What hard cast bullet to use in 357

I would like to try some hard cast bullets in my 4" 357
I will be using the 357 case also, so who makes a good bullet.
Also will be using HP38 and Unique with a 158 swc.

Thanks for any help.

Nothing wrong with hard cast bullets in a .357 Magnum. Up until 30 years or so ago there was nothing but hard cast bullets for most handgun ammo. Just understand too hard a bullet pushed with too little pressure will lead the barrel as much or more than to soft a bullet pushed with too much pressure. You need to match the pressure/velocity with the proper bullet hardness and a good lube.

A bullet with a 12-14 BHN can be pushed to over 1000 fps without any leading at all. I shoot a 30-30 bullet that is 18 BHN to over 1400 fps without any problems.

Try midatlanticbullets.com I use their RNFP and LSWC's. They make a very nice bullet at a very competitive price. Their stuff is 18BHN which works in everything I shoot with the exception of the plain soft or half soft and half wheel weight lead I use for my 25-2. Great service as well. Flapjack.

I shoot a .358 diameter swc "Lasercast" bullet on top of 7.5 gr.
of Unique and like the results.


Chuck

I use the Missouri Bullet Company's 158gr SWC.
They're back ordered but worth waiting for.

Missouri Bullet Company

Plus one for Missouri Bullet Co., I use thier .357 Action SWC bullet's with good accuracy and miminal leading at Mag velocitys. Thier .38 Match SWC bullets work quite well at .38 Special velocitys. They tune the bullet alloy to the expected use of each bullet and so far so good.

if you want "hard" hardcast, go for Lasercast. Their bullets are very hard and I have pushed them really fast with minimal or no leading. Full 1550 FPS out of a 8 3/8" pre-27 is possible with lasercasts. I have even pushed them faster in my 357 Maximums.

If you want hardcast, go for Missouri Bullet Company's stuff. I have about 20,000 of their bullets holding down my floor right now. I have essentially moved off lasercast to MBC except for very specific situations.

I use Rimrock bullets, & also SNS casting. both great bullets & great service.

lasercast +1

If I had one cast bullet I would use it would be the 158 grain SWC #358156 Gas check. It is a good bullet in both .38 Special and .357 with dual crimping grooves. You can find it in both SWC or Hollowpoints.

hardcast 357

Welcome To Penn Bullets INC. Call and speak yo Bob Palermo, pres., and explain what you want. Very helpful and knowlageble I'm sure he has what you want Bob

JBnTx said:

I use the Missouri Bullet Company's 158gr SWC.
They're back ordered but worth waiting for.

Missouri Bullet Company

Click to expand...

I just ordered 500 of their 357 Action! Bullets. 12 days later and I found them on my doorstep today. I've been using Unique light loads with the cowboy action round nose MO bullets I got from the local shop who stocks them (for a higher price of course)

Moyers in central PA.
He can found online. Fine hardcast, including rifle bullets.

Just understand too hard a bullet pushed with too little pressure will lead the barrel as much or more than to soft a bullet pushed with too much pressure.

Click to expand...

Well, that seems to be the current thinking but that has not been my experience. What needs attention is correct size and enough of a good lubricant. I have never had a correctly sized & lubed bullet lead a clean bore regardless of hardness. That includes firing 200 grain H&G #68 style SWC's at 725 fps cast from straight linotype. Ditto for heat treated .41 and .44 magnum Keith style SWC's cast from wheelweights. These were driven to 1,400 fps. Bullets can be unnecessarily hard but not too hard IF they are of correct size and lubrication. Incidentally, bullets which need to "obturate" to fill the bore are, in fact undersized by definition. I can see getting into that trick bag when attempting to deal with revolver bore to cylinder throat dimension mismatches but not under normal conditions.

This notion that you need alloys of three different hardnesses for bullet used in 700, 1000 and 1300 fps loads is a pile of horse dung. Let's not make this more complicated than it needs to be. You don't need to do an algebra equation on a pocket calculator to determine the "correct BHN" in order to cast high quality bullets. Accurately determine and control the required size and lube and your good to go. Use a single alloy of sufficient hardness (strength) for all applications and get to loading & shooting.



