357 Bullets & Powder Recommendations

[BasMstr]

What bullet profile has everyone found to be (on average) the “best” for 20” barreled R92 357’s? I’ll be hand loading for mine, both 38 for plinking and 357 for hunting.

I load for my son’s GP100, so currently I have 148 grain HBWC’s and RMR’s 124 grain FMJ “Smiley’s”. Once I figure out what my rifle likes, I’ll be ordering an MP Mold to cast my own.

Any tips on powder would be appreciated as well. I currently have W231 and Titegroup, but looking to see what the consensus is for magnum loads in a rifle.

Reccomendation

[Deleted User 5571]

My favorite bullets are the Lee 158 rf, they work great in my 92's. Can't help with full magnum loads, I shoot a middle of the road load of Unique.

[Gunny268]

OP, that's a very subjective question depending on your rifle's particular "personality". You can find lots of opinions and answers abound on previous threads of this forum. But I'll throw my hat in the ring. For plinking, my particular 357/16" prefers a light bullet, 125 to 140 gr LRN-FP pushed to the max with 231. For hunting It settled on a 180 gr "Keith Type" L-SWC (powder coated) also pushed to the max with H110/296 - magnum primers. **Side Note** Never could get the velocities I needed with Titegroup and a 16" barrel.

[GasGuzzler]

I don't load light for cartridge nor do I load Magnums slowly so my loads may not work for everyone.

[runfiverun]

I'm pretty darn close to R80's load.
the Lyman 358665 IIRC and 7grs. of Herco in 357 cases.
unique works too, but I got 16-17 lbs. of Herco that needs shot up and the 44 isn't gonna do it alone.

[Deleted User 5571]

Thats a good load, I use Herco too on occasion.

[cavelamb]

I have a lot of Lee 158 gr SWC powder coated cast lead in the can and they shoot fine.
I use them for guest loads. Cheap and easy.

But the Hornady XTPs 180 grain are still my fav.
Runs right at 1500 fps with 13.2 grains of H110.
Hodgdons says 13.5 is max but this is a nice
accurate load for my rifles.

I just got a box of 158 grain XTP to run up,
and looking for so 125 as well.

(I got a Xero chrono for Christmas, but don't tell!)
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[Kosh75287]

Two friends' .357 Rossi 20" carbines responded well to 14.0-14.8/2400/158 gr. RNFP from Missouri Bullets, for a maximum hunting load. Primer behaviour, and chronograph trends suggested that we had room to increase the charge weight, but we stopped at published maximum. Velocities were 1700 +/- 25 f/s, with 3" 5-shot 100-yard groups from a bench. These carbines did not like feeding any of the LSWCs we tried, but the RNFP fed without flaw, and anchored Texas white tails without incident.
A third friend's Marlin .357 did OKAY with the above load data but preferred jacketed projectiles. It tended to shoot 125 gr. projectiles especially well. At the time, the only 125 gr. JHP/JSP that did not disintegrate when fired from the Marlin into water-soaked newsprint was the 125 gr. Sierra JSP. It was also the most accurate of the 125s. The load used was 17.3/2400/125 gr. Sierra JSP. Velocities (iirc) were 1850 +/- 25 f/s. That season, the Marlin carbine harvested 4 deer (2 different hunters), at ranges from 40 to 110 yards, all DRT, on impact.
WEIRDLY, all 3 carbines seemed to shoot a "middlin" .357 cast load of 7.5/Unique/158 gr. RNFP equally well. Velocities were in the 1350-1450 f/s range, with 1.0" - 1.5" 5-shot groups at 50 yards from a bench. The Marlin carbine performed similarly with 10.0/Unique/125 gr. Sierra JSPs (EXCEEDS MAXIMUM), though with higher velocities.
As always, REDUCE ALL OF THE LOADS ABOVE BY 10% AND WORK UP WITH CAUTION. OUR RESULTS MAY NOT BE YOUR RESULTS, FOR OUR COMPONENTS AND GUNS ARE NOT YOUR COMPONENTS AND GUNS.
Although most of the loads are within recommended limits, if contemplating their use in sidearms, I recommend that they be used only in N-frame S&W or larger frames, T/C Contenders, Ruger Blackhawks, or similarly robust designs.

[Johnnyjr]

I use h110,cfe pistol,I use different loads all the time. I love to experiment. I use my chronograph a lot of it isn't too cold. You just have to keep experimenting. Seems like I keep running out of bullets and need to cast up more.. johnny

[GasGuzzler]

Maximum is all relative as the books don't agree. Max is mentioned above for A2400 somewhere around 15.0 grains with a 158 in .357 but I have data from a book right here with some 15.5 loads and I know I have shot some at 16-ish.