This is what I got, need some guidance.

[hulley]

I just bought a Ruger GP100 4" 357mag, I also have a LCR .38spl and a SP101 2.25" 357mag.

Up till now I've only reloaded 38spl, and rarely shoot 357mag from my SP101, which I save the brass for later...which is now.

I currently have
Missouri Bullet hard cast .358 158gr RN with a rating of 12 and just ordered
Berry's plated 158gr RN.

W231, Unique and 2400 along with pistol and mag primers.

While researching some .357mag loads its looking like I should have a harder cast bullet and the plated bullets are not too good for the magnum velocitys.

Is this correct or will I be fine using the bullet(s) that I have in the GP100 at 357mag velocity? If I really need to I can get more bullets but I have around 1k bullets already and would like to use what I have.

This will be used for target and just plain fun shooting but would like to load some hot tamales!

thanks for the help,
Steve

[jimbob86]

While researching some .357mag loads its looking like I should have a harder cast bullet and the plated bullets are not too good for the magnum velocitys.

Berry's recommends keeping velocities under 1200 or so ..... not a problem in .45ACP or .38 target loads ....

I use jacketed bullets for hot .357.

I have had leading issues (as in takes forever to get the lead out after only a box of 50) when shooting lead bullets after jacketed bullets.

[243winxb]

Load a few with 2400-12.0 gr using both Missouri Bullet hard cast .358 158gr RN &
Berry's plated 158gr RN. Should work Ok.

[Valornor]

Plated bullets have a reccomend "do not exceed speed". Off the top of my head I couldn't tell you what that is but Berries will list it. You'll have to look up the load in your Manuel to see if you'll cross that threshold.

A BHN of 12 is low to medium in lead hardness. typically you'll want a 16-18bhn for the higher velocity stuff. With that said, barrel fit is king, if the bullets fit properly you may be able to push them harder and not see any leading. My suggestion is to start of slow and work your way up.

[hulley]

Thanks guys, I guess I'll order some 357mag specific bullets and be done with it. I did try to search Berries site for the max velocity but could not find it, granted I'm doing this from my phone.

[243winxb]

http://www.berrysmfg.com/faq-q10-c1-...e_bullets.aspx Info on there website

Velocities depend on the caliber, but as a rule of thumb, we recommend you don't shoot our plated bullets over 1250 feet-per-second. Our 44's actually shoot best around 1150 fps. 45's are generally good at 850-900 fps. Our bullets are not recommended for magnum velocities over 1250fps unless the bullet description denotes a thick plated bullet with a higher listed maximum for velocity.

As far as cast bullets, i load 12.5gr of 2400 in 357 mag. using my cast 158gr swc that is on the heavy side, about 163gr. How hard or soft my alloy is, i do not know. Its never been a problem in 40+ year. Fit and lube is more importent.

[jimbob86]

Here ya go, hulley:


http://www.berrysmfg.com/faq-q10-c1-...e_bullets.aspx

243 beat me to it!

[precision_shooter]

Had similar questions not long ago. I Ended up buying some Hornady FTX jacketed bullets for .357 and use Rainier plated rnfp for .38spl...

[hulley]

Thanks 243 and jimbob! I guess if I really needed to I can load a light 357 until I get some proper magnum bullets. All the more reason I love wheel guns, get to try different loads! I'll probably try the round that 243 listed this weekend after I finish loading up the 38spl brass I have ready.

[hulley]

I really do need to slug my GP, I'd like to make some power houses that are accurate as well. Maybe do a little hog hunting!

[Don P]

I currently have
Missouri Bullet hard cast .358 158gr RN with a rating of 12 and just ordered

Missouri Bullet has 140 grain "Zingers" with a BHN of 18 and all 3 of there bullets for 357 are a BHN of 18. I use them with all my 38 and 357 loads.

[Nick_C_S]

Your Missouri Bullet slugs are a bit soft. I have no doubt someone will come in here and state how he's pushing that same bullet to magnum velocities with no leading or whatever. But realistically - unless you're just plain lucky - you're going to run into leading problems if you load them in the 357 Mag pressure neighborhood. Unless you feel like experimenting, you may save yourself a lot of time and headache if you just reserve them for 38 Special loads with your W231 powder. They'll be great general purpose shooters in that role.

The Berry's plated have a velocity max of 1250. I'm not sure about what velocity yields you'll get, but I would load them to medium-hot levels with Unique. Unique is the more "balanced" powder for the application and barrel length(s). I would consider it perfect for the 4" barrel; and a bit slow for the 2.5" barrel - but acceptable.

You can use the 2400 but I think it's a bit slow to create a load that is good for your application. By that, I mean that it is certainly too slow for a 2.5" barrel gun. And marginally too slow for a 4" barrel gun.

I'm going to get disagreement here, I know. Most people load with powders too slow for the application. You can load your Berry's 158s with 2400, but if do it, but you're going to get a lot of flash, report, and recoil. If you're just wanting to have fun shooting some "hot tamales" out at the range, that's cool, I guess. But it won't be a well-purposed round with any real life application cross-over. It'll just be a fun novelty round. That's the beauty of loading our own - sometimes, we just wanna load something to have a little fun; and we can do it.

And that 1250 fps rating? Well it's a basic guideline. It's really more complicated than just velocity. And variables abound. I rather doubt you'll achieve 1250 fps though a 4" barrel (maybe - maybe - through a 6"), but that doesn't mean your hot tamales won't be pushing those Berry's bullets beyond their capabilities. It's guesswork at this point.

[hulley]

Thanks for the info guys, I've always recieved great answers from the reloading section. I've already planned on ordering some Zingers from Missouri tonight when I get home.

Nick I'll definitly keep the powder suggestion in mind when working up some loads.

[243winxb]

Clean the barrel when switching bullet types. Lead may not like the copper wash. Plus the lube on lead needs to condition the barrel for best accuracy.

[Lost Sheep]

Do not forget that gas checks on lead bullets help

Sufficiently hard (high melting temperature) cast lead bullets do very well, even at very high velocities.

I believe that much leading is caused by bullets not fitting/filling the barrel (sealing the bore, most likely by the cylinder throats being too small, thereby undersizing the bullets upon firing). This allows hot gasses to blow by the bullet, melting the sides of the bullets onto the bore.

I skimmed through all the advice so far and found no fault-all good advice.

Lost Sheep