one of the boards I post on that kill all their big game...like elk...with nothing more than hardcast bullets at 1000 fps... The bullet just punches a hole all the way through...

Bob

Finally have some loads worked up. Bullet Works 215gr SWC and 16.5 gr 2400. Good shooter, still need to chrono it. My other load is Sierra 170 HP with 17.0 2400-1360fps. Sweet load and shoots great. May bump it up to 18gr. Sierra manual has 20gr doing this velocity. Ought to be a whitetail stopper. Trying to find some 180 gr bullets to play with.

Has anyone used AA7 for 210g loads, I have plated extreme and Berry plated bullets. Gun is 657 71/2 inch. I have a lot of No.7.
Also need recommendation on carry holster.

I'm late to the party, & I'm fond of the 900-1100fps loads.
I'm playing with 6-1/2grs of 700X & 7grs of Red Dot under a cast 210gr SWC & some old Speer 200gr 3/4 jacket HP. Both of these loads are very easy to shoot & I'm getting great accuracy some of which is probably due to the mild easy shooting recoil. It's easy to concentrate on sights & trigger when the loads are comfortable. I haven't chronographed them & when the weather cooperates I'll drag out the Chrony.

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Also late to the party, but for an accurate "powder puff" load I really like 5.2gr of bullseye and a 210gr LSWC. Really light load that shoots great out of my mountain gun

You know Bullseye is a way more useful powder than a lot of folks think. It can get up into the mid loads also as well as light loads.

Another I've used in the .44 Special for light almost cream puff loads with great results is Trailboss. It works fantastically in the .45 Colt too.

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I'm late to this party also-- I just got back from the Elmer Keith Shoot, where I ran some old PMC hollow-point loads from some years ago (box is marked "41A") which always treated me well and behaved well once again at the match, posting decently at 300 yards-- but now, after my third time to this match, I have been bitten hard and I'm looking to get the most accuracy out of my 5-1/2" 657 that I can. There is much good data in this thread and I will be trying some of these loads as soon as I can get my range dues re-upped so I can use the 300 yard rifle range for testing. My main question is, has anyone had good accuracy from the jacketed bullets, or is everyone just using the cast semi wads, which is what it sounds like? Seems like you could drive the jacketed slugs a bit hotter for flatter trajectories at the longer ranges, but if the cast slugs are doing as well as it seems, maybe I'm barking up a tree worrying about it . . . Anyway, thanks to everyone who has shared loads, and I'm going to try them all over the course of this summer and will be taking one to next year's Keith Shoot to try out on the 600 yard pipe.

I've gotten fantastic accuracy as well as great preformance on Deer with the Sierra 170gr JHC over an almost max load of WW296. Under 2" @ 50yds with iron sights. This load averages just over 1500fps. Outside of some old Speer 200gr HP 3/4 jacket bullets I've played with that's about the only jacketed bullet I've really seriously used.
Heavier bullets might be better for long range. I picked the Sierra's specifically for deer at 75yds & under.
Hope this helps.

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I never shot one with that load, but should do just fine!

I don't think any of my Model 57s have ever fired a jacketed bullet while I owned them, except for maybe a couple handsful of Remington factory loads (which was very good ammunition, IMO anyway).

When I shot handgun silhouette in the '80s the Sierras were very popular and everyone claimed good results but buying them was always too rich for my blood. I thought the cast bullets I was using were at least as good as the shooter (probably better ), and since I was opposed to them "on moral grounds" anyway, I never was tempted to try them.

I like AA9 in my .4X cal. hunting guns.
This 657 MG runs right at 1100 FPS with 250 gr. WFNGC and 13.2 gr. AA9.
Recoil is manageable, accuracy good.
This bullet at 1100 FPS has substantial penetration on game.

First..where was the EK shoot?

As to jacketed vs. cast, both work just fine. I have never noticed a difference in accuracy when using 8.0 grains of Unique with cast, jacketed or plated. Those 200-500 yard shots in Idaho in 2013 were all Berry's plated bullets. I went back again in 2014 and shot the same gun and loads out to 780 yards. Velocity is 950 fps from a 4" barrel.

As to "shooting women" with loads using Unique...start with 6.0 grains and work up to 8.0...that will keep you in the 700-950 fps area. Try and find a caster who has light weight bullets in the 170-190 grain range...that will keep the recoil down.

Bob

SuperMan, the EK Shoot is an annual thing outside Valleyford, WA, south of Spokane-- it's an invitational thing, and they try to cap it at 50 shooters (we were a little over this time). Beautiful country, great folks, like-minded shooters, magnum revolvers, it's a hell of a weekend. Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out.

This is an individual thing. My wife shoots max loads all the time. I offered to make up reduced Unique loads and she didn't care for them. 10.0 grains Unique works for me/her. It may be too hot, so work up.

Lots of good load info here...

.41 magnum/special data center