Loading for Rossi Lever Gun

[Bucksnort1]

I'm loading for a Rossi 92 lever gun in .357 magnum.

I have published recipes for 2400, Blue Dot, Unique and Bullseye. My bullets are Remington 180 grain JHP. The recipes I have are for 180 grain JFP. May I safely use the JFP recipes for the JHP?

[reddog81]

Everything else being equal the JFP will have less of the bullet in the case and therefore slightly less pressure. Assuming you aren't using max loads you should be fine. Additionally I'd assume that the rifle can handle some pretty stout loads so even max loads should be OK as long as you know what you're doing and work up the load appropriately.

[Bucksnort1]

Reddog81,

Thanks for the quick reply. I never load with maximum charges; however occasionally, I work up loads to somewhere between minimum and maximum.

[Radny97]

I would not be shy about using max loads. You’ll need to check your brass afterwards as some feed ramps on the Rossi’s are such that the brass is not fully supported and you can be hard on the brass. But can the gun take max pressures or more? Yes. Rossi made the exact same gun in 454 Casull with a chamber pressure of 65,000 psi. So max and overmax loads are really not a problem.


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[buck460XVR]

Originally Posted by reddog81

Everything else being equal the JFP will have less of the bullet in the case and therefore slightly less pressure.

Not necessarily. Being a revolver bullet, one seats to the cannelure, not for OAL. Depending where the cannelure is the JHP may have more/less or the same amount of bullet in the case(case capacity) as the JFP. I load Hornady XTP-HPs and XTP-FPs in my .357s. Both have the same case capacity and both use the exact same load recipes. I'm curious as to why you think the JFP will have less case capacity?

To the OP. I'm gonna guess you will be fine using the same recipe also. With your .357 lever tho, I advise to only use new/virgin or once fired brass for your max loads because of the way .357 levers action works, it tends to make brass stretch and may cause case head separation if using the same brass for max loads numerous times.

[reddog81]

Originally Posted by buck460XVR

Not necessarily. Being a revolver bullet, one seats to the cannelure, not for OAL. Depending where the cannelure is the JHP may have more/less or the same amount of bullet in the case(case capacity) as the JFP. I load Hornady XTP-HPs and XTP-FPs in my .357s. Both have the same case capacity and both use the exact same load recipes. I'm curious as to why you think the JFP will have less case capacity?

A Hollow Point bullet weighing 180 grains will have about 10 grains of material less in the nose of the bullet compared to a Flat Point. The material that is not in the nose of the bullet has to go somewhere else. This results in a longer bullet. Assuming the cannelure is in the same place, this results in more material stuffed into the case. More material stuffed into the case results in higher pressure.

Generally the cannelure is located .05 to .1 rearward from where the bullet reaches it's full diameter. Deviating from this location much is going to result in feeding issues with a lever-action.

You can typically use the same loading data for FP and HP's but that doesn't mean that the pressure is exactly the same.