Lehigh 120gr 357

[pasound]

Wondering about a Lehigh bullet I first loaded for 38spl ~4 years ago. 5grs of Unique with a Lehigh 120gr Xtreme Defense, solid copper bullet. Works well, not a +P.

I want to make a 357mag for my GP100. Lehigh says 16.8-18.0gr of H110 is the range for that bullet. No H110 available, but I have W296.

Am I remembering that the two can be exchangeable powders?

 

[Kallo00]

Lehigh's loads show 5.9gr with Universal, which is my chosen powder for this new load. 10% puts the starting load below the 5.5gr starting load on their chart. I intend on being conservative, but probably "warm". Will work up to 5.8 of Universal. Saving my Unique for incoming 44 Keith bullets.

 

[Eddietruett]

H11o and 296 are interchangeable

 

[Alk8944]

No H110 available, but I have W296. Am I remembering that the two can be exchangeable powders?

H-110 and W-296 are not just interchangeable, they are identical. They (it actually) is made by General Dynamics at the St.Marks Powder plant in St Marks, Florida owned by General Dynamics. Before Hodgdon became the distributor for Winchester propellants shipments to both Winchester and Hodgdon could actually both come from the same manufacturing lot! This is per a phone conversation a few years ago with one of the engineers at St. Marks Powder!

I would have to believe at this time that the only difference between H-110 and W-296 is packaging!

 

[tom2]

Strange. I quit using H110 quickly in a carbine because the recommended load seemed to bulge the cases excessively, but 296 in same did not give the same issue. So I have stuck with that for loading for the little rifle. As a matter of fact I have nearly all my 110 left as I had not used it for anything else subsequently. Maybe it is just in that situation that it occurs. BTW I hand weigh my loads, and rarely use the mechanical powder measure except for bottle neck rifle carts where the small variations are a small percentage.

 

[pasound]

Lehigh's loads show 5.9gr with Universal, which is my chosen powder for this new load. 10% puts the starting load below the 5.5gr starting load on their chart. I intend on being conservative, but probably "warm". Will work up to 5.8 of Universal. Saving my Unique for incoming 44 Keith bullets.

I'm not sure where you are getting the data for Universal. From Lehigh's own web site it isn't listed for 38, 38+P, or 357. That is current data, looked up just before I typed this.

 

[sourdough44]

The Lehigh data pages are all over the place, not in order. There is some 38 special data with H Universal. I didn't take note of bullet weight.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

As far as the OP's post & question is concerned the answer is "yes" for 357 Magnum...

I see no load data for Universal and OF COURSE the weight of the bullet makes a difference!

Cheers!

P.S. On retrospect, these are about the only typical handgun caliber Lehighs I have not reloaded: the .355, .400, .439 & .451 ones all work splendidly using Lehigh data, just not to the extremes (pun) that Underwood or Buffalo Bore may go to...

 

[sourdough44]

I like Lehigh bullets in certain applications, as in 68 grains with my 380's.

With the light bullet for your 357, I'd lean towards a mid speed powder, mid charge levels. That would be rather than max charges of W-296/H-110. I'm thinking it would still be plenty 'warm' for you, the load.

For a middle speed handgun powder, H Universal does well for me. Between the Lehigh data & manuals with similar to heavier bullets, should be plenty of options.