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158 Gr. RN Speer in 357 Mag?

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25 January 2003, 06:52
M Watkins
158 Gr. RN Speer in 357 Mag?
I'm starting to reload for a friend's 357 and he wanted to use 158 Gr. Speer Round nose bullets. I've reloaded a lot of hard cast bullets for my own pistols, but the speer is a softer alloy. Should I keep the velocity below 1000 FPS? I don't know if speer lubes their bullets or do I need to lube them? The bullets don't appear to have any lube on them.
I would like to use Green Dot since that's what I have on hand. I found a load for a 158 Gr. LSWC that calls for 6.0 Grs. and probuces 1,240 fps, but I think that's a little fast for the soft bullets I intend to use.
I don't know if it is a good idea to reduce the load or not.

If you have used Speer's cast bullets or Green Dot Powder in your pistols please let me know how it worked out for you.

Thanks
25 January 2003, 07:11
Paul Brasky
Mathew, I've successfully used Green Dot (Hercules) in my .357 mags with 161gr. cast bullets, specifically RCBS' Keith design. 5gr. will give me 1,024fps in my 4.5" bbl. Ruger Blackhawk when roll crimped. Accuracy is excellent. 6gr. G. Dot, which the various loading manuals said was not quite maximum, proved to be too hot for both my revolvers.