About 25 years ago, when I worked in a small gunshop, my co-worker gave me about 20 rounds of .357 mag. He said they were loaded by his cousin with 220 grain bullets. I have no idea what powder charge he used, and being young and sort of foolish, I shot them out of my Ruger security six. They were more than a handful! They were fairly accurate but I haven't seen anything like them since. Any chance they might have been a .35 remington bullet?

Does anybody make anything close to that mix?

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Rough waters ahead.

About 25 years ago, when I worked in a small gunshop, my co-worker gave me about 20 rounds of .357 mag. He said they were loaded by his cousin with 220 grain bullets. I have no idea what powder charge he used, and being young and sort of foolish, I shot them out of my Ruger security six. They were more than a handful! They were fairly accurate but I haven't seen anything like them since. Any chance they might have been a .35 remington bullet?

Does anybody make anything close to that mix?

__________________
Rough waters ahead.

I don't know if anyone makes a load that heavy, but that weight sounds needlessly heavy for that caliber.

I think you are right, they were probably bullets for a .35 caliber rifle of some sort.

Back in the mid 1970's, when handgun metallic silhouette was new, the very heavy bullet .357 Mag handloads were tried by many for the rams at 200 meters. Lots of times, the bullets used were so long that they had to be loaded into .38 Special cases to work through some revolvers' cylinders. The Thompson/Center Contender worked well for this as it almost didn't really matter how long the bullet was.

The heaviest commercially loaded .357 Mag bullet weight I am familiar with is the 180 grainers offered by some.

I used to load 230gr wadcutters for bowling pins. They worked great on pins, but they tumble at 25 yards out of every handgun i've used. And, you have to load them in 38 cases because the bullets seat so far into the cases, they bulge 357s.

We don't shoot many bowling pin matches these days, but i currently have some Lyman 195gr RN bullets for the local club pin shoots. Lyman still sells that mold in a 2-cavity. IT has three lube grooves, and is very accurate.

I also suggest to avoid R-P 357 Cases because they are thicker and will bulge at the base of the bullet.(unless you use a Factory Crimp Die)
National bullet(no longer in business) used to sell 200gr 38cal bullets, and currently Colorado Cast bullets sells them as well.. There may be others, but those are the only two i know.

Alliant powder used to publish data for bullets that heavy--I only remember because it was my favorite 357 load. I'm not willing to say how much powder i put in front of the 230gr 38s i used for pins...lol

Alliant's Data:
200gr RN
-------------
357 mag:
1.59 OAL 8.2gr Blue Dot 1225fps

38+p
1.54 OAL 3.3gr Bullseye 795fps

I think Penn has a 200gr for bowling pin matches, to be loaded in 38 special cases.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I think my buddy thought that they would make good defensive rounds, but I'm sure somebody would have figured that out by now. Besides, they were almost as bad as shooting those old 357 mag maximum velocity loads (I can't remember exactly what they were called, just that they sounded like a 12 ga mag going off.)

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Rough waters ahead.

220 grains is way too heavy for caliber to be optimal for self defense.

If you have a way to get ammo made (reloading) Penn Bullets has a 230gr "Thunderhead" bullet for the .357 Magnum for use on Bowling Pin matches.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

That's the same 230gr bullet i was talking about.. It's an awesome bowling pin bullet!

As you can see that bullet was made for the .357 Magnum, it's not a 35 Cal bullet. I didn't realize that was the bullet you were asking about because in your original post you mentioned a 220gr bullet. I've seen them shot, yes, they do a great job knocking down those heavy bowling pins. There's a lot of energy behind them.

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I am an active Pin Shooter and reloader. I have shot Penn Bullets 230 gr Thunderheads and Badman 230 gr Bowling Pin bullets. The trick is to not exceed 900fps so my reload data is:

8.7 grains AA #9 - Lee disk #57 in .357 brass
5.4 grains Titegroup - Lee disk #46 in .357 brass
5.1 grains W231 or HP 38 - Lee disk #46 in .357 brass

All of the above load data velocities average 870fps. As always, use this data at your own risk. Shoot safe, have fun!

I use a 230 gr wc "Lincoln Log" in 38 Special cases to win most of my local club's pin matches. You can buy them at: Badman Bullets - Products

I use:

Win 38 Special brass & 7.0 gr. Blue Dot
or
Win 357 Mag brass & 7.3 gr Blue Dot

Velocity of either is ~ 940 ft/sec. Knocks a pin right off the table.