Trying some new powders for .357 Magnum

I have experimented with both 800X and Blue Dot in the 44 Mag and 357.

Both powders gave horrible extreme spreads in the 110 fps to 120 fps.

I decided that ain't good enough for me.

Blue Dot can be quite good in the 45 ACP with heavy bullets (225-230 gr) for some reason.

Some have mentioned Herco. I never tried it with the 357, but again, it is quite good in the 45 ACP.

My best powders for the 357 have been A2400, H110/WW296, H4227, AA#9. With A2400, loads can be adjusted from medium to all out. AA#9 is quite good with the heavier bullets (as is H4227) but it is a little more snappy than the others.
 
I have found I can get a little more out of LIL'GUN compared to H110/W296 in some cartridges.

But the LIL'GUN does not smell as good.

AA#9 downloads well. Imagine that, a ball powder that operates over a wide range. Of course Bullseye and W231 download well in the 357.

Blue Dot, and LONGSHOT, not so good, blew up 3 revolvers, splitting the cylinders or bending the frame.

If I am going to shoot and shoot and shoot, the H110 357 mag loads are kind of obnoxious with recoil and noise. It is hard to finish a box of 50 in one trip.

But the 38 special with Bullseye or Unique, I can just keep going and going.
 
I'm getting to the point where I want to just say "to hell with it; I'll stick with 296 for the real magnums, and fall back to Unique for the next level down."
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Kinda where I have been with .357 for years in my revolvers. I do use IMR4227 in a few loads in the .357 carbine tho. While IMR4227 is my go to powder in the .460 and .44 carbines, it never really impressed me in .357. It basically duplicated anything I could do with 2400. In the bigger bores, while it does not give me the velocities of H110/W296, it is more accurate, more consistent and is less sensitive to the huge temperature variations we experience here during hunting season. I believe it may be due to the small case capacity of the .357 it does not like. IMR4227 likes to be compressed or nearly compressed. It also likes standard or heavy for caliber projectiles, a heavy crimp and seems to prefer a long pipe. It does not like to be loaded light or under light for caliber bullets, as 125s in .357. Since you cannot get enough 4227 in a .357 under a 125 pill to create excess pressure, I do not understand the pierced primers. There is something else going on there. The new IMR4227 is not the same IMR4227 of two decades ago. It is the old H4227 renamed with the old IMR4227 formula dropped. Because of the known issues with Lil' Gun and excessive and premature forcing cone erosion, I do not use it in any of my revolvers anymore. I used the last of it up sparingly in my .357 carbines.

As for 300-MP, I have yet to use it. After it first came out, I waited to see what others that used it thought of it and those reviews have been mixed, with very few folks being impressed enough to make it their #1 choice of a magnum handgun powder. Since I am happy with where I am at with my .357 reloading, I see no reason to try it unless the availability to other powders once again is reduced to almost nuttin'. Seems that is not an issue at this time, at least not for me. I have tried the Vihtavuori powders and while impressed with them, not impressed enough to pay the price they want for them. Again, JMHO.
 
I really like IMR 4227. I'm not trying to convince you to like it, I'm just throwing it out there for anyone who might be reading and learning. In my experience IMR 4227 with 158 gr jacketed bullets is very accurate and low flash which makes for a good self defense load. It's not at the top end of the performance spectrum but it's plenty good. It may be a little dirty but that's not something that matters to me.

I love H110 for full power loads but the muzzle blast and flash is intense and I don't think it would be good for low light.
 
Longshot and 800-X Thoughts

More testing with Longshot shows it to be just an average powder in the .357, somewhat below Accurate #5 in performance. It may be a decent powder, but it seems to offer nothing significant not done at least as good by other powders I already had. Longshot is a HUGE disappointment to me; Hodgdon promised so much more. I would advise others to not bother with it unless they do not have any other powders at all in that middle performance range.

My first tests with 800-X behind both 125g JHP and 158g JSP bullets shows great possibilities, but since I started with a fairly low charge weight, I have much more testing to do before I can comment intelligently. I am guessing it will be about like Accurate #7 in .357, and it may REALLY shine in the .44 (just based on the old DuPont load data I have).
 
Have you tried the Alliant 300MP????

