pistol or rifle load?

S

SKULLANDCROSSBONES65

New member
G'day

I have just picked up my latest "rifle" and I want to know if I should use "Rifle" or "Pistol" Load data for it?

It is a .38/357 Magnum revolving action with a 12" barrel. {In some states of Australia the Barrel Length and overall length of this Firearm only requires a "Rifle" Licence not a "Handgun" one.)

I see that Sierra has different load data for each.
 
Its mostly powder dependant, Id think a slightly slower powder like 4227 would be ideal, you would get more burn time equaling more velocity if thats what you want. 12" is smack in between pistol length and rifle length so you may just have to try and see, if rifle loads create to much flash you might try pistol loads.
 
My Lyman manual has rifle .357 loads and over half the loads are the exact same. Most of the variances are higher starting loads. A few of the variances are higher max loads but most of those are within .1 or .2 grains of the handgun loads which is a very small increase in pressure.

I'm not really sure why the starting loads would need to be higher in a rifle. The first thing that comes to mind would be with a longer barrel you could stick a bullet but I can't imagine that being the case since all the loads have much higher pressure than 38 special loads which should also be fine in a rifle.

Does your Sierra manual have significantly higher max loads for rifles? Even if it does, sticking sight the lighter handgun loads is probably the safest bet.
 
Some yes and some no. For a 296 load behind a 110 grain bullet, the rifle load is almost 10% heavier, which should correspond to almost 40% more pressure, but most are not that different. An the differences they list between H110 and 296, which are both canister grade WC296, are different enough (again, up to about 10%, which should produce roughly 40% more pressure with that powder and bullet, according to QuickLOAD). So they must have had very different lots or done the workups at very different times.

Today Hodgdon, which distributes both powders, has identical loads for both powders and packages the same lots in containers for both brands (I got this from the horse's mouth). Note, too, that Sierra, like Hodgdon, develops loads in production guns and has the peak pressure of their maximum loads tested afterward. This tends to lead to lower load levels with some data than developing them in a pressure gun would do, but not always. I compared a number of Hornady loads to Hodgdon's pressure gun data and found they ranged from 1% to 9% lighter, pretty consistently and no exact pattern to the difference. So it appears actual pressures are more mixed in these bullet company manuals than in Hodgdon's data.
 
My Sierra manual actually lists slightly lower loads for the rifle information than in the pistol listings along with different loads with 296 and H110.
i admit to focusing on the 140 grain bullet data for both as that is the bullet I prefer in my revolver. The data should be interchangeable so long as the actions used are of similar strength. The original pressures for the cartridges were developed in the large frame S&W revolvers and were dropped twice after S&W started using the cartridge in its smaller framed guns. In my Ruger I use the original data without problems and have for 40+ years.
 
It isn't rifle vs handgun, it is what pressure the firearm can handle and if you want to go over the standard pressures (see load manual sections for Ruger and T/C Contender loads vs standard loads).
Now, according to the powder companies, all the powder that will burn will ignite in the first 1-2", so the issue is always CHAMBER pressure and the chamber really has little idea what the barrel length is. Thus, whether you use "rifle" or "handgun" loads, the max chamber press is the same, and barrel length plays no real part in it.
Next, if you have a "revolver" carbine, it is just a "Ned Buntline" revolver with a shoulder stock.
Finally, where I come from, 12" is a handgun length any way.
 
It isn't rifle vs handgun
Click to expand...

^^^This. If it's a modern firearm and designated as a .357 it will handle any .357 ammo that falls within SAAAMI specs. SAAMI specs for .357 in rifle is the same as it is for a handgun. These are what any legitimate reloading manual/powder manufacturer website page will give you for recipes. Period. If the recipes are designed only for specific firearms that can take more or less pressure than SAAMI specs, the manuals will tell you this also.
 
G'day

For a variety of reasons I'll be using 296 powder with Sierra 158grain projectiles. As it turns out the rifle load starts and finishes lower than the piston load in my Sierra manual.

Rifle load between 15.0 and 17.0, Pistol from 15.9 to 17.3

I'll also end up doing all lead projectiles for just screwing around.
 
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