My reference materials are a couple floors down and I'm old & tired. 43K psi strikes me as more than a couple of tokes over the line.
357 W231 load
- Thread starter mikerjf
- Start date
My reference materials are a couple floors down and I'm old & tired. 43K psi strikes me as more than a couple of tokes over the line.
lppd4
Member
I usually load to moderate velocities and in the event I need a full power load I use factory ammo. I am a competent reloader but I feel like it may reduce the risk of a reloading error and it keeps my brass supply healthy.
I also use the Winchester/Hodgdon reloading data center
I also use the Winchester/Hodgdon reloading data center
Last edited:
My actual Winchester manual, a few years old now since Hodgdon got the marketing rights to Winchester powders, shows 8.1 grs of 231 with a 125 gr JHP at 1460 velocity from a test barrel. Pressure is listed as 42,500 CUP not PSI. Lyman manuals indicate that pressures of 35,000 PSI to be about the same as the old 46,000 CUP limit for the .357. 8.5 grs with a 125 gr JHP is probably around 35,000 PSI, about the current top std. When you consider that quality revolvers like S&W have at least a 100% over pressure safety margin, it's obvious that you can shoot all the handloads or factory loads at 35,000 PSI you want without any fears of somehow blowing up your gun. Consider the fact that 35,000 PSI isn't really all that hot. Some calibers have higher limits including the 9mm for which S&W K and J frames are made and J frames are made for the .357 also.
Last edited:
My standard 357 plinking load is 8.0gr of HP38 with a 125gr XTP. I get about ~1325fps out of a 6" 686. I shoot more of this load probably than any other, regardless of caliber. Hunting ammo would be with H110, but I don't typically hunt with 357.
They really didn't lower the pressure spec. There's a copper crusher limit now given as CUP and a piezo-electric limit given in PSI or the metric equivalent (given that CIP uses a somewhat different testing method, it might not be the same over yonder.) In handguns, there's very little correlation between CUP and piezo pressures. What there is seems to be somewhere at/below 17K in CUP & piezo.
Now then, some loading data has changed since the piezo system can do pressure/time graphs and they can show pressure spikes that didn't show up on the copper crusher system. If those spikes exceed pressure limits, the load data has to change to eliminate the excessive pressure.
Last edited:
You PLINK with......
You PLINK with XTPs???
I can only afford to use coated lead for plinking and targets. Maybe FMJ if I'm really pushing it.
To stay on topic, I use 231 or other faster powders in .357 cases to .38 loads on up a little and switch to 2400 for the heavier loads.
You PLINK with XTPs???
I can only afford to use coated lead for plinking and targets. Maybe FMJ if I'm really pushing it.To stay on topic, I use 231 or other faster powders in .357 cases to .38 loads on up a little and switch to 2400 for the heavier loads.
Last edited:
You PLINK with XTPs???
Lol, you're right. I don't know why I use jacketed for 357. I use Bayou Bullets for most everything else. A long time habit I suppose from when I inherited a stockpile of jacketed 125's many years ago.
