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Dans Club
February 22, 2009
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You're in business then! Must be a tumble lube like Alox or very very clear in the grooves... Start in the middle for velocity/ pressure. Read this first so you understand what's happening as you shoot cast bullets. Your revolver should be a funnel of sorts, with the largest diameter being at the chamber mouth, the smallest in the bore (preferably the end).
Technically, the glass is always full; half liquid, half air....
Dans Club
January 17, 2015
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Today was going to be the day. I worked up 5 loads with 4 different powders on the weekend. Got my chronograph out, targets, everything quite quickly and off to the range I went. Once I was setting up, it was then I realized that I didn't have the trigger lock key (mandatory in Canada for transport) for my SuperMag. ***grumble*** It is the only keyed trigger lock I had in the safe as well, and I pulled the key before closing the case. So - I blew 100 rounds of .357 through my 8" 15-2, the accuracy is still impressive, and I came home, used a pick and got that lock off in 30 seconds - straight into the bin.
Dans Club
January 17, 2015
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Alright - I finally managed to get out to the range before the skies opened up again and tested my 5 various loads I did. There is little published loads for the powders I have on hand - and we all know reloading supplies is difficult to find right now - so I made do with what I have and here are the results:
All loads used Cast Performance 180g WFNGC bullets with gas checks.
1) Titegroup - 5g at 1.90 OAL
FPS:
952
n/a
895
882
852
817
This is a mouse fart load for this bullet and case. The group was loose and all over.
2) Titegroup - 5.5g at 1.90 OAL
FPS:
892
850
941
911
931
Better grouping, high right all shots. I will bump up Titegroup to 6 and 6.5g next round
3) RL7 - 24g at 1.99 OAL
FPS:
1139
1057
1141
1153
1099
1108
This had the best grouping of the bunch. I was tentative with filling the case, as I have been using Titegroup for years with my .357 loads, but Nosler actually had this listed as 25.5g, so I held back a little. I bought too much of this powder a while ago as I tried it for my son's 7.62x39mm rifle, so I may bump up this charge a little and use more on the SM.
4) Power Pistol - 8.5g at 1.93 OAL
FPS:
1075
1165
1161
1081
1104
1101
The grouping was decent, but POI was 2" right. I will bump up this load next time to 9 and possibly 9.5g to see if things straighten out
5) Bullseye - 5.0g at 1.93 OAL
FPS:
800
795
765
817
813
794
This grouping looked like buck shot - it was just all over the place. Obviously too light of a load. Next round I will bump up and see if that works.
What I learned: my 740 Super Mag likes them hot, so next time I am going to turn up the heat. You can feel the difference in the hot loads, and this large frame gun just eats up any load with minimal recoil; I can see why this was a popular silhouette gun. I had a new 9mm with me that I was opening up, and it was shooting constantly over 1100fps as well.
My cylinder eject bar kept coming loose, though. I was thinking a dab of blue LockTite is the answer here - unless someone has any better advice.
We all like pics, so here's one I took as I was packing up from the range. I wear a size XXL in gloves, to give perspective of the size of this grip and frame.
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Dans Club
February 22, 2009
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That's a good report, thanks. I've never used any of those powders for the 357 SM. I'm just guessing but were the cases using tightgoup and bullseye black with soot after firing?
Technically, the glass is always full; half liquid, half air....
Dans Club
January 17, 2015
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rwsem said That's a good report, thanks. I've never used any of those powders for the 357 SM. I'm just guessing but were the cases using tightgoup and bullseye black with soot after firing?
TiteGroup wasn't too bad for soot, I have been using that powder for my regular .357 for years now and it isn't overly dirty in the small amounts used. The Bullseye was dirty, yes. Bullseye was the second to last powder I shot and it left soot on the outside of the cylinder, which I wiped off prior to shooting the RL-7.
I posted this similar thread on a very popular Canadian gun website and out of the woods came many others that reloaded .357 MAX over the years, offering some powder options. Of course, finding the powders in this market is the difficult part. IMR 4227 was mentioned by several others as well as Win 296, so I am going to try to get my hands on some of those down the road.
March 25, 2008
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I've used imr4227 and h110 on other SM's and they both performed well, you shouldn't use lite loads though! hornady has loads in their books for referance info.
Dans Club
January 17, 2015
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I just found a pound of IMR 4227 yesterday, I had other silhouette shooters telling me this is what they used for years. It isn't easy to find right now. I will be redoing another batch and report back when I can.
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