Need Load Data for 357 170 gr LSWC

[ColColt]

I almost bought some Herco at the gun show a couple weeks back but remembered reading about it not metering very well like Unique, so I passed it up. There's lots of great powders out there and I guess the best for this particular bullet would be 2400 or maybe even AA#7 or #9. I just don't care for H110 in 357 or 44 Magnum...too quirky. I'm still thinking QUICKLoad.

[That'll Do]

I almost bought some Herco at the gun show a couple weeks back but remembered reading about it not metering very well like Unique, so I passed it up. There's lots of great powders out there and I guess the best for this particular bullet would be 2400 or maybe even AA#7 or #9. I just don't care for H110 in 357 or 44 Magnum...too quirky. I'm still thinking QUICKLoad.

I bought a pound of Herco back during the last component shortage, and while I haven't used it a lot, I did use it with the 358429, and I was surprised how accurate it was. But it meters somewhat poorly (it looks exactly like Unique). That said, it still would be a powder to consider.

[rintinglen]

I had a bit of universal left after loading up some 45 ACP and used it to load some 38-162 SWC's in 357 cases.
5.6 grains made a nice mid-level load, it shot ok, but not great. I'll probably stick with Unique in the future. I would try 5.4 grains Universal under the 358-429.
I did not notice any great decrease in powder smoke, though I wasn't truly looking for that.

[ColColt]

It may not work as well for me as it does with the 38 and 45 but I'm going to give Universal a try with the 357 cases and the 170 gr boolit. I loaded some in 6, 6.5 and 7.0 gr to try next range trip. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Who knows, this combo may be a tack driver in this revolver.

[Bret4207]

Speer's #14 manual shows a similar load with their 158 gr GDHP with 6.5 start and 7.3 max but I don't know how to interpolate jacketed to lead. I guess the 170 gr's not all that popular...surprises me, though. Most companies make a good looking bullet in this weight and Dan of Mountain Molds made me an excellent mold for it. Surely there's got to be more data than what's shown in Lyman's manual as well. They don't even list Unique with this weight bullet.

I reckon I can always use 12-12.5 gr of 2400 and forget about Universal it seems. What I find odd is that Lyman list Unique, 231, HS-6 and Universal for the 38 Special with the same bullet but none of these for the 357? Very interesting. Perchance a little interpolation is in order here. Just 1/10th an inch longer and none of those powders are listed. Yep, most odd.

In general terms it's simple as pie. You can use jacketed loads with cast, of course you start at the lower end of the recommended loads, but you can't always use cast loads with jacketed. Cast is more forgiving than jacketed as far as pressures go. That doesn't mean every jacketed load will work with cast, but it gives you a starting point.

[NHlever]

Quick Load suggests that 6.0 grains of Hodgdon Universal might be a reasonable maximum with the Lyman 358429 170 grain boolit. They give around 33,000 PSI for that load, but since they use a formula, and not actural data, I would sneak up on that, or beyond that careflully. Loaded at 5.5 grains shows over 28,000 PSI so you can see that the pressure is coming up pretty quickly at those levels. Remember, this is just data from software, but I hope it helps some.

YOUR 7.0 GRAIN LOAD SHOWS OVER 46,000 PSI SO MAYBE THERE IS SOMETHING TO BE LOST TRYING THAT WITHOUT DATA.

[ColColt]

I had no idea that small a charge would bring pressures up that high. I was thinking more in terms of 22,000-25 000 psi at best. I didn't load any 7 grain cases-decided against that but I did load about ten with 6.5 grains. What did they show for velocity with 6 or 6.5 gr? I tell you I've got to get QUICKLoad. Iowegan over at the Ruger forum swears by it and he's a most knowledgeable fellow and former gunsmith/armorer.

[MtGun44]

If you are going to "color outside the lines" (shoot loads well away from published data) you
really need a chronograph. If you use comparable speed powders with the same wt boolit,
you should expect comparable max velocities. So if Universal is similar in burning speed to
Unique (and I believe it is, please verify) you would expect to get about the same max
velocity with Universal as with Unique. So, if you can find Unique data, and start low with
Universal and work up to the same velocity range, you should still be pressure safe as a
broad general rule.

Published data is a lot safer, and using jacketed data for cast has always been safe for me,
and I have never seen published jacketed and boolit data that shows a jbullet load, if used
for cast of the same wt, would be unsafe. Typically, you will see higher velocities with the
same powder charge with lead vs the same load with jbullets - less friction in cast.

Bill

[ColColt]

Those two powders are relatively close in burn rate and velocities. The Speer manual as well as Lyman's doesn't list either powders for the 170 gr bullet in neither lead or jacketed for the 357, unfortunately. I looked at the data on the 38 Special +P for both powders and they do show a similar charge weight as well as velocity spread for both. Might I add that the Hodgdon on line data doesn't list Unique or Universal for their only 170 gr load and that's for the Sierra JHP.

[NHlever]

QuickLoad shows 1185 fps at 39,801 psi for the 6.5 grain load from a 6" barrel, and 1127 fps at 33,885 psi out of a 6" barrel also. Not much velocity loss for the drop in pressure.

[ColColt]

My GP100 is a 4" so, I should get about 1050 fps...just about right.

[bhn22]

I was too obtuse. There appears to be a relationship between Unique reloading data and Universal Clays that you might consider carefully exploring.