It was a nice day yesterday so was able to get out and do some chronographing and shooting. Would have liked to have a little more time to do some water expansion tests but was not to be.

The following are a few of the loads tested mainly trying to determine what might work well with the lightweight/short barrel .41 Magnums like the Mountain Gun, 657 3", Night Guard and Personal Defense revolvers.

First tested was the 180 grain total copper round from C.O.P.

4" Mountain Gun....1083/1115/1070 (1084 average)

2.5" 357NG...........1060/1055/1021 (1045 average)

This WD40 can had been left out overnight and was frozen solid...







Recoil was very manageable with both guns...

Next was the Federal 180 with the total copper Barnes Bullet...

4" Mountain Gun.......1204/1238/1283 (1241 average)

2.5" 327NG..............1128/1155/1148 (1143 average)

Recoil was ok in the MG but less than comfortable with the NG.



Next were some home brew...

195 grain MiHic hollow point full wadcutter. I can't find my notes but believe the first was 7.0 Unique and the second load 8.0 of Unique.

4" MG...........1128/1155/1098 (1127 average)

2.5" 357NG....1082/1078/1095 (1085 average)


4" MG............1230/1268/1245 (1247 average)

2.5" 357NG.....decided the recoil was a little much....not tested.





The bullet turned inside out and the base came through the off side...pieces of the HP were later found in the ice...







Next load tested was a home cast 205 grain lead bullet with and incredible .37 Meplat. Load was 8.0 grains of Unique. Mould is available from Accurate Molds....very impressive...

4" MG..............1001/963/965 (976 average)

2.5" NG............941/849/893 (915 average)

Can shot with a 3" 657...



Cut a larger hole going in than the full wadcutter did...



...and much larger hole going out...



Load was very controllable from the light weight NG..


Last load tested was a 230 grain Keith style SWC from Leadhead Bullet. This rendition has a larget meplat than the original Keith design. This was backed by 8.0 grains of Unique and has been my regular carry load while in the field with a 4" 357 PD. Recoil is vary manageable.

4" 357 PD..........986/1010/996 (1000 average)

2.5" 357 NG.......933/924/955 (937 average)


My 357 NG shoots several inches high with standard 210 grain bullets. With bullets in the 165-190 grain range much closer to POA. Still some more testing to do but for now I think that when I carry the NG the best bang for the buck without having the snot kicked out of your hand is the C.O.P. ammo. It can be had over on GunBroker for $165 a case of 250 rounds which is a lot cheaper than most jacketed .41 ammo is going for.

Bob