hunting load for .357 BB

[Capt steve]

I have been experimenting with several loads involving different loads of different powder with 158 gr bullets. I have loaded berry 158 gr round nose, Xtreme 158 gr hollow points, xtp 158 gr,and lazer cast rn fp 158 gr hard cast.The powder I have used are HP 38, Titegroup, and H-110.For what it's worth, Xtreme suggested that the 158 gr hp would be a great choice since it had the thickest plating. As a matter of fact, they all shot well and most loads with the hp38 and titegroup showed somewhere between 1050 and 1250 fps through my chronograph depending on the powder type and volume.All well then good but the fps and resultant muzzle energy aren't really what I would like as a hunting load. Hopefully I will get a chance to shoot some hogs in the future as soon as I can find a place that I can afford to do so. So, I looked up some mas rapido loads using the XTP 158 gr bullet. The charts showed that I could use anywhere from 15-16.7 grains with a small pistol magnum primer. and that I could get anywhere from 1418-1591 fps. That is a whole lot better. So, I settled on 15.4 gr of H110 with the 158 gr xtp. I went to the range with all the different loads I had and set out to do a bit of comparison. The H110 is slower burning and after I shot the lower velocity loads, I dropped in a few of the big guys. Shooting metal at 25 yds, there was a hell of a difference in how the plate reacted when I hit it with the XTP load. Pretty neat, but I wanted to see how accurate the load was since if you couldn't hit something, it doesn't matter how fast the bullet is moving. So, I got out my rest and sat down to see what they would do. I fired off 6 rounds and looked down range with my spotting scope at the target. I could only see 1{one} hole! I thought, well, maybe the other 5 missed the target ,so I fired another round at another target and it hit right where I aimed. Upon closer examination, I discovered that the single hole was about .45 caliber. That means that 6 shots from a rest actually went through the same hole! I never did that before! That is pretty damn accurate. Not only was the round very powerful, but super accurate. I know what I will load for those hogs for sure! I wanted to share this so others coud try the same thing in their Henry. I have never owned a pistol caliber rifle that is as accurate out of the box as this Henry. Gotta love it!

[JEBar]

I settled on 15.4 gr of H110 with the 158 gr xtp.

we settled on 15.9 gr of H110 pushing a Nosler 158 gr JHP .... our results have been similar to yours

[Bugs]

The Nosler JHP sounds like a good choice. For a hunting load where you want to push it fast plated bullets IMHO are a poor choice.

[JEBar]

there several very good different brands of bullets out there, all of which will do the job .... a few decades ago bullet design underwent some major technological advances .... in today's world, communications ensure that any company producing shoddy bullets would be out of business pretty quickly ... I tend to judge bullets by how they perform out in the woods .... are Nosler bullets really superior to those of their major competitors, I can't say because I haven't tried any other brands since the mid '60's ....

[Steve51]

I handload and the only load I shoot from my Henry BBS .357 is a 158 grain Hornady XTP JHP over 14.5 grains of Alliant 2400. Zeroed at 50yds with Skinner rear sight. Shoots about 3/4" low at 25 yds and about 2 1/2" low at 100 yds. Everything I shoot falls within that range.

I just hate that my supply of Alliant 2400 is running very thin and can't find it anywhere around here.

[clovishound]

I've mentioned this before, but bears repeating here. I ran some American Eagle 158 grain soft points over the chronograph from my BB steel 20"barrel. They registered at 1800 fps. Better than anything I could get from handloads. I think the soft point would be great for hogs. If you are really into high MVs, check out Buffalo Bore. They have some impressive stats. Beware, that is some Hot ammo.

The nice thing about the American Eagle is that it should be readily available locally most places.

[Bugs]

I handload and the only load I shoot from my Henry BBS .357 is a 158 grain Hornady XTP JHP over 14.5 grains of Alliant 2400. Zeroed at 50yds with Skinner rear sight. Shoots about 3/4" low at 25 yds and about 2 1/2" low at 100 yds. Everything I shoot falls within that range.

I just hate that my supply of Alliant 2400 is running very thin and can't find it anywhere around here.

I'm using the exact same load with a Montana Gold 158gn bullet. Got some nice groups with that load.