Author Topic: 357 fragmenting (Read 707 times)

Moe · « **on:** August 15, 2003, 12:28:09 PM »

Guys, do you shoot .357 pistol bullets at higher velocitys? Like, lets say Hornady XTP's of any weight, preferably 158 gr or lower, at .357 Herrett or 35 Rem speed. Do they come apart at those speeds? Thinking of about 2200fps range. Let me know of your experience. Thanks :shock:

PaulS · « **Reply #1 on:** August 15, 2003, 04:13:52 PM »

Moe,
I use Sierra 158 grain JHC bullets in my .358 Winchester at over 2500 FPS and the not only hold together but shoot consitent groups of .33 inch!
I wouldn't shoot them into anything bigger than a small dog at that velocity but you can't complain about the accuracy.

PaulS

Moe · « **Reply #2 on:** August 17, 2003, 06:48:36 AM »

No other takers on this question? Some of you must have knowledge of this. :oops:

jhalcott · « **Reply #3 on:** August 17, 2003, 03:01:45 PM »

HEY MOE,THIS AIN'T LARRY!!!
Why are you asking this ? Are you having fragmentation problems? If the bullets are fragmenting,it might be a problem with the barrel.I have shot lighter bullets thru a 35 remington barrel with out a problem. jh

Dragon31 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 18, 2003, 03:20:29 AM »

I've pushed 125 grain JHP, Star brand bullets at over 2200 fps and have had no trouble.

kciH · « **Reply #5 on:** August 18, 2003, 03:52:32 AM »

Hornady XTP bullets come with a velocity chart in the box of bullets. You could call Hornady and ask them the velcity level that the bullets are intended for. That said, you would not want to be shooting deer sized game with a bullet designed to shoot people at .357 Mag velocities and depend on it for reliable performance and penetration.

Moe · « **Reply #6 on:** August 18, 2003, 08:06:10 AM »

Thanks for the replys guys. All good answers. I am thinking of getting a .358GNR Encore barrel. This is a Reeder barrel .445SM necked to .357. I want to shoot pistol bullets from it and was concerned about the bullets coming apart at speed. Maybe I need to consider what bullet I should shoot or what critters. Reeder says his favorite bullet is the 160gr sillywet bullet(can't remember the brand).Thats all

kciH · « **Reply #7 on:** August 18, 2003, 08:15:16 AM »

Moe,
If you had Gary cut the chamber for it, you could possibly use the Hornady 180gr SSP, Single Shot Pistol, bullet to good effect on deer sized game. The bullet is .358 instead of .357, but I've been using it with good results in the .357 Maximum for a number of years. You would still be able to use the lighter pisol bullets for vermin.

Javelina · « **Reply #8 on:** August 18, 2003, 02:02:09 PM »

Hi Moe,

As you know, I've got the 41 GNR #2 and have spun Sierra 170's up to way over 2,600 fps and they stay together with no problems. You might want to call Gary when he gets back from Africa and ask him how the 358 GNR twist rate compares with the 41 GNR #2 to get an idea of what might happen to lighter weight bullets. Ask Gary if his ballistician has tried the lower weight bullets in the 358 GNR, he's a ballistician so he should know. They just finished working on some new ballistics data for several cartridges, the 358 GNR may be one of them.

You will undoubtedly find that the 358 GNR has a lot of flexibility with loads and can be loaded back if you need to do that - I've loaded up and loaded down with my 41 GNR #2 just to test it and it seems to do fine no matter where I load it. You can always use Lil Gun and H4227 as alternates to H110 if you have some concern about reduced loads with H110 - I've used both the Lil Gun and H4227 very successfully. Personally, my guess is that you will probably not have any trouble with bullets coming unwrapped since generally the twist rates on the pistol cartridges are a lot slower than in most of the chambers for rifle cartridges. If they come unwrapped, load down a little for less velocity - it shouldn't be a problem to find suitable loads for the bullet you are using.

Safe and good shooting to you.

Javelina