Originally Posted by hatt
Originally Posted by Red91
Would your light .357 loads be on par with .38+P?
You can load .357 to any sensible lower power level you want. The joys of reloading. You can do it with pretty much any cartridge. I don't shoot many max effort .45-70. Most of mine are pleasant to shoot. 350 grain cast at 1500-1600.
I used to load a super nice little target load for .38, it was like 2.2 grains of WST under a standard 148g LSWC. It was like shooting a .22 in a K frame S&W, and it was accurate. Very nice, and cheap!
for a power load, a few years back I settled on the standard ".38 High- Velocity" load that Remington (I think?) developed for the S&W N-frame .38s. I found a sweet deal on a late '40s S&W .38/.44 "Heavy Duty" model - the gun Elmer Keith used to develop the .357. I learned the original factory loading was (not looking at the specs now) 11.0 (maybe 11.5) grains of 2400, under a 148gr. I load those with LSWC and they are a nice split between a very hot .38 and a hard-hitting .357.
It got into that as I had a girlfriend i rode horses with was very recoil sensitive (had carpal tunnel). I looked for the best round I could give her in a solid frame, since if things went wrong it was her gun that was going to save me.
So I had a vested interest in this. The old ".38 High Velocity" loads are really nice if you are in a modern .38 or a an older N-Frame .38 like the Heavy Duty or Outdoorsman.
Oh yeah, loading your own is fun!
Originally Posted by Red91
Would your light .357 loads be on par with .38+P?
You can load .357 to any sensible lower power level you want. The joys of reloading. You can do it with pretty much any cartridge. I don't shoot many max effort .45-70. Most of mine are pleasant to shoot. 350 grain cast at 1500-1600.
I used to load a super nice little target load for .38, it was like 2.2 grains of WST under a standard 148g LSWC. It was like shooting a .22 in a K frame S&W, and it was accurate. Very nice, and cheap!
for a power load, a few years back I settled on the standard ".38 High- Velocity" load that Remington (I think?) developed for the S&W N-frame .38s. I found a sweet deal on a late '40s S&W .38/.44 "Heavy Duty" model - the gun Elmer Keith used to develop the .357. I learned the original factory loading was (not looking at the specs now) 11.0 (maybe 11.5) grains of 2400, under a 148gr. I load those with LSWC and they are a nice split between a very hot .38 and a hard-hitting .357.
It got into that as I had a girlfriend i rode horses with was very recoil sensitive (had carpal tunnel). I looked for the best round I could give her in a solid frame, since if things went wrong it was her gun that was going to save me.
Oh yeah, loading your own is fun!