125 Gr .357 S&W mag. which powder?

[wogpotter]

Please Let us know how the H-110 load works. I've got the same bullet on the way and some H-110 to try.

Quick 'n dirty (literally)range report on the 18.6 Gr H-110 load with the 550 primers & 125 Gr XTP bullets.

I tried an 18.6 Gr. load with H-110 which was an average from 4 reloading manuals to give me an estimated 1350, my goal is 1350 or better for a good defensive 125 Gr HP load. This is actually a very light load for H110, under Hodgdon's minimum of 21,0 BTW. Ran like a charm, no ejection issues but dirty burning, black soot everywhere (probably because of the very light load) but extraction was a breeze & Mrs WP says it was less loud than the 8.6 Gr Unique load but with about the same fireworks every time I fired. I'm going to work up a ladder load for this at 19 & 20 Gr. (The Max listed for some manuals is 19.9, less than Hodgdon's minimum). 21.0 Gr & see where it goes. Once I have them clocked & checked I'll just pick the best of the bunch & stick with it.

Apart from the dirty burn, probably from the low load density, everything ran just fine, based on that I'm assuming the issue with Hogdon's load data was dirt rather than anything dangerous. I guess this is kind of supported by all the other sources running round about 18.5 for a minimum?

 

[RDub]

Hello

I thought you guys might find this interesting.

I’ve been doing some of my own research with some .38 and .357 factory load duplication, and am finding out what effect ambient temperature has on all this stuff.. I’ve been posting this over at the S&W forum.


While I’m waiting on warmer weather for the rest of the .38 Special trial, I’d thought I would pick on some .357 Mag 125gr factory load duplication and see what happens. It’s still on the cool side here, 40s and 50s, so I was wondering what I would have to do to duplicate the factory velocity and, if I would run into the same temperature sensitivity as I did with the .38’s.

I started out wanting to duplicate the Rem-UMC 125gr JSP load, so I chose the Sierra 125gr JSP for load testing.


Included in the trial is some Speer 125gr Gold Dots.
The Gold Dots actually shoot very well out of my 4” 686, but the Rem’s are faster.

First thing is to see what is inside these loads.

The Remington UMC 125gr JSP;

Powder charge is 19.5grs of a ball powder;

The Speer GD load;

has a charge of ball powder weighing 20.8grs.

Both Speer and Rem bullets weighed 125grs. No surprise there..

Well, here’s what I came up with..
Handloads 5 rds @
25 yards
5½" black targets
average velocity underlined
followed by extreme spread
then standard deviation
Oehler mod 33 chronograph

Target 1 and 2 are the factory loads. As you can see, the GD load groups nicely, but the RemUMC load, not so well..
However both velocities are well into the 1300’s even on a cool day.

20.8 grs of something = 1339 fps and
19.5 grs of something = 1383 fps

Also you can see the velocities of these loads, many of which are right out of the books as max, lag a little behind the factory loads.
None of the loads shot today showed any kind of pressure signs. The cases fell out of the chambers and all the primers looked normal.

The only technical problem I ran into was when my luck ran out and the rain started, the skyscreens must have gotten wet as I got some erroneous readings on the chrono. This occurred when I was shooting the last group loaded with 2400, target 19. The only readings that made sense were two around 1260 fps.

Last week I shot a group with a Magtech 125gr JHP ahead of 16.6 grs 2400 in a little cooler temp, which shot very nicely;

So again, it will be interesting to re-shoot this in warmer weather.

 

[zxcvbob]

Remington UMC 125gr JSP

I have a half a box of those! I shoot a few every once in a while so I don't fool myself with my .357 reloads. (my reloads are usually in the same ballpark recoil-wise, but a noticeable step down)

 

[AlaskaMike]

RDub, that's interesting stuff--thanks for posting it. I'm wondering if both the factory loads use a non-canister grade of H110/W296. Charge weight would seem about right, and it sure looks similar.

I've tried 296 with 125 grain bullets in my 4" S&W model 28, and I didn't like it. It was very impressive with lots of flash and blast, but I do just as well in the velocity and accuracy departments using 2400. I did have better success with 296 using heavier bullets.

 

[RDub]

It's my belief that the factories are definitely using blends that are on a whole 'nother level than the 'canister' stuff we buy at the gun store.. The more of these trials I do with .38 Special and .357 Mag, the more I'm convinced of it.

Recently, I have come to have a whole new appreciation of 2400 as a result of the trials I've been conducting. I've always relegated it for cast bullets, but it's been doing quite well with jacketed bullets as well, in both velocity and accuracy. H-110/296 have always been my go-to powder for the revolver magnums with jacketed bullets, but 2400 is proving to be right in there with jacketed bullets as well.

 

[IKE]

I know this is a old post but he** I'm a old man.

Just wanted to thank RDub for his load of 16.6 grs of 2400 under a 125 gr. jacketed bullet.

I loaded up some Sierra 125 gr. JSP's under 16.6 grs. of 2400 and at 20 yds., off bags, I had five touching and one just about a bullet hole away from the others.......the fireball was also impressive.

I had tried Bullseye, Unique and W231 but I just couldn't get the accuracy I wanted.

I was single action shooting my box stock 4" stainless Ruger GP-100.

 

[THEWELSHM]

ACCURATE #9

thewelshm

 

[abowlieb]

I just finished loading up some 125Gr xtp. With 21-22gr of H110. Cant wait to see how they do at the range tomorrow. I have a gp100 with a 4" barrel. Hopedully they are still screaming out of the shorter barrel. We shall see!