light .357 mag loads

[STORMINORMAN]

Re: CLAYS

If you look on the lable of Hodgdons CLAYS and they show loads for 38 Special, 45 acp, etc.

THAT'S the right one!

Cheers!

P.S. It truly is a bit confusing, but no more so than IMR 4895 & H4895, H4350 & IMR 4350, etc.

 

[DWalt]

I talked to a lady that worked in a gun shop in Az . She had bought a Colt Trooper , marked on the barrel for 357 caliber , didn't say which model . Anyway she couldn't chamber a 357 round . She could chamber a 38 special . The previous owner had been a competition shooter and only used 38 special rounds and never cleaned the cylinder . She took it to a local gun smith . He soaked the cylinder in Kroil for 2 days , then used a bronze bore brush to clean the cylinder . After that no problem using 357 rounds . That's the worse case of " crud ring " I have ever heard of . Regards Paul

I have never experienced the "ring" problem, associated by some with firing .38 Special, in any of my .357 revolvers. Maybe my habit of scrubbing the chambers with a wire brush as a part of regular gun cleaning after every use has something to do with it. My personal feeling is that using light .38 Special loads in a .357 revolver makes more sense than using downloaded .357 cases. In fact, that is mainly what I do anyway.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I have also shot a bunch of 38 Specials, factory and handloads in my 357s.
So my answer to a light 357 load is a 38 Special.

 

[stansdds]

Unique powder doesn't work well at super light loads ... I tried for years but the truth is it needs a certain amount of pressure to burn completely and cleanly ... get below that pressure and you get incomplete burn and the term " It's a dirty powder" gets tagged on it .

Gary

There is a world of truth in that statement! I think a lot of powders get bad reviews because they are being loaded on the very bottom end of their safe load range.

 

[gwpercle]

I have never experienced the "ring" problem, associated by some with firing .38 Special, in any of my .357 revolvers. Maybe my habit of scrubbing the chambers with a wire brush as a part of regular gun cleaning after every use has something to do with it. My personal feeling is that using light .38 Special loads in a .357 revolver makes more sense than using downloaded .357 cases. In fact, that is mainly what I do anyway.

Right On !

If those people who have the "ring" problem would clean their gun properly and after every range ... there would be NO Ring Problem .
I've been shooting 38's in a 357 Magnum since 1972 ... cleaned after every range trip ... No Ring ... I just looked , the chambers are clean and smooth as a baby's bottom ... Imagine That !

 

[alwslate]

I have fired a lot of light cast bullet loads in .38 spl brass in my .357 revolvers and never had to "scrub" the chambers to be able to chamber .357 loads. I think many shooters confuse the simple burn ring with a crud ring and over clean their chambers. After firing I simply swab each chamber with a snug fitting oiled patch on a jag and have no problems.

 

[terry_tr6]

i'm shooting these out of a 4" 686. AND for the first time, using SR primers which seem to be working fine. With the problems finding powders in stock, I've been going through my cabinet and using up partial cans left over from past years of playing around. I found some loads I really liked in AA#7 but burned that all up. I may buy another pound of I ever see it but now I'm working through a 1/3 of a pound of clays. Eventually i plan to get down to just a rifle powder(probably varget) for .223, .308, 30.06, h110 /w296 for carbine/300BO, and W231 or unique for pistols(9mm, 38/357/45. best choices, maybe not but I think they will do



That pretty much gets me down to stuff I already have a quantity of and cleans up leftover jugs.

 

[Moe Mentum]

For a light .357 load, 125-158 grain bullet, I use of 5.0 grains of Red Dot.

 

[Buford57]

Since you asked about (just plain) Clays, I used 4.2 gr. (within Hodgdon's range) and got solid performance, little unburned powder and easy cleanup with 158 gr. RNFPs. I used a firm crimp since one of the guns was a Marlin carbine. CCI SP (standard) primers Winchester brass.