Good General Purpose .357 Magnum load?

[MandoWookie]

Having now loaded a grand total of about 250 rounds of .38 special wadcutters, and armed with both the Lee & Lyman reloading manuals, I now seem to be bitten by the bug, and I am looking for excuses to load for more of the calibers in my arsenal. Since I already have the dies, .357 seems like the next logical step.

So, in that vein, what would be peoples recommendation for a good general purpose load for a 4in Security Six? In the interest of standardization, is it possible to use Bullseye in any worthwhile load, or am I going to need to get another powder? If so what? I would eventually like to load .45 ACP as well, so being able to stock one type of powder that would work for light .38 dewc, .357 Mag, and .45 would be nice.

In terms of projectile, I was looking mainly at something like 158gr XTP, with maybe the Berry's 158gr plated TC as a range round. But I don't know how well this world work in reality.

[Lester Polfus]

I carry American Eagle 158 grain JSP in my 4" GP100 for deer, black bear, cougars, assholes, and plinking at rocks at ridiculous distances.

My practice round has been 10.2 grains of Blue Dot under a Missouri Bullet CO 158 grain coated LSWC. I try to remember to put those in when plinking at rocks too.

I just burned up all my Blue Dot, and it was a good riddance, as it was filthy. Right now I'm going to use up a bunch of Longshot that is left over from my 10mm experiments, and will then standardize on 2400.

[Lester Polfus]

Oh and regarding the powder...

You're not going to make magnum level loads with Bullseye, at least not more than once.

I'm going to standardize on one medium burn rate powder, probably CFE pistol for 9mm and .38 Special loads, and 2400 for the mag-a-nums..

[03RN]

What are youre needs? Animal SD, hunting, human SD?

https://rimrockbullets.com/xcart/-38...per-800-1.html

Over 13.5gr 2400

If i could only load one load for the rest of my life that would be it.

[MandoWookie]

What are youre needs? Animal SD, hunting, human SD?

https://rimrockbullets.com/xcart/-38...per-800-1.html

Over 13.5gr 2400

If i could only load one load for the rest of my life that would be it.

In reference to needs? Yes. Though pondering on it more, human SD is largely incidental, and if that was a priority it would be wiser to focus on duplicating a known good factory load for practice, and buy the factory for carry. That being said, main purpose is just to load something that is manageable but still in magnum territory, that is pushing a bullet that will perform within its envelope when it hits it target.
Great thing about those hardcast 158s is that they will do the same thing no matter how fast you throw them. As I understand it. So point in favor.

So is 2400 the general consensus on powder for .357 Magnum? I know that bullseye will work for what I want in .45 ACP and .38 Special. Figured if I wanted magnum performance I was going to have to get magnum powder, just have to ensure I keep things segregated.

[revchuck38]

You're going to get a lot of divergent opinions on this one.

Do you need an expanding bullet? If so, the XTP is a good one. If not, a traditional LSWC is hard to beat. I've used .38 and 9x19 bullets from Missouri Bullet and have been happy with them; the 158-grain coated LSWC from them would be a good choice.

2400 is an excellent powder for full-power loads from a 4". That said, if you don't need balls-to-the-wall loads, you can get to 90% of full-power loads with a medium-speed powder like Unique, CFE Pistol or BE-86, and get there with less recoil and blast. 1100 fps with a 158 LSWC is nothing to sneeze at, and that's what I get with 6.8 grains of Unique.

Try both directions and see which you prefer.

[03RN]

I get really good results with 7gr unique under that bullets as well. It just does not burn as clean as 2400 when using lead and isnt as efficient in my rifles.

Ive found unique to be very versatile with a range of bullets from 130gr jsp, 140gr xtp, 158gr hardcast, etc.

[diananike]

A mid range 125gr load (around 1350fps) would be a good controllable option.
I use 2400 for mine. 16.6gr And either XTPs or Remington SJHPs
That’s the great thing about reloading it lets you custom load exactly what you want

[03RN]

A mid range 125gr load (around 1350fps) would be a good controllable option.
I use 2400 for mine. 16.6gr And either XTPs or Remington SJHPs
That’s the great thing about reloading it lets you custom load exactly what you want

Precision delta has a 130gr jsp that is 10cpr. Cheapest jacketed bullet i could find. I use 9gr unique for it and the 140gr xtp.

[JTMcC]

My take is that it's hard to get more "general purpose" in .357 (or .44 RM) than a XTP, 158 in .357 and 240or 300 in .44 for me.
You've covered a lot of bases with that bullet choice.