Your favorite 357 mag load - 2.5" barrel

[rajbcpa]

This is a new one for me. The bang stick is a S&W revolver in 357 mag with 2.5" barrel

I have ordered plated 147 grain bullets (.357 dia.) and I have in inventory, Unique, Power Pistol, Red Dot, Blue Dot, Bullseys, Green Dot powders. Also in inventory is CCI and Remington SP primers.

I'm also looking at 125 grain lead cast bullets, now.

I love folks who tell me the ammo and component shortage is over. I see some ammo on the shelves but bulk powders, primers and bullets are still hard to find. Gander Mountain in my area stopped selling dies, powders, primers, etc.

[Nick_C_S]

The component shortage is not over. I've been seeing some light at the end of the tunnel as of late; but it could just be the headlamp of an oncoming train

Your powder inventory is nice - lots of goodies from which to choose. In fact, you can make good rounds from any of those. But if you're truly loading for your 2.5" barrel length (and you should, IMO), stick with your faster powders. Bullseye or Red Dot are the best choices (giving honorable mention to Unique). I mention B'eye & RD with some trepidation because I don't know what your loading skill/experience is. They are both fast powders and thus, have a steep pressure curve that must be respected. But short barreled guns lend themselves to fast powders in order to craft truly balanced rounds.

Yes, you can extract more velocity out of slower powders, but it will come at the expense of a lot more muzzle flash, report (noise) and recoil - that to me, is not "balanced." You are going to get a lot of disagreement here in subsequent posts from other loaders. You're asking for opinions. This one is mine.

I have a 686 3" bbl. I have worked up rounds specific for its barrel length. My chosen propellant however, is AA2 - not among your choices. At any rate, use your fast powders, moving up slowly - 1/10 grain at a time. If you're not comfortable using your fast stuff, go ahead and use the Unique. It's not ideal for the application, but is still good; and will afford you some of that margin of error that comes along as one moves toward slower powders.