357 carbine 180-200gr bullets with Li'l Gun

[Mad_Charlie]

Does any one have any current data for a combination such as this??

 

[4barrel]

Charlie-My long barrel 19-3 loves a 200 lead bullet. I will see if I can find some of your powder. Here are two loads that work good at 50 yards for me with a 200 lead. I bet you have some laying around. I havent tried these in my Marlin yet as I am trying to fine tune for my hand guns. I just bought a new Lyman 195 mold but have not had a chance to find the powder charge it likes. Your powder is on my list. Lee has data for a 200 lead.

 

[bigwheelzip]

I'm not a reloader, but I saved this graphic that sounds like what your asking.

It's from a Texan who goes by the handle Ranch Dog. It's his best .357 carbine feral hog killing round. It's a 35 Rem bullet he designed, loaded in a 38SPL case with Li'l Gun to .357 Mag. pressure. He shoots it from a Rossi 92.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I had a couple of Marlin 357's and still have a stainless Rossi 92. In the early 80's I loaded up 500 357's using IMR 4227 (at max safe load), with a Hornady 180 RNSP bullet. Out of my small Dan Wesson (I think is was a 4inch model 14, it was K frame sized fixed sights and matte finish) these rounds were pretty uncomfortable! Out of my 28-2, they felt like 38 wad cutters! Out of the Marlin 1894C they had excellent accuracy (even with the Micro-groove rifling). In the carbine they were better than any of the 296 loadings.

I bought a 250 count box of Reiner 200 gr LRN sized 358, intended for 35 Remington. I have loaded them in 38 S&W, 38 Special, 357 Mag & 35 Rem. They have so much bearing surface, they have been accurate from all 4 just don't load them real fast for the weapon! They even shot well out of top break revolvers with very pitted bores! in the handgun rounds I stuck to Unique and WW231.

My experience with Little Gun in Metallic rounds ended in the early 90's, I was loading 218 Bee for a Ruger No.1 and .3 below max, it blew the sidewall out of a brand new case. Out of the 9 or 10 friends that tried it in metallic reloading, only one stayed with it. He use Little Gun in 17 Chipmunk and 17 Squirrel, two cartridges that were designed around that powder. (those cartridges became obsolete with the invention of the 17 Mach 2 & the 17 HMR!)

Ivan

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I did some testing a while back looking for the best bullet weight for my .357 Levergun. I was surprised how much more velocity Lil'Gun delivered without losing accuracy. (~100 fps)

Here are some if the numbers:
Using a 180gr Hornady XTP bullet:
15.0gr Lil'Gun - CCI-550 primer - AV=1584 fps
13.6gr W296 - CCI-550 primer - AV=1495 fps

Using a Cast Performance 180gr WFNGC bullet:
14.8gr Lil'Gun - CCI-550 primer - AV=1657 fps
13.7gr H110 - CCI-550 primer - AV=1547 fps

I also tried a 170gr Sierra JHC bullet and liked the results.
17.0gr Lil'Gun - CCI-550 primer - AV=1793 fps (that's amazing velocity!)
15.5gr H110 - CCI-550 primer - AV=1699 fps

The data here might not be in every manual so if you use it and blow,something up blame only yourself because I posted it only for reference.

 

[Mad_Charlie]

Thank you very much gentlemen, much appreciated!

 

[Mad_Charlie]

I did some testing a while back looking for the best bullet weight for my .357 Levergun. I was surprised how much more velocity Lil'Gun delivered without losing accuracy. (~100 fps)

Here are some if the numbers:
Using a 180gr Hornady XTP bullet:
15.0gr Lil'Gun - CCI-550 primer - AV=1584 fps
13.6gr W296 - CCI-550 primer - AV=1495 fps

Using a Cast Performance 180gr WFNGC bullet:
14.8gr Lil'Gun - CCI-550 primer - AV=1657 fps
13.7gr H110 - CCI-550 primer - AV=1547 fps

I also tried a 170gr Sierra JHC bullet and liked the results.
17.0gr Lil'Gun - CCI-550 primer - AV=1793 fps (that's amazing velocity!)
15.5gr H110 - CCI-550 primer - AV=1699 fps

The data here might not be in every manual so if you use it and blow,something up blame only yourself because I posted it only for reference.

Thank you for posting!
After 40+ years of handloading, I have learned to sneak up on max loads, but I have never used li'l gun, in anything.

This is intended for my 10yr old nephew to hunt piggies at fairly close range. I could let him use my Beowulf, but I don't want to have to look for him in the next management area if he gets a shot. The .357 Henry steel with a strong but safe load should be fine for him to start out with.