Lee Charge Table

twhidd · December 8, 2007, 11:04 AM

I was wondering if someone would be kind enough to mail me a copy or scan and email me a copy of a Lee Charge Table for 357Mag. I could order one from Lee which cost a dollar. Which would be fine, but when you have to pay 4 bucks to ship it that seems unreasonable. Thanks.

dogfood · December 8, 2007, 12:06 PM

twhidd:

Not sure exactly what you need. You can download the powder charge table from Lee directly at:

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi-data...uct/AD2302.pdf

This should give you the data you need if you're using a Lee powder measure with the cavity disks, or if you're using one of the Lee powder dippers.

Now, if you're looking for specific loads for the .357 magnum, all of the major name reloading manuals should have many of these.

dogfood

twhidd · December 8, 2007, 02:36 PM

I already have that. I'm looking for the charge table that comes with the set of Lee .357 dies.

CowTowner · December 9, 2007, 09:37 AM

The die set I got with my Load Master was for .38 special/.357 Magnum. The chart only list loads for the .38 special.

Sport45 · December 9, 2007, 10:19 AM

Use the table that Dogfood posted above along with the load data from a trusted source (powder company website, manual, etc.) If the data says, for instance to use 6.2gr to 7.8gr of Unique simply go to the table and you will see that a .66cc dipper will give 6.0gr and a .82cc dipper gives 7.5gr.

Without using the table you can multiply the desired charge weight by the density factor (VMD in the table) for a particular powder and you'll come up with the volume in cc's required. If you have a dipper that matches the volume, great. Otherwise just use the next smallest.

The dipper recommendations they give are basically "as close as you can get without going over."

Or are you looking for which powder will work with the one dipper supplied with the dies?

Dippers are okay and can provide very consistent loads if used consistently. Do you have a scale for checking charge weight? Not an absolute necessity if you are very careful with the dippers, but it would be good for peace of mind.

Never mind, I just noticed you are using a Loadmaster and not dippers. How does the LM dispense powder? Is it fully adjustable or is it a disk type? If it's a disk, just choose the volumes the same way as described above for dippers.

dogfood · December 9, 2007, 02:02 PM

Quote:

The die set I got with my Load Master was for .38 special/.357 Magnum. The chart only list loads for the .38 special.

Mine, too ... but there may be a different chart if you buy the .357 magnum/.357 maximum dies, which is a different set. That may be what twhidd wants.

I am somewhat surprised they would charge four bucks for shipping. Yeah, I know that's what their website says ... but I would think that in the interest of safety, they would send you one for free. I would call them.

dogfood

saands · December 9, 2007, 08:23 PM

I have one ... PM me and I'll e-mail it to you ...

Saands

twhidd · December 9, 2007, 08:46 PM

What dogfood said is exactly what I want. I have a set of 38special dies with the charge table for that. PM sent to Saands.

saands · December 10, 2007, 07:20 PM

Here you go ...

Saands

ps ... anyone know of an easy and free image hosting site? This one used to be good, but now fills your page with useless ads and popups. TIA

Sport45 · December 10, 2007, 11:14 PM

That's a pretty limited amount of data for loading the .357 and I'm a bit concerned that there is no differentiation between cast and jacketed bullets.

I recommend you get load data from reloading manuals or powder company websites and do the math to set your volumetric drop as mentioned before. The table leaves off some good powders for the cartridge and could cause problems with driving cast or swaged bullets too fast.

Saands -
I haven't had much trouble using Photobucket.

saands · December 11, 2007, 10:10 PM

Thanks ... I'll give that a look ...

Saands

mathiaskahn · June 21, 2011, 05:36 PM

Hello all
I am looking for the lee loader charge table for .243W cartrige
Does someone have this, and could he post it here ?
Thanks a lot,
MK.

scarygt · October 13, 2011, 10:39 PM

I have the same problem as the original poster. I ended up with the .38 special dies and I'm interested in the 357 Lee die load table. I appreciate sands giving a image of his 357 die instructions.

But I want to know how to come up with the VMD if all the manufacturer gives you is the proper grains.

For example I'm wanting to use Hogdon Lil' Gun for my 357 mag. I have 158 grain hollow jackets. The Hogdon site lists 158 gr. hdy xtp @ 18 grains of Lil' Gun powder. How do I figure out what the VMD is just given the grain of powder?

