Loading for a 357 magnum Rossi

[Jack Brown]

Load development. Do you typically spend effort working up a liar like one would for a bigger center fire rifle like a 308? Or do you mainly look for a load that works smoothly and safely?

I'm not likely to shoot anything much beyond 100 yards.

Reloading would be for fun and a vanishingly small chance of short range deer hunting. Really, really low chance of that. Would also be a means of practice for using commercial defense loads in a house gun.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

[earlmck]

The .357 Rossi is such a fun gun to shoot that you mainly want a cheap-to-load, reasonably accurate (minute of tin-can) load that feeds nicely. You may have already discovered that the Rossi can be very length-sensitive for good feeding. Once you have a nice bullet of the round or round-flat nose variety that'll feed nicely picked out you figure out the length your rifle likes (mine likes factory length .357 and doesn't like them any longer or much shorter) and load up a small variety of loads and see how she shoots. Should be something there you like and then you load up a bunch and then empty them out.

Later on, if you decide to try for that deer you may want to use a more expensive bullet or a heavier cast bullet (depending on you philosophy of these things) and so you might work up a hunting load that could be somewhat stouter than your "fun load".

[Old Ironsights]

For Whompum, either get the Buffalo Bore 180gr WFN or use the "Junior Load" from Castbullets.com.

That load will take whitetails out to 100yds without a blink.

Outside of that? Cheap is good...

[AJMD429]

1. for rarely-used, but utterly-depended-on 'Home Defense' loads, which don't have to shoot long range to a precise aiming-point, I'd stick with whatever factory loads feed FLAWLESSLY and are reasonably designed for 2-legged predators (with potentially thick clothing, and keeping in mind a miss could endanger neighbors or loved-ones with some bullet designs). Your RELOADING will help you determine what bullet profile and overall length feeds best (because only with reloading will you shoot the huge volumes needed to determine if 1-of-100 vs. 1-of-1,000 failures happen with a particular bullet/length.

2. DEFINITELY you should reload, even if you just get a Lee 'Classic Loader' ("mallet") kit, or a small handheld-press, or bench-mounted stuff. It is NOT complicated unless you want it to be (i.e. are reloading for benchrest shooting, etc.). The 357 Mag may be about the easiest cartridge around to load, and there is a HUGE amount of load data for that cartridge (AmmoGuide.com lists 664 at the moment, plus any load for 38 Special will be safe [may not feed well though]).

3. I never (or almost never ) use a 'load' that is not within published FACTORY ranges, from either a powder, bullet, or primer manufacturer. On the rare occasions I violate that protocol, it is with some wildcat cartridge there is no 'official' data for, but with 357 Magnum, you'd have to try really hard to find a powder/bullet combination that someone hasn't published data for.

4. Length/feeding issues (easily solvable with adjustment of your seating die) are more of an issue for some leverguns than revolvers, but aside from that, leverguns are strong, and very forgiving of minor reloading issues. The 'double-charge' or 'wrong-powder' stuff can blow up any gun in any chambering, but it would be hard to find a better/safer one to reload for than 357 Magnum.

5. If you stick with 'moderate' loads, you will

• a) get WAY more firings out of your brass before it starts cracking
  b) have more fun because there will be less noise and recoil
  c) likely find a more accurate load than if you're always pushing the top-end
  d) use up less powder and get to shoot more
  e) have a gun/load that other people enjoy shooting more
  f) thereby potentially recruiting more 'shooting buddies' from otherwise non-shooters, and
  g) have loads that are STILL quite adequate for home defense

6. You might like my post on my 'Rossi Night Scout' project; it (and a couple Marlin equivalents) has become our family's "Go-To" firearm for around the home/farm, because it literally can do about anything we'd realistically need a firearm to do, day or night, without the (literally) deafening prospect of firing an AR-15 outside without hearing protection, or most handguns inside the house. Pertinent to your "load" question, although this one is in 45 Colt, we keep 'cowboy' loads in it (the relatively light/mild loads used in 'Cowboy Action Shooting'), because although 'mild', such loads are plenty able to deal with any bipedal psychopaths that get past the dogs/doors/alarms, as well as the more-often-encountered barnyard predators that come after eggs, chickens, goats, or our pets, WITHOUT the muzzle-blast and deafening ear-damage you'd get from 'top-end' high-velocity loads.

• Rossi 'Night Scout' thread - viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31062

7. Welcome to Leverguns...!

[piller]

My Rossi is not in .357, but I can vouch for the fact that they are all a little bit sensitive to overall length. Once I understood that, then I really had no trouble with it at all.

