Please post your favorite bullet/powder combo. Yes, I have reloading manuals---just wanting to see exactly what others have for their pet loads. The revolver is a Dan Wesson with all barrels, shooting to 125 yds, (coyote, deer, hogs).
.357 Magnum 6 and 8" hunting loads
- Thread starter BERTMAN77MK2
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I have used a 125 Speer soft point in front of 20 grains of H110 for 30 years. Winchester 296 is now the same powder. Start low and work up, watching your groups. I would choose accuracy over velocity. Back in the day, a lot of hollow points were too flimsy to hold up to a deer bone. I hear good things about the XTP's though.
For deer my favorite .357 load is a Ruger .45 Long Colt with a 250 gr Keith type Gas check bullet. I tried .357 but too many ran too far. For smaller animals I use the Lyman 158 grain hard cast Gas Check #358156 with 17 grains of 296. JMHO
I found a good compromise in the 140 gr. XTP. It seems to work for almost everything, not too light- not too heavy. Load it with a close to max. charge of 296.
Just wanted to add a little twist to the thread instead of starting a new one, I'm using 17.5 g h110 under 160 g hornadys I had laying around. The twist is I didn't have any small pistol primers and just used some cci small rifle primers. Works great with no signs of pressure at that charge. Shooting a ruger gp 100 6 inch barrel.
Best loads for revolver and Marlin .357 Magnum rifle has been using Hornady 158 XTP's with Accurate #9 powder using near maximum data from Accurate Arms reloading data available on-line or in their manuals. I've had better results using AA#9 than any other powder in 357 Magnum with full power loads. I agree with WitchHunter above that I'd choose accuracy over maximum velocity.
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