And my 158 grain hollows are just generic.. i bought them at a gun show and have no idea if they are similar to the hdy xtps... anyone know if they will be similar?

I'm a newbie on this so I appreciate your help.

Thanks, Ralph

BDS-THR · October 13, 2011, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scarygt

How do I figure out what the VMD is just given the grain of powder?

By using the Auto Disk chart (page 2). For the particular powder and grain weight, use the VMD on the chart. Always drop several powder charges to settle the powder (dump powder back in the hopper) and weigh some test powder charges using a scale. If the charge is too light or heavy, use a larger or smaller hole.

Keep in mind that you do not want to start out with the max charge load. You want to begin at the start charge and load some test rounds in increment of .1 grain. I usually load 10 rounds at each incremental charge to do my powder charge work up and determine which loads reliably cycle my pistol and produce accurate shot groups. If the load data only shows max charge, reduce by 10% and start your work up from there.

If you are new to reloading, I highly recommend you get a reloading manual and go through the basic reloading steps. Local library should have some in the reference section.

Welcome to the wonderful world of reloading.

scarygt · October 14, 2011, 09:47 AM

I think I now know how to read page 2... Tell me if I'm wrong. The VMD is listed vertically right next to the powder names. Once you identify the powder you look on that row for the manufacturers recommended grains Then you pick the autodisk number from the top row over all the group of powder data. Am I reading it right?

Another question... On this list Hogdon H110 is listed and it is very similar to Lil' Gun except lil gun is just a grain or two more on my lee 460 die set.. Should I go with the H110 numbers when loading my 357? I want to use the same powder for both guns and I happened to buy the lil gun.

What do you think?

spacecoast · October 14, 2011, 10:19 AM

scarygt -

You cannot make cross-over assumptions between powders just because their quantities look to be about the same. H110 is a very slow burning powder, needs magnum primers in .357 magnum and is not very tolerant of reduced charges. I haven't used Lil Gun, but it may not have the same characteristics at all. Make sure you are using a reliable reference for your powder/bullet combinations, start at the lower level charges, and by all means do not make inferences from one powder to another. You can safely use .38 special powder/bullet combinations to start with in your .357 (using .357 brass) and work up from there.

Sevens · October 15, 2011, 01:16 PM

Quote:

What do you think?

I think you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of FAILURES at the load bench if you ever go down this route.

Read some manuals. This is a major red flag. Don't EVER do something like that.

scarygt · October 22, 2011, 09:59 AM

I've read the hogdon site for the loads. I'm good now. Thanks for being direct.

scarygt · October 22, 2011, 10:08 AM

Space http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp says nothing about a special magnum primer... 357 mag just uses small pistol primers, right? I haven't seen a special mag primer..

Sport45 · October 23, 2011, 07:23 AM

If you want to use H110 I highly recommend using mag primers. I don't remember seeing any published load data recommending otherwise with this powder.

Look at the load data you linked. Every .357mag load, regardless of powder called for a SPM primer (that's Small Pistol Magnum).

spacecoast · October 23, 2011, 01:44 PM

scary -

If you press the print button on the Hodgdon load page, you will see additional info including the primer used. H110 is a tough powder to ignite and that's why magnum primers are recommended (or required). In my experience, regular primers work fine for low or mid-level .357 magnum loads using a powder like Titegroup or Unique.

crumpster · June 5, 2013, 09:02 AM

Twhidd, this may be a bit out of date now... But, I contacted Lee Precision today. I simply gave them my order info from my .38sp/.357 4-die set, and asked for the load data sheet that is supplied with the .357 3-die set.
They were more than willing to provide the information at no cost to me, shipped to my residence.

The SKU is CD2226, if anyone is interested in doing the same.

This being my first post here, I hope it has been found useful to someone!
I've been a reader of TFL for a few years now, but never felt compelled to post my musings.

--crumpster

**Mike Irwin** · June 5, 2013, 09:08 AM

Almost 6 years out of date.

There's really no need to respond to a thread this old as if the person asked the question yesterday.

December 8, 2007, 11:04 AM	#1
twhidd Senior Member Join Date: March 21, 2005 Location: Athens, Georgia Posts: 823	Lee Charge Table I was wondering if someone would be kind enough to mail me a copy or scan and email me a copy of a Lee Charge Table for 357Mag. I could order one from Lee which cost a dollar. Which would be fine, but when you have to pay 4 bucks to ship it that seems unreasonable. Thanks.

