Quiet .357 Magnum Loads?

[joneb]

using AA9 for .357 mag loads,

This my favorite powder for .357 Mag in 2.75 and 4" barrels

[Clark]

To get more power [one shot body shots, not head or neck shots] and less noise from a gun [does not wake up the wife], I have found that I want to get the powder expansion ratio up and the muzzle pressure down.
The threshold of super sonic gas is one atmosphere above ambient.

What does it all mean?
Compressed small charges, long barrels, and large calibers.

What does THAT mean?
A big BB gun.

How about handguns?
Even a primer will be too much charge to be quiet with a handgun.

[SL1]

Even a primer will be too much charge to be quiet with a handgun.

While a primer is loud in a handgun if fired in an empty case, if you use a wax or rubber bullet, it is really quiet. About all I hear is the "bullet" striking a target. And, that is with small rifle magnum primers in a revolver, using .357 Magnum cases.

Clark, one question: When you use a solid metal "filler" in your cases, as shown in you last post, does that filler piece ever move forward out of the case. I am thinking about whether it could tie-up a revolver cylinder or bang into the rifling in the throat of a long gun.

SL1

[Clark]

It sounds like I need more handgun testing.
I have found that rifles are noisy if the bullet does not seal with the lands. I can allow no gas to leak around the bullet during jump.
That is why I have the two presses on the same home made die with a ram between them, to swage the bullet into a sized and shape that seals the powder behind the bullet when jammed into the lands.

I clean the inside of the case and the outside of the filler [Steel or Aluminium ] with alcohol. Then put Loctite 601 on them. I press them together in a vise with a small socket wrench as a spacer.
None have come loose with 601, one came loose with just a press fit.

To cut the taper of the insert to be a press fit:
I measure the case wall thickness in .1" increments from the web.
I make a formula for slope and offset outside diameter for the case.
I put those in a spread sheet, print it out, and use the the DRO on the lathe and the chart to make my hands a crude CNC machine.

I like to drill the flash hole big enough for Red Dot flakes to fall down it.

I made a test fixture to measure sound.
Most people would be better off with a commercial sound pressure level detector and modify it for faster attack time to measure the sound of a gun shot.

[nicknitro71]

Just keep it subsonic. I load all my .357 and .44 magnums (and also .45 ACPs) to shoot between 900-1000 f/sec for more predictable ballistics and overall better accuracy and precision at longer distances. Those bullets have really poor aerodynamics and when they transition from super to subsonic there is a sharp and unpredictable drop in the ballistic arc and usually this happens within 100 yards. It's one of those catch .22s: either you got to make sure to stay supersonic all the way or you're better off staying subsonic, the latter almost always the case for handgun cartridges.

[sthomper]

i have bought 110gr 357 by winchester and remington with reported velocites at 1295.

ke at about 415 or so....these are milder and quieter than ant 1250fps 158gr than i have fired. they are accurate with a 4" fixed sight taurus 65


has there ever been/or is there a 125gr in the mid 1200fps range??

that would seem to be pleaasnt to shoot regular whilel still easily exceeding 38+

[Mike / Tx]

I have found the Accurate powders 2, 5, 7 & 9 to produce less felt concussion and seem to be a bit less sharp on the ears, depending on just how or what your loading. For medium velocity cast it is hard to beat #5, it is very similar to Unique but much cleaner.

Might be worth giving some #5 a try if you can find some.

[Hook686]

A quiet .357 magnum strikes me as an oxymoron. I load 158 grain JHP with 5.4 grains of Unique as my low end load for my J-Frame. Is it quiet ? No, by it is the low end of my .357 magnum loadings.

[Bucksnort1]

The faster you push all lead bullets through a handgun the more leading in the barrel you may get.

HELP, THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME.

[Clark]

I have a rifle chambered in 38 special.

If I were to make a quiet load with 0.2 gr of powder and seat the bullet in the case mouth, the bullet will bounce off cardboard.

But if I seat the bullet so far down in the case that it compresses the powder, I could penetrate 10 layers of cardboard with the same BB gun sound from the muzzle. The cardboard hit will actually make a big noise.

But if I seat the bullet deep down inside the case, the jump to the lands is so far I will get terrible accuracy.

Now do you see why I made that 45/70 case filler?

[Jim243]

Can anyone recommend a pet load that reins in the noise a little while still remaining at 357 Magnum power levels?

HaHaHaHaHa LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

You are serious???

The answer is to shoot 38 Spl's out of it.

Jim

[SVTCobra306]

1 powder that`s not in the lime lite is IMRs 4227 , it`s a little tempermental to measure & does`nt clean up until ya hit the sweet spot but it`s a solid performer with less blast & snap in the recoil when under heavy for caliber bullets.

GP100man is onto something here. I have used IMR 4227 with some success for both .357 and .44 Mag loads, and they have a noticeably milder concussion than some of the other powders I have tried. Stay away from Alliant 2400, it works great but you can see the flame from the cylinder in broad daylight.. crowd pleasers LOL.

[rclark]

has there ever been/or is there a 125gr in the mid 1200fps range??

Of course there is. You just have load to that velocity working with a chronograph as your guide. Personally I load to around 1000fps to 1100fps in .357 (125s or 158s) to stay subsonic. Works for me. (I see the thread is over two years old).

[Deja vu]

Not really quieter but a different tone. Accurate 300 MP seems to have a lower tone than other magnum powders.... may be I am just going crazy but it seems that way to me. It does seem to prefer non-magnum primers.

The quietest load I have ever shot is 2.2 grains of trail boss over a 000 buck shot BB. Accurate enough for prairie dogs at 25 yards. But not much past that.