Reloading after 15 years

[rockquarry]

I've found that almost any cast bullet in the 150gr to 160gr weight range and 5.5gr or 6.0gr of bullseye in the 357mag cases will make excellent blammo ammo/plinking reloads. At 1 time I cast 10+ .358" bullets in that weight range and would burn them up with that bullseye/357mag combo.

Was playing around a couple years ago and put a scope on a 686 and was blasting away with a cramer "hunter" cast 158gr rn hp and a 640 series cast 158gr fn hp. The target looks like chicken scratch but I was simply testing 6-shot groups @ 50yds.

The left top & bottom targets were 5.5gr of bullseye.
The right top & bottom targets were 6.0gr of bullseye.
The top targets were the hunter bullet.
The bottom targets were the 640 series bullets.

Nothing special, didn't take a lot of time shooting strings and used a front rest only. Measurements were done with a simple tape measure and all measurements are outside edge to outside edge of the bullet holes in the targets.

Basically all groups were 2" or less @ 50yds. Others might want better results, for me that's good enough for range fodder plinking/blammo ammo.

Very good groups. Glad to see someone using a tape measure or ruler to measure groups. So much more practical than a caliper.

 

[BE Mike]

You're fine with Bullseye and Unique. The only rub is that Alliant powders have been scarce for quite some time.

 

[rockquarry]

You're fine with Bullseye and Unique. The only rub is that Alliant powders have been scarce for quite some time.

Check Powder Valley occasionally. I bought an 8 lb. keg of Bullseye from them in the last six months or so. It may have been listed a time or two since. However, I think Unique is a different story.

 

[CecilB]

Clays and Trail Boss are unobtainable, my 2 favorite powders. I can't find Universal anywhere either. So I started fiddling with 700X and it's working out fine with my .45, .357 & .38 sp. HP-38 seems plentiful now too. So another vote for 700X.

 

[rockquarry]

Regarding Universal...I tried it a number of year ago in .38 Special, .44 Special, and .45 Colt, thinking it would replace Unique since Unique didn't meter real well in my measure.

Universal goes through a measure better, but I couldn't quite get the accuracy with it I had gotten with Unique. However, it was fairly close, maybe enough to offset the bad flow characteristic of Unique in some powder measures. A pound of it is certainly worth a try.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

I have found CFE-Pistol to work well in almost all pistol calibers...

And, it is AVAILABLE from Hodgdons!

 

[Nevada Ed]

I found "Universal" to be Unique's, long lost brother, and it worked well in my pistols and revolvers
but it did not pattern as well as Unique in my 12 Ga. trap loads and was very dirty in the low fps loads.

One of the better powders with a lead 125gr Cowboy bullet in my snub nose J frame, revolver, in the accuracy Dept.


They all work in a gun, if you play around with them, enough.

 

[pantannojack]

I found 2 pounds of 4756 @ 30$ each. I use it in 357 cases with 158g LSWC below 7gs. Works well for mid range at half the cost as the slower fuels like 296 or H110. I don't like mag loads anyway. I like Red Dot in my version of 41 Mag/Spcl and 44 Mag/Spcl. 6g each. 231 in 45 ACP and 9mm, and 38 Spcl. I remember my 25acp load of 1g BullsEye. Check reliable published data for all loads.

 

[SVT28]

Newbie reloader checking in with my thoughts. W231 has been great in 38 spl and 45 for me so far. I have also enjoyed Ramshot Zip for those two calibers, which is usually in stock for about $110/4lbs at my local Cabelas around the corner. I plan on starting to reload 380 and 10mm soon and plan on using Zip for 380, will probably try a lb of something else, maybe from Accurate, for 10mm

Welcome back to the club!

SVT28