.357 Magnum Handloading (158 grain plated HP + Lil' Gun) Part 1

***DISCLAIMER***

This post contains handloading data.  It was created for my firearms and may not be safe for general use.  I cannot be held responsible for misuse of this data or for typographical errors.  Use at your own risk!


(continued after the jump)

My goal with this project is to create a viable load for hunting (up to deer-size game) and possibly casual target shooting.  I chose the HSM Custom 158 grain plated hollow point bullets for this because they were inexpensive and will hopefully perform well enough on game.


As far as a powder choice, Lil' Gun seemed fairly obvious to me since it produces fairly high velocities in the .357 magnum, but with relatively modest pressure.  Because of this property, I decided to start with the Hodgdon "maximum" load of 18 grains behind a 158 grain jacketed bullet, which produces 25,800 CUP compared to a top load of H110 producing 40,700 CUP.  Plated bullets are somewhere between cast lead and jacketed bullets, so my load may produce even less pressure.


Now Hodgdon likes to use an atypically long test barrel and a universal receiver for their .357 magnum load data, so their max velocity of 1577 fps is pretty much smoke and mirrors.  I expect to get around 1100 fps with my 6" barreled Smith & Wesson model 66-2.  That's based on realistic load testing done in a recent edition of Handloader magazine.  If I feel the need to push beyond 18 grains (up to about 20 grains behind a 158 grain bullet), I won't be too afraid since this type of "pioneering" has been widely published, again in Handloader and in Rifle magazine, and because of the unique pressure characteristics observed with Lil' Gun.


Components used:

• Hodgdon Lil' Gun powder
• 158 grain plated hollow point bullets from HSM Custom
• Winchester small pistol magnum (WSPM) primers
• Federal once-fired brass

Here are the 42 rounds I loaded:

Some interesting notes on Lil' Gun vs. H110, a.k.a. why I didn't use H110, other than the fact that I don't own any H110:  

It turns out that H110 can exhibit incomplete ignition issues when using maximum loads with 158 grain (and probably heavier) bullets in the .357 magnum.  What does this mean?  It means that you may actually see higher velocity from a less-than-maximum load than a maximum load.  This apparently happens in spite of using magnum primers.  Lil' Gun can also exhibit this behavior with 180 grain bullets, which I intend to test first-hand at some point in the future.

Lessons learned...

This is what happens when you don't adjust your expander die all the way out before running brass through it.  The case on the left is the first one I ran through and the most damaged.  The case on the right is the second one, after I had adjusted the die out some of the way.  Now I know why there's a proper way to adjust dies.  I might try to recover these by using a case trimmer, but they'll probably only ever be used for plinker loads.