357 mag and 200grn Cast Perfomance

[mpritchard]

I am using a 357mag for bear hunting. It is a little light, but it is a 686 with an 8 3/8" barrel and I love that gun. I don't want to spend the money on a 44 mag. I have been using Cast Performance 180 grainer's with AA#9 and am getting good results, but I need stout, so I bought a box of the 200 grainers and so far have only been able to find some data with WW296. Any load info with the 200 grain Cast Performance would be great. Also, I haven't shot many lead bullets, but I understand that these are hard cast bullets with gas checks so I should not have lead fouling problems. So far with the 180's I have not, but have only went through about 50 rounds. Any information would be great... Thanks in advance!!

 

[mpritchard]

I am using a 357mag for bear hunting. It is a little light, but it is a 686 with an 8 3/8" barrel and I love that gun. I don't want to spend the money on a 44 mag. I have been using Cast Performance 180 grainer's with AA#9 and am getting good results, but I need stout, so I bought a box of the 200 grainers and so far have only been able to find some data with WW296. Any load info with the 200 grain Cast Performance would be great. Also, I haven't shot many lead bullets, but I understand that these are hard cast bullets with gas checks so I should not have lead fouling problems. So far with the 180's I have not, but have only went through about 50 rounds. Any information would be great... Thanks in advance!!

 

[musicmanbass]

i believe the piece of paper usually included in the box also has data for 2400, no?

 

[Paul5388]

The newest Alliant Reloading Guide is basically worthless, since they only show Speer bullets in their data. However, the 2005 hard copy does list a 200 gr LRN.

Fed 200 @1.575" OAL
10.0 gr 2400 @ 1245 fps
8.2 gr Blue Dot @ 1225 fps
6.0 gr Unique @ 1105 fps

The fastest they show (which may fall far short of the advertised velocity) will only produce 689 ft lbs of ME, which may be a little light for bear.

 

[webley green]

My Lyman Reloading Handbook 44th Edition lists one load that could work. Accuracy load for a 195 grain cast bullet (#358430 #2 Alloy) is Unique 5.5 grains for 942 FPS. As this is a maximum listed load, start low and work up. YMMV

My current .38 Special load is 4.8 grains of Unique with .357 cast 158 grain SWC. Again YMMV.
Good luck with your bear hunting trip.
The old lyman books help out for lead cast loads..

 

[OKFC05]

only been able to find some data with WW296

296 is my favorite powder for max power "whopper stoppers." The usual warning to use loads exactly as listed applies.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I would suggest writing Hodgdon and asking for load data. I would also recommend using Lil'Gun with those heavy for caliber bullets. I've gotten very good results with Lil'Gun and a 180gr Cast Performance bullets. There's no reason you won't get just as good results with their 200gr bullets.

 

[mpritchard]

Thank you all for your input.

The new box of 200 grainers did not come with load data. The old box of 180's did.

Sounds llike I need to get Lil'Gun or the 296. I have some AA#9 that I would like to use... It worked great with the 180's, but so far I have not been able to find data on it for the 200 grainers.

 

[AzShooter]

I'm working up loads for the 180 grain cast lead bullets in .38 cases that I'm using in my 686. I'm using 5.3 grains of Unique in a 6 inch barrel and getting 930 fps. 5.5 grains is the maximum load listed in the manuals. It shoots at 980 fps.

The 5.3 grain load shoots into 1/2 inch at 25 yards from a bench when I use my leupold scope.

If you are shooting hard lead bullets in .357 cases you can go with much heavier loads.

180 GR. NOS PART Hodgdon H4227 .357" 1.575" 12.7 1247 36,900 CUP 13.7 1308 40,900 CUP
180 GR. NOS PART Winchester 296 .357" 1.575" 13.0 1352 36,800 CUP 13.5 1396 39,100 CUP
180 GR. NOS PART Hodgdon H110 .357" 1.575" 13.0 1352 36,800 CUP 13.5 1396 39,100 CUP
180 GR. NOS PART Hodgdon Lil'Gun .357" 1.575" 13.0 1279 27,500 CUP 15.0 1422 34,500 CUP
180 GR. NOS PART Hodgdon Longshot .357" 1.175" 6.1 1025 32,700 CUP 7.2 1167 41,700 CUP
180 GR. NOS PART IMR SR 4756 .357" 1.575" 4.5 620 20,800 PSI 5.7 888 32,800 PSI
180 GR. NOS PART Winchester AutoComp .357" 1.575" 5.3 869 27,700 PSI 5.9 997 33,700 PSI
180 GR. NOS PART IMR SR 7625 .357" 1.575" 4.1 611 22,300 PSI 5.1 838 33,200 PSI
180 GR. NOS PART Hodgdon Titegroup .357" 1.575" 5.0 948 38,100 CUP 5.5 1020 40,300 CUP
180 GR. NOS PART IMR 700-X .357" 1.575" 4.0 668 25,500 PSI 4.7 846 32,500 PSI

These are for jacketed bullets from the newest Hodgdon loading center.

 

[mpritchard]

Yes AzShooter, good info there. Makes me rethink using the AA#9, although I need to chronograph my current 180grn loads.

Aside from buying a 44 mag, What I want to do is get the same velocities out of the 200 grain CastPerformance bullets.

 

[41 fan]

I have loaded the Tennesee Bullets 190 gr .357 for use in my model 27's. I use 13 gr of VVN100 powder and get 1185 fps from my 5 inch gun. Dean

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Looking at the data from Accurate Arms I'm sure you can extrapolate a safe starting load for a 200gr lead bullet.

From the AA site using AA#9:
158gr LSWC - 12.2gr - 13.5gr
180gr CP WFNGC - 11.3gr - 12.6gr

MY GUESS for the 200gr CP WFNGC:
Start with a charge of 10.2gr and work up to MAYBE 11.5gr which is the same spread use in the other 2 bullets weights, 1.3gr from Min to Max.

Of course you should make your own estimates because this is just a guess on my part.
Don't use this data without checking for yourself because it's only an example of how I would go about finding a starting load for that bullet and AA#9.

 

[jibjab]

These are for jacketed bullets from the newest Hodgdon loading center.

Is that data using a 10" test barrel ?
Accurate Arm uses a 6".

 

[mpritchard]

Start with a charge of 10.2gr and work up to MAYBE 11.5gr

ArhAngel, you are just about right on. I finally got ahold of the guys at Cast Performance. For the 200 grn bullet, they suggested starting with 11 grains of AA#9, 10 grains of LilGun, or 10 Grains of WW296. I tried out the AA#9 last nite and it shot fine. No pressure problems. I will work my way up with it and try the others later.

Thanks again you all for your input!!

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm glad that worked out for you. It looks like my guess was a bit low but at least my guess at the high end wasn't too high! LOL

 

[Groo01]

Groo here
Contact SSK in ohio
JD Jones rote the book on heavy bullets for hunting.