Pandemic Reloading

[Headhog]

Back at the beginning of September I added a Henry BBS in 357 Mag. to my safe. Followed a few weeks later by a Rossi R92 in 357 Mag. These two have quickly become my favorite range play guns. But with the current lack of components feeding them has been a problem. Cast hi-tech coated bullets are available, but powder, primers and brass are scarce as hen's teeth. I have a good stock of primers and decided to use the brass and powders I have on hand to create loads.

I have very little 357 Mag brass (about 300 rounds), but I have a lot of 38 Spl. brass from my past shooting life. So my experiments revolve around loading 38 Spl. which work well in both rifles. So below I cover 3 loads that work very well in these 2 rifles:

Load "A":
38 Spl. Case (38 Spl pressure.)
158 Gr Missouri RNFP
6.4 gr. Vihtavouri N340
Winchester WSP primer
COL 1.535"
Chrono. Henry BBS: 1140.7 fps, SD 33.9, ES 83.2 fps
Chrono. Rossi R92: 1202.1 fps, SD 35.5, ES 88.9 fps

Load "B":
38 Spl Case (38 Spl pressure)
158 gr. Missouri RNFP
6.4 gr. Vihtavouri N340
Winchester WSP primer
COL 1.475"
Chrono. Henry BBS: 1184.9 fps, SD 21.1, ES 45.6 fps
Chrono. Rossi R92: 1237.6 fps, SD 26.4, ES 63.0 fps

Load "C"
38 Spl. Cause (38 Spl +P pressure)
158 gr. Missouri RNFP
5.8 gr. Alliant Power Pistol
Federal #100 primer
COL 1.455"
Chrono. Henry BBS: 1158.6 fps, SD 2.2, ES 5.7 fps
Chrono. Rossi R92: 1183.2 fps, SD 11.9, ES 29.6 fps

All three of these loads perform outstanding in both rifles. As you can see the Rossi produces lightly more velocity for the same load, but with greater standard deviation and extreme spread. Unfortunately load "C" is in the history books because I'm out of Power Pistol powder for now.

Each of these loads produce the same group size out to 50 yds. I have not tested any of them beyond that distance. Overall I prefer load "C" which I tweaked from Fortyshooter's suggestion of 5.5 gr. Power Pistol. After I finish my last 200 rounds of load "C" I will continue with load "B" since I have about 2.5 pounds of the N340 left.

One thing I noted is that load "A & B" are identical except for bullet seating depth. Load "B" is seated 0.060" deeper and produces better ES and SD numbers in both rifles. My guess is more consistent powder burning.

Finally if you decide to reproduce load "C, it is a +P load and should only be used in a firearm rated for 38 Spl +P or 357 Magnum loads.

Paul

[JEBar]

well organized info .... thanks for posting it

[fortyshooter]

Great comparison and write up Headhog! Think I have one pound left of Power Pistol and thankfully I have quite a bunch already loaded in .38 Special. My shortcoming is primers now with only Magnums to use but so far testing shows no difference in FPS or accuracy. Have a plenty of Unique though for .38 Special if I need it.

[BigAl52]

Check gunbroker and I bet you can find some brass on there. You may need to look a bit but I bet you might find some.

[fortyshooter]

Was watching a Youtube video of the CEO of Federal and how they are handling ammo production.
https://youtu.be/KIgvoJKovIg

[Rifletom]

That's a very good write up Headhog. I've never chronyed my .38 spl loads thru my Henry, only my .357's, which I don't recall the fps right now.
Will you be chronying .357 later? Thanks and have a Merry Christmas.

[Headhog]

That's a very good write up Headhog. I've never chronyed my .38 spl loads thru my Henry, only my .357's, which I don't recall the fps right now.
Will you be chronying .357 later? Thanks and have a Merry Christmas.

RT thanks and to answer I will be doing some more chrono work with 357 Mag loads. Also I have some 357 Mag data from the first loads I made using Nosler jacketed bullets. I’ll dig that data out and post it here in reloading.

A very Merry Christmas to you.

Paul

[Ernie]

You might check Diamondkbrass. They had some 357 brass last week.