Anyone have favorite loads for the short barrel .358? 180 gr X or 200 gr Remington? Any load would be welcomed. But I only need tested loads from a shooter as I have manuals to go from. Thanks in advance. Packrattusnongratus

Winchester case @ 2.015"
Sierra 158 gr JHC seated to 2.395 OAL
51 grains of IMR4064 (compressed charge)
no crimp - NO crimp
This one shoots sub caliber groups at 100 yards in my gun. .33" normal groups. It has fired into one ragged hole a few times.

Does ANYONE see anything wrong with this statement:

"This one shoots sub caliber groups at 100 yards in my gun. .33" normal groups. It has fired into one ragged hole a few times."

Kinda like the guy that said he could shoot 3 inch groups at 100 yards offhand with his revolvers and he could ocassinally hit a pop can too at that range.

Packrat...you didn't say how long the barrel is...and I'm not sure what you mean by "tested loads"...ALL loads in loading manuals are "tested" and what works in my rifle might not mean diddly in your rifle...you have to let YOUR rifle and targets tell you what the story is.

If anything I would use powders on the faster side of the burn rate chart...i.e., N200, VV 133, 4198 etc...for barrels in the 14-16" range and slightly faster as the barrel length increases.

Being a relatively large bore and short barrel with a low expansion rate, the normal powders for this 60 gr H2O capacity cartirdge may not work the best and cause a very large fireball exterior to the muzzle, of powder left unburned in the short barrel distance...hence the use of faster burning powder, plus the fact the pressure curve hasn't reached it's peak yet.

There are a whole lot of variables inherent in your question not the least of which is your unknown expertise in the reloading field.

Not sure which powders are available to you if you're really from North of the Zambesi.

You could also use 356 Win data for lever guns with their shorter 16-20" barrels as a guide.

'Njoy

Back to this. It is a lone Eagle. I think about "15 barrel. I just didn't want someone to quote a load from a book without ever having shot a 358 pistol! You know? Packy

no i don't see any thing wrong with the group measurement. typicaly in benchrest measurement the extreame spread is measured out side to outside and one bullet diameter is subtracted from the measurement. that is the size of the group.