Reloading the 357

[Ccwlaw]

I am about to venture into reloading 357 magnum for a model 19 and a model 66. I intend to use Hodgden tight group only due to its ready availability. I have loaded 44 mag 45 ACP, 9 mm and all of the shotgun gauges. I intend to download 158 grain semi wadcutter's. so as not to over stress the K frame and forcing cone. Any thoughts on the tite group in 357? Any preferable, powders, or suggested loads?

 

[rwsmith]

Well, Titegroup isn't a magnum powder, but that's fine with what you are doing. You are also shooting cast bullets which makes for lower pressures than jacketed bullets. 4.5-5 grains of TG has about 40% less pressure in cast than jacketed. I've had very good luck with lower doses of Acc #7 and I suppose Acc #5 would be about as good.
HP38/Win231 has been a great 'universal' powder for about anything. I still have a lot of Alliant powders and Unique works for about everything, but Hodgdon Universal is about the same.

 

[venomballistics]

I'm currently loading a run of 158 grain rnfp for a lever action.
AA#7 has been the cats meow in this project, producing a very accurate load with significant potency. Which is exactly the utility load I'm looking for.
If I wanted to come down from freeway speeds, I'd likely explore CFE pistol.
This has a performance somewhat similar to unique, which was the foundation of many classic hand loads.
IN fact, I have a 120 grain 38 special load using CFE.
It too has been a fine performer

 

[kadams]

I've had excellent accuracy recently with tite group using 148 SBWC's and 158 SWC's with tite group.

 

[Sevens]

Using Titegroup for .38 and .357 is an idea. In my experience, it is a poor idea. I can assure you that this is NOT a popular opinion and you'll see guys argue with my post here.

Plenty of folks use Titegroup in .38 and .357. Hodgdon will of course give you published data for it in .38 and .357, because they love the idea that you will buy their product.

If you are a skilled handloader and you are absolutely diligent at the load bench, Titegroup will work and work safely in both .38 and .357.

I have Titegroup in my cache and I use it in select places but I will not use it in .38 or .357. I am not saying you shouldn't but instead, I'll tell you why I won't use it.

In .38 Special it makes decent ammo except that I find it excessively hot. By that I mean temperature. It heats up a revolver cylinder hotter and faster than every other powder I use, bar none. This is due to the high nitroglycerin content of Titegroup.

In .357 it will make ammo that goes bang. It will not return the magnum velocity you get with a more appropriate, slower burning powder. It does not sound the same, feel the same or perform the same as proper .357 Magnum ammo, but it will fail in all of these ways and yet still reach the same peak pressure.

I don't know of any smokeless
powder on the entire market that is as fast and also as dense as Titegroup. If you are not aware, that means using it in almost any revolver round provides you enough physical space to triple or quadruple a maximum published load.

I will put that in a different way—

If you put as much H-110 as physically possible under a 158gr bullet in .357 and seated it, you would have an over-pressure and unsafe round. It would be a struggle to load 10% over max weight. This would be a bad, reckless idea. But just about any and every modern .357 handgun could handle it.

If you put as much Titegroup under a 158gr bullet as a .357 cartridge case could hold and seat the bullet, you will have created a bomb that no .357 Magnum ever made could handle without catastrophic bursting results.

If someone had a goal to willfully destroy a firearm with an over pressure handload, I don't believe any powder sold would be more effective for the task than Titegroup.

 

[kadams]

If your handloading at all you should be skilled and careful with what your doing, I don't use tite group for magnum loads, that is for 2400 and H110, I've loaded and shot about 1500 cast bullets thru .44 mag, .44 special, .38 special. and 357 mag in light loads over the past few months with 3.8 to 5 grain charges, for 800 to 950 fps in various revolvers. I don't use a progressive press, or a turret, I weigh every charge then seat the bullet. Tite group at these velocities has turned out better accuracy in every Caliber and projectile weight than any other powder I've tried. With one exception that being 14 grains of 2400 was slightly more accurate than 5.0 grains of tite group with a 215grain hollow base wadcutter out of my .44 special. (3x the powder that is hard to get for the same result=$) I'm sure there are other powders that could get good results, But I'm not aware of any that I could load 12,000 rds of ammo for 300$. You could make a dangerous load with any powder if your careless.

 

[wasitclose?]

I have reloaded rifles for many years and have just started on 357 as my first pistol cartridge reloading venture. I saw the Ultimate reloader channel on youtube make a couple videos about 357/38 using titegroup and singing its praises, so it was the first powder I chose. Would I have known about the case fill amount I might have chosen otherwise. I started working up my loads and found 4.2gr under a 148gr berrys dewc in 357 magnum brass with a spp, works well for me shot out of my 6" 686. Everything @Sevens wrote regarding case fill and the potential for disaster is right on the money. You need to be VERY diligent when working with such case fill ratios. I hand prime and do everything else on a single stage, triple check my double checks, weigh my charges, visually inspect before every powder fill and before every bullet seat. I stay paranoid on this one, when I finish off this pound I will be exploring other options.

 

[Forrest r]

I'd be looking in the +/- 5.0gr range with that titegroup and a 158gr swc.