Revolver as Primary

[Totem Polar]

I really feel like I should be participating more in this thread, wheelie die-hard that I am, but I honestly don’t have much of value to add. Good discussion so far.

Carry load has been the 158-grain XTP, although it's likely to change to the American Eagle 158 grain JSP, so it can do double duty with the Marlin 1894c I just bought.

Might sound odd, given PMC’s rep for powderpuffing some loads (eg. 115 9mm), but their .357 158 JSP hammers right along out of a lever gun. I like it out of a Henry. Of course, *anyone’s* .357 158 JSP hammers along out of that long a barrel, but it’s accurate, and the price is right.

https://www.sgammo.com/product/357-m...oint-ammo-357a

[feudist]

That's gorgeous

If I wasn't so hung up on maximizing potential I would have found a 2" m64 and been happy.

Square butt?

You wanted .357?

[03RN]

You wanted .357?

Yeah, I really like 125-145 at 1250+fps

[JTMcC]

Hornady makes two versions of the .357, 158 grain XTP. According to the 9th edition of the Hornady loading manual, the top of the velocity window for the hollow point version is 1400 fps. They should be stepping out of the 1894c at about 1700fps or so, and hobbyist gel testing suggests they don't hold together too well at that speed. The flat point version is good up to 1800fps.

The 240 grain .44 XTP has a top speed of 2200 FPS. It's probably leaving your rifle in the 1700 to 1800 Fps range. I've used them out of a muzzleloader with a sabot at 1900 to 2000 fps and they worked great.

That's interesting, I've shot hundreds if not thousands of crittesr with 158 gr XTP's but only at mid range to full tilt handgun velocities. From 2 1/2" Python to 6 1/2" Ruger. All were imo very effective across that velocity range. Equal to or more so than the probably thousand or so I have shot or seen shot with home cast Keith bullets.
Of course .357 gains a ton of velocity out of a carbine length barrel so bullet selection is really important there.

In .44RM (18" carbine barrel & 4" barrel), I've had great results with 240 and 300 Gr XTP's, but oddly enough I've had just as good "drop 'em right now" results with cheap SJSP from WWB to Fiocchi. Both of these show up dirt cheap in pawn shops around me and I snag them up.
Based on my antecdotal results, I'm a serous fan of cheap SJSP in that caliber. I still live and die with the XTP's in .357 and would happily try to survive the zombies with them or hard cast Keith bullets.

1800 fps out of a .358 is pretty serious business, can you shoot me links to those plus the HP version at higher velocity? I'd like to see those.

[Lester Polfus]

That's interesting, I've shot hundreds if not thousands of crittesr with 158 gr XTP's but only at mid range to full tilt handgun velocities. From 2 1/2" Python to 6 1/2" Ruger. All were imo very effective across that velocity range. Equal to or more so than the probably thousand or so I have shot or seen shot with home cast Keith bullets.
Of course .357 gains a ton of velocity out of a carbine length barrel so bullet selection is really important there.

In .44RM (18" carbine barrel & 4" barrel), I've had great results with 240 and 300 Gr XTP's, but oddly enough I've had just as good "drop 'em right now" results with cheap SJSP from WWB to Fiocchi. Both of these show up dirt cheap in pawn shops around me and I snag them up.
Based on my antecdotal results, I'm a serous fan of cheap SJSP in that caliber. I still live and die with the XTP's in .357 and would happily try to survive the zombies with them or hard cast Keith bullets.

1800 fps out of a .358 is pretty serious business, can you shoot me links to those plus the HP version at higher velocity? I'd like to see those.

Hey man,

The Flat Point version is good to 1800 fps according to the Hornady 9th edition loading manual. One of the things I like about Hornady is they publish velocity windows for their bullets. I'm not aware of any videos or any other testing of the flat point at that velocity.

Here's a video of the 158 XTP hollow point version driven at 1,984 FPS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJk_YHO6hDk

[oregon45]

I've run the 180 XTP at 1,700fps out of my 10.5" Ruger .357 Maximum using AA1680 powder. It made the 200 meter Ram targets fall over marginally faster than the same bullet at 1500fps using H4227, but the extra recoil and blast weren't worth it for a competition load.

[JTMcC]

Hey man,

The Flat Point version is good to 1800 fps according to the Hornady 9th edition loading manual. One of the things I like about Hornady is they publish velocity windows for their bullets. I'm not aware of any videos or any other testing of the flat point at that velocity.

Here's a video of the 158 XTP hollow point version driven at 1,984 FPS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJk_YHO6hDk

Right, Hornady gives us some very useful info, if they say that bullet is good to 1800 I'd guess it's really good to + that.
The 158 gr link at carbine velocity looks like a stone cold coyote roller. Not so hot on larger things.
If I was driving .357 bullets in the 16"-20" barrel fps range (like a lot of people do), It would require some serious bullet research but then again, a hard Keith bullet doesn't care what velocity it's driven.

What bullet(s) do you use for .357 carbine barrels??

[Lester Polfus]

Right, Hornady gives us some very useful info, if they say that bullet is good to 1800 I'd guess it's really good to + that.
The 158 gr link at carbine velocity looks like a stone cold coyote roller. Not so hot on larger things.
If I was driving .357 bullets in the 16"-20" barrel fps range (like a lot of people do), It would require some serious bullet research but then again, a hard Keith bullet doesn't care what velocity it's driven.

What bullet(s) do you use for .357 carbine barrels??

I just bought my 1894c less than a month ago and haven't had a chance to fully wring it out.

My go-to handload for .357 is a 158LSWC from Missouri Bullet Co. I've been using 10.2 grains of Blue Dot, until I use up all my Blue Dot, and then I'll likely shift to 2400. It has shot reasonably well out of the carbine in what little shooting I've done with it.

I'm probably going to go with American Eagle's 158 grain JSP load in both my 4" GP100 and the 1894c as a general purpose woods load. Hobbyist gel testing seems to indicate it does well at both revolver and carbine velocities, it's cheap, and it's readily available.

[03RN]

I just bought my 1894c less than a month ago and haven't had a chance to fully wring it out.

My go-to handload for .357 is a 158LSWC from Missouri Bullet Co. I've been using 10.2 grains of Blue Dot, until I use up all my Blue Dot, and then I'll likely shift to 2400. It has shot reasonably well out of the carbine in what little shooting I've done with it.

I'm probably going to go with American Eagle's 158 grain JSP load in both my 4" GP100 and the 1894c as a general purpose woods load. Hobbyist gel testing seems to indicate it does well at both revolver and carbine velocities, it's cheap, and it's readily available.

Remington 180gr jhp seem to do pretty good too


But the availability of the AE 158s is nice too

[Lester Polfus]

Remington 180gr jhp seem to do pretty good too


But the availability of the AE 158s is nice too

I've thought about that one too, based on exactly the video to which you linked.

The tail is wagging the dog in a way. I have about 1K rounds of LSWC loaded up, and in the revolver their POA/POI is close enough to the same to American Eagle 158 grain JSP that I can swap from practice loads to carry loads without issue. We'll see if that follows through with the rifle.

When I get low on practice ammo, I might consider swapping everything wholesale over to 180 grain loads, assuming they are close enough in POA/POI.