158 swc woes.

[Nightshift82]

I am having a hard time getting 158 SWC's to shoot tighter than a shotgun pattern out of my henry big boy. I have used 2400, Unique and just recently titegroup. Can someone shed some light on their process? I have used DG coated .358 and Brazos .358 bullets in all cases.

The rifle shoots great with 158 jacketed bullets that I have loaded up and shoots the HSM 158 SWC cowboy factory loads well also. So I am convinced it has to do with my handloads and not the rifle.

[JEBar]

first, welcome to our forum .... delighted to have you join us .... we have bunches of folks reloading 357's, I'm sure you will have several replies .... be sure to follow the link below to where you can add your Henry to our community's total .... also take a look at the Forum News area at the drawing we have going .... you have plenty of time to qualify to enter


http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 97#p187197

[BigAl52]

Welcome to the forum. Have you checked those bullets you are using to make sure they are sized accordingly?

[leverjc]

Welcome to the forum. Maybe some more detail about your loads.

[Nightshift82]

My latest attempt was a range of 4.1-4.9 grains of titegroup in .2 increments (10 rounds each).
1.160" o.a.l.
DG 158 grain coated bullet. Sized at .358" which I just checked with my calipers.

Maybe the shoulder is hitting and causing damage to the bullet enough to cause the issue? I'm cleaning the rifle right now so I can load a dummy and check later. Patches of lead about half way down the barrel.

[Headhog]

I haven't tried SWC's in my Big Boy. I get excellent results with Missouri Bullets and a few other brands of round nose flat points. I typically load Universal powder and keep the velocity about 1230-1300 fps. That's about as fast as Universal will push them. Unique should produce good results since it's burn rate is very close to Universal. I've tied TiteGroup but was not happy with the results. Although I didn't get a shotgun pattern the groups were about 50% bigger than with the Universal.

There are several shooters on the forum using Unique with very good results. You might want to get some 158 gr. RNFP bullets and give those a try. Also I use only hi-tech coated bullets which cause no leading in the barrel.

Paul

[Johnnyjr]

What hardness are your bullets,at what velocity?
I had issues with my 44 and finally found outhat the bullets were super hard and if I lowered the velocity they shot great.. slug you bore if you can. I am shooting nothing over a bhn of 11/13 hardness and it's working great..Just some thoughts is all...

[BigAl52]

Nightshift. That OAL seems really short for 357