Starting to Load 357 Mag

It gets used with lead bullets frequently, too. People forget that Elmer Keith and his collaborators developed the .357 and .44 Magnums with lead bullets. H110/296, being a cooler burning spherical powder that gets a lot of its velocity from keeping post-peak bore pressure up, actually has lower peak pressure than some of the 2400 loads Keith worked with. It is peak pressure and not velocity that causes bullet distortion and stripping.
 
I generally don't bother with "downloading" but as of late my wife has taken a solid interest liking to shooting my Ruger GP100 357 mag. She also is intimidated shooting full house loads so I actually load "his and hers" loads for the 357. My full house "his" load is a 158 heavy plated RNFP , 16.5 gr of H110 @ about 1260 fps My happy "hers" is the same bullet but with 11.2 of 2400 and that's about 1010 fps. I don't like shooting .38's out of my 357 so this is why I d/l 357 cases. Rule #1 with respect to your significant other "Happy wife, happy life" !

CAUTION: The following post includes loading data beyond or not covered by currently published maximums for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The Firing Line, nor the staff of TFL assumes any liability for any damage or injury resulting from the use of this information.
 
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Your H110 load would be above max, according to Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. Others might copy your load with some caution. Hodgdon data doesn't refer us to lead bullets with H110 or 296.
 
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Real Gun said:
Your H110 load would be above max, according to Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. Others might copy your load with some caution. Hodgdon data doesn't refer us to lead bullets with H110 or 296.
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Thanks for pointing this out. I actually use this H110 load for both hard cast SWC's and The Berry's plated 158 FPTP with excellent results. I added the required disclaimer to my post. Per Lyman's 49th i'm actually under the max for the FMJ data.
 
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