Hello,
I have recently purchased 125gr laser cast bullets for my 357 magnum and was wondering if anyone had any load data for using 2400. Also if leading was an issue for anyone using these bullets. Thanks

Butcher
Call Oregon Trail - they used to sell a loading book for their products. I don't think they sell it anymore, but they emailed me a pdf of their .357 chapter with load tables.

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I'd like to agree with you BUT

Thank you for your help. I will call.

I have been looking for the file they sent me, can't seem to find it

any way, here is a link to their Load book website

Home

you'll see the link to ask for the load data

'[email protected]'

and they also have several chapters of good reading that you can save or print out

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I'd like to agree with you BUT

I forgot to mention - they'll email the load data to you for free., but you'll have to wait until the west coast people wake up
you might also want to request 38 special

I am pretty sure you'll find their write-up about leading in one of the titles on that load book page of their site

and you're probably on the right track with 2400, I tried loading most of the box of 500 I had with Unique - they didn't group too well

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I'd like to agree with you BUT

If loaded to .38 Special specs you should have no problem with leading. If you load them to .357 specs, don't be surprised if your bore gets heavily fouled with lead. It is not a fun chore trying to remove it.

A 120 gr lead bullet and 2400 powder may equal Leading
due to high speeds..........however they due have tin and
5 other material in their makeup that might make leading minimal.

I have had their 158 up to 1300 fps in my 6" mag with little
or no leading.............. Good luck.

Thank you all for your help

Check to see if they are sized to .358 - if so then carry on and move 'em as fast as you like.

Leading is most often encountered with either undersized boolits or swaged pure lead.

Cast and sized over by .001, you're good to go.

This is not to say it definately will not lead, but chances are great that it won't.

If however it does, some copper Chore Boy strands wrapped around a bore brush will take care of it pronto.

They are in fact sized to .358 so im feeling a little better now.
Thanks for the help.

I`ve always got leading in the forcing cone area when shooting lite cast boolits , no matter the size or hardness.

It has to do with boolit length & weight.

It doesn't make much difference if they are sized to .358 or not, if one or more of your chamber throats are sized to .357. The bullets will be swaged down to .357. I would not shoot any plain based bullet, especially a light bullet, in 357 with a 2400 load WITHOUT a gas check. To make things worse, Oregon trail bullets are bevel base. You can try it, but without using a gas check you are probably going to get some heavy leading within a dozen or so rounds.
Been there and done that.

Butcher
I ended up getting the 357 chapter again from Laser-cast - so if you didn't get it let me know - I'll get it to you

also, did you mean 125 gr bullet? - I didn't see any 120 gr on their website or in their load data

as for leading, I had a 11 degree chamfer put on my forcing cone - that seems to help quite a bit

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I'd like to agree with you BUT

I'm a huge fan of HS-6 for lead bullets in the .357 Magnum.

Even though you can use heavier charges I like a charge of 9.2gr HS-6 under a 158gr LSWC ignited by a CCI-550 primer.

Nothing wrong with a charge of 14.0gr to 14.5gr 2400 too...

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I went the other direction with my 38 snub nose in seeing
how light a load I could get out of a 125gr Lead bullet.

These are not the "BEST" powders for a snub but I was curious
on what the end result would be........these are the very
minimal charges in my snub .... and do not use them in longer
barrels, since I don't know if they will have enough speed to
exit the barrel !!

I did get this bullet to shoot better at higher velocity, though.

Forestswin
I was able to get the chapter from laser cast, thank you anyway
Even some specs from alliant for loading 38 special +p
Thanks again

Actually, with that bullet it's the direct opposite. Since Laser Cast bullets run ~22 BHN shooting them at target pressures/velocities will most probably cause leading while bumping the pressures up to the top of the range will cause them to seal off the barrel and prevent the hot gasses from running up the side of the bullet and leading the barrel.

Sometimes running bullets too slowly will cause just as much or more leading than running them too fast. Proper bullet fit along with the correct pressures for the bullet hardness is very important.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Actually, the determining factors are fit & lube and not alloy strength.

Bruce

I thought I also said that in the last sentence of my post.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I'll go along with that, too. Different burn rates can cause pressures and hot gases at different places in the barrel. For example, I have seen a powder bullet combination produce leading at the forcing cone and first inch of breach while the same bullet with a slower powder produce no leading or only slight leading farther toward the muzzle, yet, both combinations produce the same muzzle velocity.

WILDPIG

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I ain't from around here.

Just a quick reply about Oregon trail load manual. It is still available. Just purchased it with an order of .38 cal 158 grain lrn laser cast bullets.All of their recipie loads for the 38 specials were developed using a 686 with 6" barrel. Loaded up 50 rounds using their data for unique and fired them yesterday in my 686 6" (brand new only the second time it was fired.). Smokey load, lots of carbon on the outside of the cylinder, light surface lead deposit (almost like dust)inside the bore and decent accuracy. Cleaned up nicely. Will try some other 38 special loads this weekend using 231. The book was worth the money ($39.00)

Direct from Oregon trail bullets, They have extremely hard alloy of 22-24 BHN

There is no magic load data for their bullets, any data for hardcast bullets of the same weight will work. So seek out your manuals, the powder companies and you will find what you seek.

http://www.laser-cast.com/files/LM_B...Obturation.pdf

http://www.laser-cast.com/files/LM_B..._Revolvers.pdf

http://www.laser-cast.com/files/LM_W...o_Accurate.pdf

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Still Running Against the Wind