Looking for opinions on the best bullet weight. Will load mostly plinking loads in 38 but want to be able to load some good magnums as well. I want to buy bulk bullets (Campros?), so I'm hoping one bullet will work for both. 125? 158? Also interested in any pet plinking loads anyone has. Thanks.
Best bullet weight for 38 & 357
- Thread starter heyrosco
- Start date
158gr is primarily what I load for 357mag and 148gr hbwc for 38spl but 158gr works great in both.
If your after a big fireball and loud bang then go with 110gr or 125gr in 357mag with h110/w296. It's going to cause faster cutting of the top strap but man are they fun to shoot!
If your after a big fireball and loud bang then go with 110gr or 125gr in 357mag with h110/w296. It's going to cause faster cutting of the top strap but man are they fun to shoot!
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I used 158grn plated for .38 plinking and mild .357M, but yes 125gr + 22gn H110 is a lot of fun LOL
I use 130gr LRNFP Hard Cast from Bullet Barn. Works fine as a plinking 38spl load. Might be a problem in a full power 357 load which has a much higher velocity and might lead to leading of the barrel. For 357 I would go with the 158gr Bullet Barn. Personally I have found that, in my guns, the Hard Cast lead bullets are more accurate than the copper plated ones. Don't know why.
Here's a repost of something I did this summer: I was testing .357mag ammo in 110gr, 125gr and 158gr weights (both commercial and handloaded) on a Henry Big Boy Steel lever action carbine. End result is that as far as I can determine, it loves the 158gr weight, it isn't too fond of 110gr and it performs like a stupid shotgun with 125gr bullets.
And as far as bullets go, you get what you pay for: Campro is cheap enough, but doesn't hold a light to the accuracy of costlier projectiles. So it's going to depend a lot on what you want to accomplish with the reloads: improve your shooting technique and accuracy, or just have fun?
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1421699-Ammo-it-s-always-the-damned-ammo-(part-deux)-(pic-heavy)?highlight=ammo
This is a comparison of various commercial ammo and handloads in .357Mag. Firearm is Henry Big Boy Steel (H012M), wearing a Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 3-9x40 scope.
Shooting was done from a Cadwell front rest and rear sand bag, at 49m distance. Stiff wind from the front, minimum 2 mins interval between each shot (and barrel cooled with a damp cloth to ensure no warping the shots from a hot barrel). Each target is 10 rounds, aimed at the centre. No scope adjustments done during the shoot.
Commercial ammo:
The good: Federal American Eagle 158gr JHP:
The Not-so-bad: CCI Blazer Brass 158gr JSP:
The Ugly: Winchester Super-X 125gr JHP:
Yah... three rounds didn't even hit the target, they were that high. We're seeing a 10 MOA spread, and that's the better of the two attempts I did with that ammo, the other one was 15+ MOA! Looking closely at the ammo showed terrible quality control: in some rounds, the crimp is over the cannelure. In some rounds, the entire cannelure is hidden inside the case, in some, it's entirely exposed, and some rounds didn't look crimped at all. WTF Winchester...
Reloaded ammo: All were loaded from Winchester once-fired brass, CCI 550 primer, the minimum charge of Hodgdon H110 powder for the bullet in question, at 1.590" OAL.
Load 1620: CamPro 125gr Full Copper Plated Truncated Cone (FCP TC) bullets @ $11/100:
Load 1621: CamPro 158gr FCP TC bullets @ $13/100:
Load 1622: Hornady 125gr XTP (JSP) bullets @ $35/100:
Load 1623: Hornady 158gr XTP (JSP) bullets @ $40/100:
One last comparison, 3 groups of 10 for loads 1621, 1622 and 1623. Note how the POI changes from left to right in the 1622 and 1623 loads! Any idea what causes that? Harmonics? They're both Hornady XTP JHP bullets, 125 and 158gr respectively.
Conclusions:
1. Winchester will kiss my naked rear end before I'll buy any of their ammo again.
2. I'm real happy not to have ordered a thousand CamPro bullets! I have less than 200 left of the 125gr crappy ones (maybe $15 worth) and it's going straight into the trash can.
3. Reloads will cost more, since I won't be using the cheapest stuff anymore. Annoying, but what's the fun in shooting with ammo that goes where it wants?
4. The Henry seems to prefer 158gr bullets, I'll be concentrating my reload on this weight.
Another post, same thread:
I thought about that, but there's one test I did with Winchester white box 110gr JSP that gave normal 3-6 MOA groups (normal for cheapo ammo, that is). Here's the picture of those shots. Aim point for the 110gr was the middle of the small diamonds on top, and the middle of the small diamonds on the bottom for Win Super-X 125gr.
I have hundreds of Hornady 110gr XTP bullets I'm getting for free from their "get loaded" promotion, so I'll be able to experiment a lot with that weight
I can't really give you a good recipe yet for plinking load, because I haven't really managed to find one yet... all my experiments have been with Hodgdon H110 powder with Campro and Hornady bullets, and I'll have to try other powders and bullets until I find what will become by "golden recipe".
Good luck!
I used a Cadwell "the rock" front rest and a Cadwell sand bag under the stock. When trying to test for accuracy of the ammo, I try to take myself out of the equation as much as I can.
All of those pictures are of targets at 49-50m distance and you're right: it's slightly insane. When I received the Henry, I bought five boxes of Win Super-X 125gr JHP because I knew I'd be re-using its brass to reload. After shooting four boxes of those and getting 10-20 MOA groups, I was getting rather despondent thinking that either the scope was broken or the rifle itself was a complete lemon. A Henry lemon? Unthinkable!
After about 200 rounds I discovered that one of the screws holding the scope mount to the receiver had come loose, so I reset them all again with some thread locker. And once I switched ammo to 158gr, that rifle really started to shine. I've consistently done 1.5 to 3.0 MOA groups of 5 shots at 100m with Federal Am Eagle 158gr JSP so I know it's not the gun, the scope or me after all. And ~2 MOA on a lever action using a pistol round? Oh yeah... I'm plenty happy with that!
I still haven't figured why the Hornady XTP 125gr shot to the left of the POA and the Hornady XTP 158gr shot to the right of it, though. You can see that with both types of targets that have loads 1622 and 1623 on them, and that really baffles me. I'm in the process of preparing a few more test loads and might go shoot them (with some .38spl to muddy the waters too) this weekend.
P.S. One thing I learned with this rifle is that .357mag generates a LOT of heat. If I empty the magazine (10 shots) in 30 seconds, I will feel the barrel heat right through the wood front guard, and I could burn myself very easily on the barrel. So much for wild cowboy action, lol! (just try to reload a Henry without touching the barrel, I dare ya!) So for all my ammo testing, I usually wait an easy 2 minutes between shots, and I often use a wet rag to help cool down the barrel faster.
Now after reading your full review I'm even more puzzled. What the heck.... I know 158gr are usually better for shooting a rifle than light bullets but still. And the heat you're talking about made me think really serious. I'm dying of curiosity to shoot your iron and see for myself. Not the accuracy issue but the heat one.