December 8, 2007, 02:36 PM	#3
twhidd Senior Member Join Date: March 21, 2005 Location: Athens, Georgia Posts: 823	Lee Charge Table I already have that. I'm looking for the charge table that comes with the set of Lee .357 dies.

December 9, 2007, 09:37 AM	#4
CowTowner Senior Member Join Date: October 17, 2007 Location: Cowtown of course! Posts: 1,747	The die set I got with my Load Master was for .38 special/.357 Magnum. The chart only list loads for the .38 special. __________________ NRA Chief Range Safety Officer, Home Firearms Safety, Pistol and Rifle Instructor *“Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life......”* President John F. Kennedy

December 9, 2007, 10:19 AM	#5
Sport45 Senior Member Join Date: May 25, 1999 Location: Too close to Houston Posts: 4,196	Use the table that Dogfood posted above along with the load data from a trusted source (powder company website, manual, etc.) If the data says, for instance to use 6.2gr to 7.8gr of Unique simply go to the table and you will see that a .66cc dipper will give 6.0gr and a .82cc dipper gives 7.5gr. Without using the table you can multiply the desired charge weight by the density factor (VMD in the table) for a particular powder and you'll come up with the volume in cc's required. If you have a dipper that matches the volume, great. Otherwise just use the next smallest. The dipper recommendations they give are basically "as close as you can get without going over." Or are you looking for which powder will work with the one dipper supplied with the dies? Dippers are okay and can provide very consistent loads if used consistently. Do you have a scale for checking charge weight? Not an absolute necessity if you are very careful with the dippers, but it would be good for peace of mind. Never mind, I just noticed you are using a Loadmaster and not dippers. How does the LM dispense powder? Is it fully adjustable or is it a disk type? If it's a disk, just choose the volumes the same way as described above for dippers. __________________ Proud member of the NRA and Texas State Rifle Association. Registered and active voter.

December 9, 2007, 08:46 PM	#8
twhidd Senior Member Join Date: March 21, 2005 Location: Athens, Georgia Posts: 823	that's it What dogfood said is exactly what I want. I have a set of 38special dies with the charge table for that. PM sent to Saands.

December 8, 2007, 12:06 PM	#2
dogfood Senior Member Join Date: October 17, 2004 Location: Southwestern OH Posts: 239	twhidd: Not sure exactly what you need. You can download the powder charge table from Lee directly at: http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi-data...uct/AD2302.pdf This should give you the data you need if you're using a Lee powder measure with the cavity disks, or if you're using one of the Lee powder dippers. Now, if you're looking for specific loads for the .357 magnum, all of the major name reloading manuals should have many of these. dogfood

December 9, 2007, 08:23 PM	#7
saands Senior Member Join Date: November 14, 1999 Posts: 1,573	I have one ... PM me and I'll e-mail it to you ... Saands

December 10, 2007, 07:20 PM	#9
saands Senior Member Join Date: November 14, 1999 Posts: 1,573	Here you go ... Saands ps ... anyone know of an easy and free image hosting site? This one used to be good, but now fills your page with useless ads and popups. TIA Last edited by saands; December 10, 2007 at 07:23 PM. Reason: hosting site went downhill ...

December 10, 2007, 11:14 PM	#10
Sport45 Senior Member Join Date: May 25, 1999 Location: Too close to Houston Posts: 4,196	That's a pretty limited amount of data for loading the .357 and I'm a bit concerned that there is no differentiation between cast and jacketed bullets. I recommend you get load data from reloading manuals or powder company websites and do the math to set your volumetric drop as mentioned before. The table leaves off some good powders for the cartridge and could cause problems with driving cast or swaged bullets too fast. Saands - I haven't had much trouble using Photobucket. __________________ Proud member of the NRA and Texas State Rifle Association. Registered and active voter.

December 11, 2007, 10:10 PM	#11
saands Senior Member Join Date: November 14, 1999 Posts: 1,573	Thanks ... I'll give that a look ... Saands

June 21, 2011, 05:36 PM	#12
mathiaskahn Junior Member Join Date: June 21, 2011 Posts: 2	Hello all I am looking for the lee loader charge table for .243W cartrige Does someone have this, and could he post it here ? Thanks a lot, MK.

