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Old 11-15-2020, 11:55 PM
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Default Mystery bullets

I’ve had these (supposed) .357 Remington JHP’s for a while. Can’t remember exactly where I got them, but I was buying up a lot of peoples surplus and stuff they were selling off and getting out of reloading, etc., about a year ago. Anywho, I pulled them out and wanted to load some up since I had just done a run of SWC 170gr. target ammo and still had everything set up for .357. I went to seat the first bullet and it dropped right into the case all the way to the powder. I checked the diameter on several and they are right at .355”. No good for .357, but I thought maybe .357Sig. Is it too heavy of a bullet for .357Sig? It looks like if I seat the bullet to the normal length of 1.14”, there won’t be room for enough of a charge to make it worthwhile. Has anyone loaded 158gr. in .357Sig, and if so, what powder and what starting charge weight?
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Old 11-16-2020, 12:24 AM
.38SuperMan .38SuperMan is offline
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I found a box of 1000 JHP 158gr that look exactly like those. I was loading a lot of 38 specials thirty years ago and must have stuck them back and totally forgot about them. I know they were for 38 sp because I wasn’t loading anything else close to that back them. There was no name on the box and I don’t remember when or where I got them.

This year I got back into 38/357 revolvers and lever guns and broke open the box. I’m assuming they’re .357 diameter but can’t confirm but I have a hundred or so left and will measure them tomorrow. I’d like to know who made them because they shot very well. I found them to be very accurate.

I just bought 1000 soft nose 158 jacketed from Everglades and they shoot equally as well. They’re selling JHP’s that look like those as well. No idea who makes them.
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Old 11-16-2020, 12:30 AM
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The closest I could figure for that diameter would be a 9mm win mag. All of the other nine mm cartridges don't use a bullet that heavy.
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Old 11-16-2020, 12:33 AM
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That is indeed a Remington projectile

It is not a good choice for the 357 SIG. The 357 SIG does not do very well with projectiles heavier than 147s.

Remington offered a factory loaded 150 grain JHP load in the 357 SIG for a while, but there were not enough folks shooting suppressed to keep it going

The 158 would work quite well in 9x23 Winchester and probably not too bad in 38 SUPER. However most folks will shy away from that for a lack of available load data

Now, those would be usable in the 357 Magnum cartridges with some changes to your loading setup.

Is that the only sizing die that you have? If you have another see of it sizes the brass down tighter. If it does, a smaller diameter expander plug will help to keep neck tension high (your existing expander can be made smaller easily). Then finish with a LEE collet crimp die and it will work just fine
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Old 11-16-2020, 12:34 AM
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Those look exactly like some Remington JHP I have.

Wonder if they might be factory seconds? Although I can't believe Remington would let those leave the factory at .355" even as seconds.

The crimp groove would make me thing they were not made for semiautos.

Curious.
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Old 11-16-2020, 12:42 AM
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Default Figured it out!

Ok, I think it was just poor quality control. The very first bullet I picked up out of the bullet tray and dropped into a case, I just set it aside and grabbed another bullet and measured it at .355”. After I posted the original post, I went back and got the bullet out of the case and measured it. It came in at .352”! The .355”s seated and crimped well, so I guess they’re ok. After measuring several at .355”, I just tried slipping each one in an empty case to make sure it wouldn’t slide in easily before seating it in a charged case. In all, I had only four that would easily slide down into a case out of 100. All four were in the .352-.353” range. Weird, huh?
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Old 11-16-2020, 08:17 AM
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Those look just like the Remington 158 grain JHP 38 Special/357 Magnum bullets that I used years ago. Remington's quality has been "iffy" for quite a while.
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Old 11-16-2020, 08:48 AM
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Default I have found some data for....

...and loaded 160 grain bullets in my 9mm as an experiment. They shot pretty well but I couldn't quite get the velocity I wanted. Even so, bullet choice was so limited I would have had to make my own bullets to get the properties I wanted.
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Old 11-16-2020, 03:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by .38SuperMan View Post
I found a box of 1000 JHP 158gr that look exactly like those. I was loading a lot of 38 specials thirty years ago and must have stuck them back and totally forgot about them. I know they were for 38 sp because I wasn’t loading anything else close to that back them. There was no name on the box and I don’t remember when or where I got them.

This year I got back into 38/357 revolvers and lever guns and broke open the box. I’m assuming they’re .357 diameter but can’t confirm but I have a hundred or so left and will measure them tomorrow. I’d like to know who made them because they shot very well. I found them to be very accurate.

I just bought 1000 soft nose 158 jacketed from Everglades and they shoot equally as well. They’re selling JHP’s that look like those as well. No idea who makes them.
Everglades .357`s sold out , out of stock this morning
Jim
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Old 11-16-2020, 03:37 PM
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While .357" is the nominal diameter for jacketed .38 Special and .357 magnum bullets the actual diameters encountered will vary. I've found and used bullets from .354" to .360" over the years, although I will admit to being cautious about which handguns to use them in.

Similar variations will be found when slugging the barrels of different .38 and .357 revolvers. It is actually a bit unusual to find one that is exactly .357" groove diameter, and chamber mouths can vary widely.

That style of Remington bullet (scalloped jacket edges) was known as the Semi-Jacketed Hollow Point. Remington produced millions of them back in the 1970's and 1980's, and many reloading suppliers offered bulk-packs of the 125 and 158-grain versions. I suspect that some may have been factory "seconds", not meeting the standards for loading into factory ammunition and sold off at very modest prices.

If I had a significant supply of those I think I would try either a 9X19 or .38 Super sizing die set up for my case mouths to enter about 1/2" to 5/8", then use the expander button just enough to allow the bullets to barely enter the case mouths, then seat and crimp as usual.

The only way I would throw them away would be out the muzzle at the range!
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