Does this 357 load sound reasonable?

[AzShooter]

I'd love to see a picture of that bullet unloaded and loaded. Also let us know how it shoots and where you got them. I've never seen a FMS and I'm always open to playing with new stuff.

 

[yes]

If you are after medium loads (1000-1200fps) then go with Unique, especially with lead bullets. If you want full loads, you need truly slow powders like 2400 and 296. Messing around with Bullseye for heavier loads just makes me nervous. It is not intended for that use and can get you into a world of hurt very quickly from things you may not anticipate, such as minute amounts of bullet set back to due recoil, double charges, untrimmed cases that extend into the restricted throat of the chamber just a tad, etc. It is for light loads. Period. End of story. Stay safe.

 

[John R]

Originally posted by AzShooter:
Stay with the 158 grain bullets. Noise with the light bullets is more than I can take.

Try Unique or Blue Dot for heavy charges with the 158s.

2400 also works nice.

Max velocity with H110 or 296 is the same as 2400 but most reloading manuals only give you one load for H110 and 290. You cannot play with the data.

Blue Dot also puts on one hell of a flame show.

 

[AzShooter]

I love shooting Blue Dot at our night matches. Flame almost hits the close targets and it sure gets everyone's attention

 

[terrier]

I rarely load .357 anymore, use .38 load of 5.5 of Unique under 158gr swc. Have used up to 6.0grs with no problems but I shoot a Ruger Security Six. Would probably back this off in a lighter Smith(no flame intended). It is very accurate.

 

[ETCM(SS)Joe]

Well I finally got to shoot some of my 158 gr. JSP's over 10.0 grains of Blu Dot. Yeah, they put out some impressive muzzle flash and wasn't very consistently accurate. I was actually shooting better groups at 25 yards with my Kimber 1911. So, in summary, fun to shoot but not the most accurate load, for sure. Hmm...now I need to try some lighter stuff, I guess.

Oh, to Franske: yeah, I remember when I loaded H110 there was just barely enough room left to seat the bullet. Your OAL sound VERY close to the absolute maximum. I measured the cylinder on my M327 and its only 1.580 or so. Have you tried your loads in a revolver?

 

[Paul5388]

I would be inclined to look into a cast lead bullet. They aren't quite as hard on your gun and they usually will develope more velocity than a comparable jacketed bullet will.

According to this data, you can get more velocity with the minimum load of SR 4756 than you get with a maximum load of H110/W296 and almost as much as a maximum load of 2400.

 

[Franske]

I'll try to make some photo's of the bullets. They looked great: the copper bulletpoints in the silvery nickeled cases.
And in used my first cartridges yesterday, with 15,0 -15,1 and 15,2 grains of H110, wich is the same as 296.
With 15,2 grains I got a group of 1,5 inch .
And it was a magificent firework: sound- and lihtshow. Everybody knew I was there...

 

[Franske]

Sorry folks. Photo is finally made, but I cannot get in my posting...