October 13, 2011, 10:39 PM	#13
scarygt Junior Member Join Date: October 13, 2011 Posts: 4	I have the same problem as the original poster. I ended up with the .38 special dies and I'm interested in the 357 Lee die load table. I appreciate sands giving a image of his 357 die instructions. But I want to know how to come up with the VMD if all the manufacturer gives you is the proper grains. For example I'm wanting to use Hogdon Lil' Gun for my 357 mag. I have 158 grain hollow jackets. The Hogdon site lists 158 gr. hdy xtp @ 18 grains of Lil' Gun powder. How do I figure out what the VMD is just given the grain of powder? And my 158 grain hollows are just generic.. i bought them at a gun show and have no idea if they are similar to the hdy xtps... anyone know if they will be similar? I'm a newbie on this so I appreciate your help. Thanks, Ralph

October 14, 2011, 09:47 AM	#15
scarygt Junior Member Join Date: October 13, 2011 Posts: 4	I think I now know how to read page 2... Tell me if I'm wrong. The VMD is listed vertically right next to the powder names. Once you identify the powder you look on that row for the manufacturers recommended grains Then you pick the autodisk number from the top row over all the group of powder data. Am I reading it right? Another question... On this list Hogdon H110 is listed and it is very similar to Lil' Gun except lil gun is just a grain or two more on my lee 460 die set.. Should I go with the H110 numbers when loading my 357? I want to use the same powder for both guns and I happened to buy the lil gun. What do you think?

October 14, 2011, 10:19 AM	#16
spacecoast Senior Member Join Date: October 14, 2009 Location: Sunshine and Keystone States Posts: 4,461	scarygt - You cannot make cross-over assumptions between powders just because their quantities look to be about the same. H110 is a very slow burning powder, needs magnum primers in .357 magnum and is not very tolerant of reduced charges. I haven't used Lil Gun, but it may not have the same characteristics at all. Make sure you are using a reliable reference for your powder/bullet combinations, start at the lower level charges, and by all means do not make inferences from one powder to another. You can safely use .38 special powder/bullet combinations to start with in your .357 (using .357 brass) and work up from there.

October 22, 2011, 09:59 AM	#18
scarygt Junior Member Join Date: October 13, 2011 Posts: 4	I've read the hogdon site for the loads. I'm good now. Thanks for being direct.

October 22, 2011, 10:08 AM	#19
scarygt Junior Member Join Date: October 13, 2011 Posts: 4	Space http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp says nothing about a special magnum primer... 357 mag just uses small pistol primers, right? I haven't seen a special mag primer..

October 23, 2011, 07:23 AM	#20
Sport45 Senior Member Join Date: May 25, 1999 Location: Too close to Houston Posts: 4,196	If you want to use H110 I highly recommend using mag primers. I don't remember seeing any published load data recommending otherwise with this powder. Look at the load data you linked. Every .357mag load, regardless of powder called for a SPM primer (that's Small Pistol Magnum). __________________ Proud member of the NRA and Texas State Rifle Association. Registered and active voter.

October 23, 2011, 01:44 PM	#21
spacecoast Senior Member Join Date: October 14, 2009 Location: Sunshine and Keystone States Posts: 4,461	scary - If you press the print button on the Hodgdon load page, you will see additional info including the primer used. H110 is a tough powder to ignite and that's why magnum primers are recommended (or required). In my experience, regular primers work fine for low or mid-level .357 magnum loads using a powder like Titegroup or Unique.

June 5, 2013, 09:02 AM	#22
crumpster Junior Member Join Date: June 5, 2013 Location: The "Mitten State" Posts: 4	Lee Charge Table Twhidd, this may be a bit out of date now... But, I contacted Lee Precision today. I simply gave them my order info from my .38sp/.357 4-die set, and asked for the load data sheet that is supplied with the .357 3-die set. They were more than willing to provide the information at no cost to me, shipped to my residence. The SKU is CD2226, if anyone is interested in doing the same. This being my first post here, I hope it has been found useful to someone! I've been a reader of TFL for a few years now, but never felt compelled to post my musings. --crumpster

June 5, 2013, 09:08 AM	#23
Mike Irwin Staff Join Date: April 13, 2000 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 41,380	Almost 6 years out of date. There's really no need to respond to a thread this old as if the person asked the question yesterday. __________________ "The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind" -Theodorus Gaza Baby Jesus cries when the fat redneck doesn't have military-grade firepower.