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which powder for light 357 mag
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ok about to buy powder to load 357 mags light 158gr bullits want a versatile powder for 357 and 44 mag was thinking of unique
any suggestions these loads will be for practice not full power


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Posts: 1026 | Location: UPSTATE NY | Registered: 08 December 2002Reply With Quote
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Bullseye.


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Posts: 147 | Location: Alaska | Registered: 03 February 2003Reply With Quote
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Can't go wrong with unique...
 
Posts: 104 | Registered: 07 March 2005Reply With Quote
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Unique, AA#5, Blue Dot, and 2400 will serve you well. Unique would probably be my 1st choice followed by 2400.
 
Posts: 3889 | Registered: 12 May 2005Reply With Quote
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win 231-these loads will be for practice not full power
 
Posts: 1681 | Registered: 15 October 2006Reply With Quote
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I've found unique and 240 to be dirty burning. Since I normally load 357 and 44 mags with WW296, I burn WW231 for the lower power practice loads. But I was swayed by their $4 per container rebate at the time.
 
Posts: 4799 | Location: Lehigh county, PA | Registered: 17 October 2002Reply With Quote
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I'd go with unique myself.

Dirty? What? Are you trying to avoid cleaning after use?

If you are goijn to to clean your firearm anyway it's a "who cares?" issue.

Frankly I'd rather have copious ammounts of soft easily removed fouling than even a miniscule ammount of harder more difficult to remove dirt.

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Posts: 4601 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: 21 March 2005Reply With Quote
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When you say "light" do you mean a med. vel. load or a low vel. load? I like Unique for med. vel. loads. It burns clean as long as you run near the higher end of the pressure range. For really light loads, it will be "dirty".


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Posts: 7752 | Location: kalif.,usa | Registered: 08 March 2001Reply With Quote
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when i say light i'm saying probally med power llight for practice want to introduce a friend to shooting also and if not hard on his wrist he will enjoy it more and maybe become a handgun fan but mostly for myself


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Posts: 1026 | Location: UPSTATE NY | Registered: 08 December 2002Reply With Quote
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I'm another Unique fan. It just works so well in the 357. It is also quite a good powder for other pistol cartridges, and makes a great shotgun load, too. It's probably the most used powder in my reloading stock.


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Posts: 8421 | Location: adamstown, pa | Registered: 16 December 2003Reply With Quote
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There are many. I like Herco or Bluedot.

Hodgdon Lil' Gun is a good one if you want to get some speedy loads.

Good Luck

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Posts: 4146 | Location: North Louisiana | Registered: 18 February 2004Reply With Quote
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When I started reloading for my .357 Magnum, I used 2400 on the advice of my mentor at the time. He felt, for a beginning reloader, the risk of a double charge was reduced by using a powder of lower energy density. Also, he was a rifle shooter and was more comfortable with 2400.

After I calculated how much powder I was using per shot, and saw how much unburned powder I was leaving in the barrel, I switched to Bullseye. But I switched away from that for safety because Bullseye has an extremely high energy density (a little makes a BIG bang) and a little variation, I thought, could be dangerous. I was being over-cautious, but that is better than under-cautious. I had good results (i.e. lots of fun plinking)

So, I switched to Unique for decades and have been very happy in both .357 and .44 magnums as well as .45ACP and 9mm.

Almost all my loads are very light (though I have never chronographed them), the .45 barely cycles my action and is noticably lighter than commercial hardball and the .357 is very much lighter than full-house .357 store-bought cartridges and does not reliably cycle the action of my Coonan .357 Magnum. I figure they are about equal to or less powerful than an ordinary .38 special. They are all fun to plink with. And the cast lead (non-gas-checked) bullets do not lead my barrels.

I have a similar question. I want to load .454 Casull and .500 Smith & Wesson to about 800 fps with 225 grain to 300 grain bullets. The 500 Smith has a 4" barrel and the 454 Casull is a Super Redhawk with a 7.5" barrel. I will consult a loading manual for the amount to use, but I have no idea what powder to use, if not Unique. These are very large cases and I suspect the burning characteristics of powders other than Unique might be better. There have been a lot of new powders since the last time I checked and need to back in the groove. Any advice would be appreciated.

In the interest of not taking the focus away from the .357/.44 original question, I will be starting a new thread on this forum with this question.

Larry (Lost Sheep)

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Posts: 312 | Registered: 02 February 2008Reply With Quote
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i use hp 38 similar to win 231; i can use it in 44 spl, 45 colt, 45 acp, 38 spl and 32 long with good results. hogdon universal is a good replacement for unique.
 
Posts: 94 | Registered: 07 February 2005Reply With Quote
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