Zero .38/.357 158 gr. JHP Opinions ?
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trulyapostolic
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Generally speaking, Zero bullets IMO are more accurate than anything else produced. But, specifically the one you question I've bought some of these and they mic'd over .358", I'm not happy about that.
Well, that wouldn't be good. Were they consistently all .358" or more ? A Win. or Rem. .38 cal JHP will pass through all of my chamber throats but a .3584" cast won't.
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twodog max
Member
I have shot thousands of them and have thousands more on hand. That ought to indicate how I think of them. I have found they shoot accurately in several 357 revolvers and my Rossi 92 carbine. I have killed a few deer with them and they performed well in that use.
muddocktor
Member
I also have used thousands of Zero bullets in several calibers and I have been satisfied with the accuracy and consistency of them. I haven't miked the 357 bullets but have checked some on the 44 caliber bullets and they were accurate to the stated size. BTW, if you shoot a 44 cal weapon and your revolver has oversized throats such as some earlier model 29s might have, these are a good choice as Zero's 240 grain bullets are sized at .431 instead of the more normal .4295-.430 diameter of the "big boys". I have had no problems shooting these slightly oversized bullets through any of my 44 caliber weapons.
I don't hunt any more so I can't say anything about their terminal performance.
I don't hunt any more so I can't say anything about their terminal performance.
rockquarry
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Are these actually JHP or are they copper plated? Could be a big difference in accuracy. Before I bought in quantity, I'd buy a hundred or maybe a couple of hundred, work up some loads and do some benchrest testing at 25 yards.
Someone mentioned they were oversize in diameter. If a cartridge loaded with these chambered easily and shot well, I wouldn't be concerned about the diameter being slightly large.
muddocktor
Member
That sounds more like loaded slightly too hot for that bullet or a cylinder problem more than a bullet problem.
OP, I just measured some Zero 158 JHP and 125 JHP bullets with my old school dial caliper and they both look to be in the .357-.358 range. I don't have a micrometer to get any more accurate than that.
And the 44 caliber 240 JSP Zero bullets look to caliper out at .430-.431. And just for a check, I put it on a Hornady 44 caliber 180 XTP and it measured right at .430 or maybe just a tad under.
Thank you . Appreciated. According to several...If a projectile will not pass through a revolver chamber throat with any more force than thumb pressure it can create extra pressure that correlates into extra cylinder slamming both fore & aft depending on bullet travel position . The tighter the fit the more pressure it creates. End result can be accelerated end shake . I read this from several, the first being a retired Ruger tech, Iowegan on Rugerforum.net. You may not buy into this and that's fine.
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I bought 2K of them before Bidenomics got involved. And they have been very accurate for me and my .357's. Went to Hodgens web sight , took their max load for 296 and with my GP100 6" its flat out to a 100 yards. I really like these bullets.
It's a real eye opener when it happens. Several years ago I was swaging jacketed hp's for the 44mags. Ended up running/making a batch of 300 of them.
I made most of them .429" and +/- 50 of them .431". I wanted to test/see if the .431" bullets performed better in a revolver that had .431" cylinders.
Didn't seem to make any difference whether I used a .429" or .431" bullet in the revolver with the .431" cylinders. Same velocity & accuracy with either size bullet.
Ended up selling the revolver with the .431" cylinders and had 12 or 14 of those oversized .431" bullets left over. I made up some plinking loads using 8.5gr of universal clays powder. I filled the cylinder of a 629 with them and shot them off. Ended up having to use a rod to remove the stuck cases. The rest of them were shot in a contender to get the cases back.
This is usually caused by shooting .38 Special ammo and not cleaning the residue that accrues at the end of the .38 case, then firing .357s. Brownell's sells bronze chamber brushes that make short work of that.
ETA: I've used the Zero 158-grain JHPs and they worked fine. I also went through several thousand of their swaged .38 158-grain RNLs when I was deep into IDPA and they shot very well and didn't lead at the velocities I loaded them to (~830 fps), but they were messy to reload due to the soft lube.
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trulyapostolic
Member
I just checked some of my inventory again. The Zero 38SPL 158gr JHP averages just over .3580", not quite .3581". The Zero 38SPL 125gr JHP averages .3581". I've got some Zero 38SPL 125gr JHP-C that measure .3563", and some Zero 9mm 125gr JHP that are .3559". The last 2 125gr bullets are great because I use them in my 38 Super which is .356" and my Manurhin revolver which also slugged at .356".
Even though I've got thousands of, what's supposed to be, .357" bullets none of them are actually correct.
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