.356 WIN Reloading advice

KyleH

KyleH

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Decided to try and load up some .356 Win with some Hornady 200gn FTX and was wondering if anybody had any load data for this. I have some LVR powder, but can't seem to find any info other than just start low and work up. Wondering if it's worth trying this powder or just using something different.

Thanks,

Kyle
 
I don't know much about .358 Win, but isn't it a hotter round? And there's no listing that I can find for LVR on the Hodgdon site that I could find. Some searching through other forums didn't turn up much other than nothing is listed for that combo. I'll keep looking, thanks for the reply.
 
When I loaded for my .356 I used data from Hodgdon. SAAMI specs are somewhat lower pressure than .358 data. You could use .358 data with a 15% reduction from max and work up to maybe 5% below 358 max.
 
Thanks for the replies,

I was just curious if anybody had used this combo and what they thought. I'm in no rush to blow anything up. My understanding is this cartridge is simply not popular enough for companies to do load development on.
 
Some people on other U.S. forums said they had called some of the companies asking for load data for FTX bullets and LVR powder, they were told that there wasn't enough demand to develop any new load data for the .356, some went on to say they got told to start light and work up... I was just hoping somebody on here may have already done some experimenting and would share their findings with me. I know there is data for other powders on Hodgdon website, just not for what I was wondering about. Not a big deal, I have lots of new brass and bullets, and thought I'd try a few different loads.
 
I would give Hornady a call or send an email... they have .356 data in the 9th Edition Manual and use LVR for many other cartridges... they may have exactly what you are looking for... short of that, you can cross-reference comparable load data in other cartridges where data is published using the same powders as .356, but also use LVR... this will give you a working baseline to start at, and you can work up from there. For example compare load data for .35 Rem in the Hornady 9th edition, for which there are same powders listed, but also listed in .35 Rem are the 200 FTX with LVR. As the .356 can handle higher pressures than the .35 Rem, I would say that you are safe starting at published MAX for .35 Rem and working up from there, which according to the manual is 42.7 grains LVR with the 200 FTX. AS ALWAYS, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK AND WORK UP...
 
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Thanks again for the info, I'm not sure it will be ideal for this cartridge, but as long as I go up in small amounts and keep an eye out for pressure signs I think it will be a learning experience at least. I'll probably try some common powder used with the FTX bullets and see how they work as well.
 
Data does not have to be bullet manufacturer specific. You load for the weight.
There's 200 grain .356 Win data on Hodgdon's site. And one unverified, 200 grain, FTX load using H4198 on Reloader's Nest. A few 180 and 220 grain loads on Handload's.com.
Suspect the LVR powder is too new for lots of testing to be published on-line. Especially for a relatively odd cartridge.
 
I'll try to post some pics, and thinking I should invest in a crony as well. I emailed Redding about the seating depth issue with these bullets and Redding dies and they responded back very fast saying they will have the part needed in the mail shortly.
 
Just waiting on a .35 cal case trim pilot, and also Redding is sending me a different part for the seating die to work with the FTX bullets. I'll have to wait and see, however I have a suspicion that the part they are sending is the same as the .30-06 dies use. Either way I am pretty impressed with Redding's customer service, was not expecting them to send me the extra part free of charge. Also broke a de capping rod on my universal de capping dies and they shipped me a new one free of charge.
 
Had some time today, and it was raining, so I started working on this load.

First I had tried trimming the case down as I had read other had done so the crimp would line up. However, this did not allow the die to crimp the neck at all. So I used proper length cases, seated to the crimp area and the length was only slightly longer than the factory loads. It functioned properly through my model 94AE with no issues. So no need to trim the brass at all.

Starting with 48 grains of leverevolution, I went up to 52.5 in 0.5 gr steps. 48 felt very light, little recoil. 52.5 feels and sounds a lot closer to a factory load. There were no signs of high pressure at 52.5, however you are starting to compress the powder at that volume. So I stopped there, I will have to wait until I get a chronograph to see what kind of velocity it's producing.
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Swapped the bullet seater for a #20 VLD micrometer instead of the #21 one that the dies came with. Seemed to work well and made adjustments easy.
 
It may be the angle/lighting of the first pic with the FTX, but something looks off on the shoulder area- a bulge or a wrinkle? Or it could be me lol. Looks different than the cartridge on the left, which to me looks as it should.
 
bassman said:
It may be the angle/lighting of the first pic with the FTX, but something looks off on the shoulder area- a bulge or a wrinkle? Or it could be me lol. Looks different than the cartridge on the left, which to me looks as it should.
Click to expand...

I tried adjusting the crimp each way, it seems to leave that bulge as soon as any crimp is applied, it doesn't seem to affect feeding into the chamber at all. A crimp light enough not to leave that bulge results in not enough tension and the bullet can be pushed back into the case easy, which is not good for a tube magazine. This is new brass and I didn't run it through a sizing die first, so maybe the next time it goes through it will be a little tighter in the neck? The cartridge on the left is a factory load and not sure if the dies I have are capable of making a crimp like that. If anybody has any tips on a better crimp let me know.
 
Oh, sorry, thought you were talking about the crimp area of the neck.

Both bags of new brass look like that, just the way it's made. All the factory ammo I have doesn't appear to have that, but can't exactly be picky on brass since only Winchester makes it as far as I know.
 
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