357 Magnum loads

[OldmaninNeb]

I got a Taurus 627 that I'm more than pleased with, and as I got into reloading it, I've come across something confusing. for the 158gr. bullet, there's this big breakdown on type. jacketed hollowpoint, lead hollowpoint, xtp, each of these have their own powders/builds/etc.... what's with that? Why would a powder that worked with a 158grain bullet work pretty well with all of them?

also, totally un familiar with 'crimp' and it's place in reloading... any help understanding that?

Thanks,
Gary

 

[EMorr]

I will answer your second question first. A roll crimp is important for revolvers, especially those with heavy recoil, if you do not have adequate crimp the bullet can move forward in the case under recoil and lock the cylinder in place.

On to your first question which I may not entirely understand. If you are asking why different reloading manuals show different powders used with bullets of the same weight but different construction (i.e. Speer shows a load using BlueDot and Hornady does not.) The answer may be as simple as in this fictional scenario Hornady did not feel that BlueDot was an acceptable powder for the application and therefore did not test it, or they did test the powder but it did not produce acceptable results and therefore no data was published.

If you were asking why the same manual shows bullets of the same weight but differing construction with different powders used. The answer would again be most either the powder was not tested because it was determined to be less than optimal or was tested but the results were not really worth publishing.

Now none of this means that you cannot use a certain powder even if there is no published data, just find data for a bullet that most closely matches the profile you are using, start at the minimum charge for your selected powder and as always slowly work up.

 

[No1]

Manufactuers don't always test every available powder for every bullet for every cartridge. That would be expensive.
I'm also not exactly sure what you are specifically asking, but I'll offer this-
Different bullets take up more or less case capacity depending on design. If one bullet design seats even .050" deeper in the case you have reduced the volume available for the powder and you will see more pressure generated. i.e. in a 44 mag case .050" is equal to about 7% case capacity. For some loads there is as little as 5% load density difference between the starting and Maximum load.
Lead bullets push easier than jacketed also, some bullet makers don't publish data for lead bullets going much beyond 1000fps even though it is completely safe to do so.

For a revolver, you only need enough crimp to keep the bullet from backing out under recoil. Load a cylinder full, shoot the first 5, assuming a six shooter. Remove the 6th from the cylinder and check to see if the bullet moved.
With full magnum loadings you may need a heavy crimp, but a lot depends on case tension too. For lighter loads, not so much crimp is required.

 

[OldmaninNeb]

Hey Thanks all.

 

[sourdough44]

Yes, crimp as required. For that gun I'd just load up some mid level charges with a medium speed powder & have at it. No sense to be hard on the gun if not needed. I usually load a mid charge of H Universal for my 357s.

If need be I have win 296 & 185 grn Beartooth bullet loads for the serious stuff.