NoSecondBest
New member
I've been loading and shooting .357 cases for around fifty years. I shot major competitions with several custom built revolvers and two different custom Coonan semi's. My go-to load for competition was a 148-160g cast bullet with 4.2-4.5g of 231. I would NEVER use .38spl cases unless you were loading for a .38spl revolver. There is no need to load .38spl cases to shoot in a gun chambered for .357mag. Using the shorter cases leaves a crud ring that interferes with loading the longer case without a very good cleaning. Also, using just .357 cases eliminates mixing up the two different length cases. There is so little difference in case length that pressure is a non-issue with lower power loads. I can tell you that the load I recommended shoots extremely tight groups in a good gun and will knock down any steel plates used in competition out the 35 yard range I was shooting in a three gun competition. That load in two of my Davis built revolvers would shoot one ragged hole at twenty-five yards shooting off a rest with a red dot on the gun. Recoil was negligible.