357mag powder?

[honda chris]

hi what powder do you reloaders use in .357 mags?

everybody i have spoken to recommends something different.

also some powders seem to use 2-3 times that of other powders. according to my data sheets.

the bullets i will be using are lee swc 158grain. home cast

general plinking and target loads in a win 94ae

thanks regards chris

[Graham M]

When I used to own a .357mag pistol I had two different powders for different uses. If I was target shooting I would load up with 3.5grns of Bullseye, as this was a very soft but accurate load using a 158grn semi-wad.

On the other hand, if I wanted to use the gun to its full potential I could either load up to 7grns of Bullseye (top load for pistol) which was very sharp to use, or I could use a much slower powder such as 13.5grns of 2400 which would be a very powerful load but was softer to shoot than the 7grns of Bullseye.

The 2400 was originally developed for the .22 Hornet rifle and was the first powder to push the 40grn bullet to 2400fps and as such was a very fast rifle powder. It does however make a very SLOW pistol powder and is ideal if you want to shoot out to 100yds with your .357mag rifle.

Remember the faster the powder the less powder you need to use, but you do need to experiment to see which powder is the most accurate in your gun.

G.M.

[honda chris]

thanks for the info graham.

in plain english it makes more sence.

you have told me that in a couple of mins, where as yesterday i have 3 salemen and an importer telling me 10 different things.

thanks regards chris