Looking the Alliant "manual" over, giving some fairly impressive results in the velocity area. Don't know how "dirty, flashy" it is...
 
The best powder for 357 Magnum, hands down, is VV N110. And it is priced accordingly. And it is no longer available in 8 pound jugs. And it is hard to find. :mad:

Since you have already eliminated 2400 and H110/296 (two good choices) another good one is AA#9. Won't run quite as fast as H110/296 but it isn't as fussy about being downloaded, more like 2400 but cleaner. Haven't used it yet but Alliant's 300-MP looks really promising. It will be nice when you can get data for it from more than just Alliant. Ramshot Enforcer and AA4100 (same powder, different label) look good too but data for them is still pretty thin outside of Western Powders. Lil Gun will give you the velocity but it burns hot. Be careful with that one or you could damage the throat and forcing cone.

I'm another fan of 4227, but more so in 45 Colt Ruger-only loads. In 357 you can get the same velocity with half as much of a faster powder but the 4227 loads sure are accurate.
 
Blue Dot, and LONGSHOT, not so good, blew up 3 revolvers, splitting the cylinders or bending the frame. Says Clark
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I was cautioned off of Longshot in 357 magnum, so I haven't tried it. You blew up 3 revolvers using Blue Dot or Longshot powder? I'm curious to know what happened? Did one revolver blow up using one powder, so you changed to the other? Then another revolver blew up using the second powder? That suggests that you continued to use one or the other of these powders to blow up a third revolver?
 
And so it happened . . .

I'm in no hurry to grab any 2400. When I find it at a LGS, I'll grab a #.
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That's my quote regarding 2400 (post #15). Well today, I was in the the area and so I pulled into my local Sportsmen's Warehouse. No particular reason; just to see what's what. And there it was: 2400. So I grabbed a #.

Looks like I have some load work ups to do ;)
 
stubbicatt You blew up 3 revolvers using Blue Dot or Longshot powder? I'm curious to know what happened? Did one revolver blow up using one powder, so you changed to the other?
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I have blown up Colts with a LIL'GUN load with LONGSHOT by mistake.
The containers have the same shape, I bought them, brought them in the reloading room, and shot into a log. If I had a video, it could make it to a compilation collection of stupid gun stunts. No more target log in the reloading room. I have moved on.

The Blue dot just bent the Aluminum frame of a 38sp Colt agent with a few grains over 357mag max. Blue Dot is peaky, but it runs like a dream at 35kpsi in a 223.
 
Over the years, I have used most of the "usual suspects" loading the .357 Magnum. W-296, H-110, Accurate No. 9, Unique, HS-6 and 7 and more recently 2400 and Alliant 300-MP. Most recently, with the powder shortage, for a while it was grab whatever pistol powder was on the shelf, and hope it might work in something. Which is how I wound up trying Alliant Power Pistol. It works great in my Ruger GP-100 with 6" barrel, and also is impressive in a 2" SP-101. Pushes a 168 gr Keith SWC over 1250 fps out of the longer barrel and 1000 fps from the snub. Yes, it trails the slow burning ball powders by 100 fps or so, but uses a lot less powder (less than half the charge weight) and seems to be plenty accurate and provides more than enough velocity to satisfy my shooting needs. I still have W-296 on hand, as well as some 2400 and 300-MP, but for my cast bullet "standard" .357 Mag load, I have decided on a stout load of Power Pistol. I will use up the remaining slower powders with jacketed bullets for maximum performance loads.
 
stubbicatt Dang Clark! I hope you weren't hurt!
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No I have never been hurt blowing up ~ a dozen guns. I can see which way parts will fly.
But I have gone to the emergency room from racing motorcycles, pole vaulting, football, baseball, my metal lathe, my end wheel grinder, swinging a machete, bartending, mountain climbing, and being a passenger in a car in a head on accident.
Overloading guns is like handling poisonous snakes. One needs to do it for a reason, and one needs to know what they are doing. Someone has got to do it, but most people should let that be someone else.
 
Overloading guns is like handling poisonous snakes. One needs to do it for a reason, and one needs to know what they are doing. Someone has got to do it, but most people should let that be someone else.
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Sounds like my dream job! :D
 
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