Bullet suggestions

[COLT45SA]

I have a rifle chambered in .38/.357 caliber with a 1:10 barrel twist. I'll be reloading for it. Can someone recommend or suggest a bullet, bullet weight, and powder for this rifle~?

 

[Fuj]

Lever or bolt gun ??

 

[DaveCo]

In the great internet tradition of not quite answering your question, I hope this is helpful;
I have a .35 Whelen with a 1:12 twist. I've had really good luck with Hornady XTPs, both 158 and 180, at anywhere from 1480 fps to 1800 fps. I don't know how hard you can push them in your gun, but I had no stabilization issues at any velocities over 1450.
Best of these loads was the 180s @1750. No recoil, Accurate out to 100yds, the kids and my wife enjoy it, and most important, I have a couple thousand of the 180s.
A couple of years ago, I had a Ruger 77/357, (don't recall the twist) and had good luck with max loads of H-110, and/or 2400, and the 158 XTPs.

Hope this helps some

Dave

 

[NZ_Fclass]

A couple of years ago, I had a Ruger 77/357, (don't recall the twist) and had good luck with max loads of H-110, and/or 2400, and the 158 XTPs.

Hope this helps some

Dave

Quite right mate - don't run the 357 with a light load - it is safe only with fairly dense loads. If you want light game loads use lead projectiles in 38 cases, with faster powders - as per a loading manual.

 

[COLT45SA]

Lever or bolt gun ??

Falling block single shot Winchester 1885 Low-wall

 

[COLT45SA]

I have a .35 Whelen with a 1:12 twist. I've had really good luck with Hornady XTPs, both 158 and 180, at anywhere from 1480 fps to 1800 fps. I don't know how hard you can push them in your gun, but I had no stabilization issues at any velocities over 1450.
Best of these loads was the 180s @1750. No recoil, Accurate out to 100yds, the kids and my wife enjoy it, and most important, I have a couple thousand of the 180s.
A couple of years ago, I had a Ruger 77/357, (don't recall the twist) and had good luck with max loads of H-110, and/or 2400, and the 158 XTPs.

Thanks. That's a pretty fast twist so the heavier bullets should be more accurae than the light ones. At least that's true in my .223.
My .223 with a 1:12 twist won't shoot anything over 55 gr accurately. If I had a 1:8 twist I could shoot up to 70 gr accurately.

 

[DaveCo]

Two comments:

Be careful shooting light 38 Special level loads. I had a couple of bullets barely exit (I saw them dribble out and hit the ground about 20 feet away). These were very light bullseye loads I used in revolvers. Also, the shorter 38 Special case caused/allowed a pretty bad carbon ring, pain to get clean, and caused clambering problems for .357 cases until cleaned up.

In your OP, you indicated a 1:10 twist. That should easily handle anything you'd want to load in a .357, even .35 Remington class bullets (assuming your rifle is throated long enough you can seat them and still have case capacity).

For just target shooting, the Hornady HAPs worked just as good as the XTPS. I haven't seen any of them for awhile, but they used to be a lot cheaper.

I never really played around much with cast other than the very light revolver loads (and never in the Whelen), but others have good luck with them. You might want to ask about that on the Cast Boolits forum.

Dave