[mikld]

FWIW; I don't have different quality loads for any of my guns. I do the best I can with each load no matter if it's intended purpose is "plinking", hunting, target, or defense. I use the same "strategy" for my .38 Special as I do for my 30-06; find the best load with the components I've chosen.

Since I shoot mainly lead, and very rarely buy factory ammo, I always load the most accurate, most reliable load I can. For my Puma (.44 Mag.) I like a Ranch Dog 240 or 265 grain RNFP, and I find my most accurate loads are just a bit over half way up the scale (like mebbe 1,000-1,100 fps as per my manuals). For me this serves two purposes; one, less loads/components to inventory, and I can grab any load off my shelf and know it's about as good as I can get...

BTW; I have a few "pet"" loads for each gun, each bullet, and each is fairly good, no so-so "plinking", "just burning powder" loads. Works for me and I got the time...

[AJMD429]

I pick the most 'critical' firearm I have in each cartridge, in terms of accuracy, then try to develop a load that best maximizes THAT gun's potential. Usually, all the 'lesser' guns just have to suck-it-up, and suffer along using that load. Maybe if I had more time...

[Jack Brown]

You may have already discovered that the Rossi can be very length-sensitive for good feeding.

That's good to know about. Thanks.

Sorry the reply took so long. Work, etc...

- Jack

[Jack Brown]

1. for rarely-used, but utterly-depended-on 'Home Defense' loads, which don't have to shoot long range to a precise aiming-point, I'd stick with whatever factory loads feed FLAWLESSLY and are reasonably designed for 2-legged predators (with potentially thick clothing, and keeping in mind a miss could endanger neighbors or loved-ones with some bullet designs).

Yeah, factory fodder for any "social" rounds.

2. DEFINITELY you should reload, even if you just get a Lee 'Classic Loader' ("mallet") kit, or a small handheld-press, or bench-mounted stuff. It is NOT complicated unless you want it to be (i.e. are reloading for benchrest shooting, etc.).

Heh. My reloading has, to this point, been more to the varminting/near bench rest end do the spectrum. My wife says that it's a good thing I like doing all the brass prep things I do in front of the TV.

The 357 Mag may be about the easiest cartridge around to load, and there is a HUGE amount of load data for that cartridge (AmmoGuide.com lists 664 at the moment, plus any load for 38 Special will be safe [may not feed well though]).

Neat looking site. Thanks!

6. You might like my post on my 'Rossi Night Scout' project;

Yep, I've seen that. Nifty.

- Jack

[Jack Brown]

FWIW; I don't have different quality loads for any of my guns. I do the best I can with each load no matter if it's intended purpose is "plinking", hunting, target, or defense. I use the same "strategy" for my .38 Special as I do for my 30-06; find the best load with the components I've chosen.

Hm. I guess I didn't phrase my question as well as I could have. I think I was aiming at more of a "how finicky do I need to get" kind of thing. Do you test loads at every 0.2 to 0.3 grains to find velocity nodes or try a few across the min-max range for a bullet/powder combination and just pick what seems good therein?

Thanks.

- Jack

[retmech]

I would simply pick a bullet weight that I wanted to use and a velocity I wanted to run at and load to that velocity. One thing to keep in mind is that most .38/.357 loads show handgun velocities in the manuals. Your rifle will run faster with the same loads. Powders such as 231,unique etc you will gain 200-250 fps over the handgun. Powders such as 2400,296,H110 more like 400-450 fps over handgun velocities.

[mikld]

FWIW; I don't have different quality loads for any of my guns. I do the best I can with each load no matter if it's intended purpose is "plinking", hunting, target, or defense. I use the same "strategy" for my .38 Special as I do for my 30-06; find the best load with the components I've chosen.

Hm. I guess I didn't phrase my question as well as I could have. I think I was aiming at more of a "how finicky do I need to get" kind of thing. Do you test loads at every 0.2 to 0.3 grains to find velocity nodes or try a few across the min-max range for a bullet/powder combination and just pick what seems good therein?

Thanks.

- Jack

Well Jack, for me it depends on the cartridge. With my revolver/carbine ammo I'll start off in 1/2 grain increments. When a load looks promising, I'll refine the loads to within .3 grains and try a bunch on a few different occasions/shooting sessions. When I get a good load, I call that my "target load" (not an actual target shooting load, but the load I'm aiming for), and usually relax my tolerances and throw charge, checking/weighing every 5th charge.

With my "good rifle" loads, I get a little more OCD...