Bruce

Vulcan Bob said:

Plus one for Missouri Bullet Co., I use thier .357 Action SWC bullet's with good accuracy and miminal leading at Mag velocitys. Thier .38 Match SWC bullets work quite well at .38 Special velocitys. They tune the bullet alloy to the expected use of each bullet and so far so good.

Click to expand...

Here is another plus for Missouri Bullet Co. Don

Going back to when I first started casting bullets for .357 Mag:
a 10-14BHN alloy was HARD. A properly sized bullet was all you needed with this alloy. Many used gas-checks, but this wasn't needed if you had a good revolver--where the throats in the cylinder had to be large enough that the bullet was a tight/snug fit in the chambers (but no so small that the bullets were swaged down in size) and a barrel where the groove diameter was at least 0.001" smaller than the bullet diameter. At that time, this was not always true and many revolvers could not shoot lead bullets well.
So, first check your revolver to be sure it is cast-lead compatible before you start.
Next, today's HARD bullets are not required for a properly chambered .357 Mag. If not properly chambered, any alloy, no matter how hard, may not be adequate.

noylj said:

Going back to when I first started casting bullets for .357 Mag:
a 10-14BHN alloy was HARD. A properly sized bullet was all you needed with this alloy. Many used gas-checks, but this wasn't needed if you had a good revolver--where the throats in the cylinder had to be large enough that the bullet was a tight/snug fit in the chambers (but no so small that the bullets were swaged down in size) and a barrel where the groove diameter was at least 0.001" smaller than the bullet diameter. At that time, this was not always true and many revolvers could not shoot lead bullets well.
So, first check your revolver to be sure it is cast-lead compatible before you start.
Next, today's HARD bullets are not required for a properly chambered .357 Mag. If not properly chambered, any alloy, no matter how hard, may not be adequate.

Click to expand...

+1 I use an alloy of 50/50 wheelweights to pure lead for all of my handgun loads except the full wadcutters. With the WCs, I go even softer with a 25/75 mix and keep velocities around 700 fps. I size to .001-.0015 over groove diameter and lube with a 45/45/10 lube (Johnsons Paste Wax/Liquid Alox/Mineral Spirits. Most of my .357 loads are running right around 1250 fps as hunting loads. I will be running my .44mag loads up to about 1350 with the same alloy/lube. For rifle loads, the only change I make is to add a gas check and keep my loads to between 1800-2000 fps.

Lots of very good cast bullets out there for the handloader. Try Rim Rock Bullets, Mt Baldy, Montana Bullet Works, etc. If you want the very best then go with Cast Performance Bullet Company. As mentioned, as bullet velocity goes up hardness needs to also go up but you can get by very well with a bullet thats 10-12 BHN for 90% of your shooting.

Dick

This is correct..............

BruceM said:

Well, that seems to be the current thinking but that has not been my experience. What needs attention is correct size and enough of a good lubricant. I have never had a correctly sized & lubed bullet lead a clean bore regardless of hardness.
This notion that you need alloys of three different hardnesses for bullet used in 700, 1000 and 1300 fps loads is a pile of horse dung. Let's not make this more complicated than it needs to be. You don't need to do an algebra equation on a pocket calculator to determine the "correct BHN" in order to cast high quality bullets. Accurately determine and control the required size and lube and your good to go. Use a single alloy of sufficient hardness (strength) for all applications and get to loading & shooting.



Bruce

Click to expand...

Couldn't say that better myself. Hard is fine as long as size is sufficient. The front of the bullet has to "stop" and let the back end "squish" up the middle. As long as size is sufficient for that to happen and the bullet isn't going to go "pop"........................................................................................................................................................."DING", you should be fine.

To the OP.
Cast your own. You will never be without the right bullet for the right job in the quantities, size and hardness you want and have developed loads in your firearms for.


Simplest solution out there, and like has been said, It ain't rocket science.....