Light 357 Lead Rifle Loads

Sapper33

Sapper33

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I'm trying to be able to load 1 357 load that will work in both my Ruger NV and my 16" Barreled Winchester 94.

In my pistol so far I've been using Spear 158gr LSWC over 3.8gr of 231 and Win Mag Sm pistol primers in a .38Spl Case. However my Spear manual doesn't list any loads for that bullet in their rifle section, my Lyman manual doesn't have any slow loads either.

I'm sure I'm going to have to go faster, and probably up to a 357 Case for proper cycling in the rifle. However I'm aiming to stay under 1000fps.
 
I'm doing the same thing for cowboy shooting. Your .38 loads you listed will work just fine in the rifle. The velocity will be a little higher because the bullet has more time under pressure to accelerate. From reading this seems to be somewhere around 80 to 100 fps faster from the longer rifle barrel compared to the revolver performance.

I also loaded some magnum cases to see how well they fed compared to the Special cases. Due to the extra volume I went with a 0.4 grain increase for my Bullseye charge in an effort to match the pressures from the .39Spl loads. This resulted in a load that was not even up to the minimum for Bullseye for magnums. But it shot just fine this past weekend at our first club shoot. A nice soft recoil which from this I'm sure is well within the CAS limits.

As it turns out I was doing some chrono testing just tonight for my 9mm loads for IPSC. While it was set up I shot everything I had with me through it for giggles. The cowboy load rounds out of my S&W Model 10 shot at 760 fps give or take 7 or 8 fps. These rounds were actually loaded to shoot from my Model 10 to match POI to POA of the fixed sights. I then tested them in my cowboy revolvers and filed the front sights down to make the Model 10 optimum loads so the ballistics won't be far off when shot from either the 10 or my two Pietta '73's.

So the same load out of my rifle is maybe 800 to 850? More likely around 800'ish. The Magnum loads I shot felt around the same as the Special loads so I'm certian they are still well under the top limit and almost certainly are not over 900 fps.

I've got more 9mm test loading and shooting to do to zero in on my IPSC load recipe. I think I'll try the rifle with these rounds to see what the difference really is.
 
Good to hear. I was concerned because the Spear manual specifically stated that anything less than what they listed in the rifle section may not have enough "ummph" to avoid getting lodged in the barrel.

I'll give them a shot, thanks
 
The load you mention should not be a concern.
Doesn't hurt to pay attention the first box you go through that none sound funny or stick but its not likely unless you cut it back more than that.
 
light 375 load

as one of the others said if it will work in your pistol your rifle will be able to handle it without any problems . when I buy powder I always ask for a book pretaining to what ever powder I'm useing . be it powder from Winchester IMR etc .

I feel they do thier own testing so I like to use thier specs for loading . I also have a Lyman reloading book from many years ago .you said your going to keep your loads under 1000fps . thats a good idea unless you want to clean out lead . in my marlin I have micro groove rifleing so I only shoot copper washed bullets out of it or jacketed.
 
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