moderate 357 loads

[gundownunder]

Hey y'all
I've just started shooting my new Marlin cowboy 357 and am in the process of collecting brass and other components and reloading gear.
In the meantime I'm shooting 158 gr Winchester factory ammo and keeping the brass. I find that the factory load is a bit too much oomph for target shooting when your going through 50 rounds at a time. What would be a good moderate powder for the 357? I know unique is good for mild loads and 2400 is good for stout, I guess I'm probably looking for something in the 1500 - 1600 fps range.
Thanks gentlemen.

Bob

[Luckyducker]

Hey Gundownunder, first let me say welcome to the forum.  A powder I have used in my 4" revolver for moderate loads is BlueDot.  I load this with a 158 grain LSWC and really like it, as it is a very predictable powder that can be loaded up or down within safe limits which is not so with H110 and to a lesser degree 2400.  I have never chronographed any loads for 357 and don't really know how much more velocity a rifle would give, but I am assuming quite a bit over a pistol.  I don't think this powder gets the credit or publicity it deserves.  I hadn't heard to much about BD but just loaded some up because I had nearly a full pound sitting on the shelf, having tried it in 38Spec where it was rather lackluster.  I know this is kind of against all logic but I loaded a few up with a heavier charge (12.5 grains) and the recoil was punishing but shot fairly accurately, so I backed the charge back to 10 grains and it really came together in that the recoil was mild and the accuracy was very good.

[Jerry Lester]

Here's a load that's exactly what you're looking for, and is very accurate to boot...

125g Remington SP or HP
CCI 550 primers
7.5g of Unique

This load will give you around 1500 fps give or take a little bit, and has proven very accurate in several Marlin, and Winchester 357 lever actions. It's got plenty of thump for critters up to about 40-50 pounds, and the recoil is very mild. It's a great all around load for anything short of deer sized game, and if you buy the bullets bulk from Midway, it's extremely cheap to shoot.

[Badnews Bob]

Try  titegroup or Lil'gun they work great with 125s for cowboy action shooting almost no recoil and plenty good for busting steel at close ranges. I think the 158 shoot more accurate at longer ranges thou. BTW I always use .357 cases, They feed better in my marlin.

[gundownunder]

Sorry guys, maybe a bit more info would help.
most of my shooting would be at 50 and 100 yards but our club is also looking at cowboy silly-wet so that will require shooting out to 200 yards. My bullets will be "westcastings" coated cast bullets, which are good to about 1900 fps and I figure I will stick with the 158 gr. Also I'm in Australia and I've been told that we cant get Lil gun over here so that's out too.
I don't know if you can get them in the US of A so if anyone wants to know what west castings stuff looks like have a look here
http://www.rpgfirearms.com.au/WESTCASTINGS.htm

Bob

[PaulS]

Gundownunder,
You are asking for moderate loads but you say you will be shooting between 50 and two hundred yards with a 158 grain bullet. I am just a little confused because I used to shoot NRA Hunter's Pistol with 357 mag and we were using hot loads (within normal loading pressures) to keep the trajectory decent at 100 yards for rams. I checked my ADI chart and the two powders that seem suitable for lead bullets are AP50N and AP70N. The best you can expect from AP70N with a 158 grain lead bullet is 1247 fps with a load of 6.2gr. My information does not show a load for a lead bullet with AR2205 which is a better powder for the 357 mag. The jacketed bullet load that is shown is 16.0 gr with a velocity of 1520 (from a 10 inch barrel) with a starting load of 14.5gr.
If you have data that shows a load for lead bullets using the AR2205 it would be your best choice. The load is likely to be lighter than the 16 gr for the jacketed bullet but will probably give similar or even higher velocity. I would not call 1500 fps 158 gr bullets a moderate load - I would consider it on the hot side with a 357. At that speed your bullet is probably going to stay faster than sound to nearly the 75 yard mark which means its 100 yard accuracy will be affected by transitional buffeting. The load that I was using left the 6" barrel of my revolver at 1646 fps and was great to 75 yards but lost it's accuracy between 75 and 100 yards. It was accurate enough to bring down about 90% of the rams at the 100 yard range but there were some misses that I could not blame on me.

I am surprised that AP100 is not listed in my information - it seems like a reasonable choice for your use.