.357 Magnum target ammo advice needed

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Sevens
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Re: .357 Magnum target ammo advice needed

Post by Sevens »

It can't simply be luck, but I've always had more accurate results with .357 Magnum ammo from my revolvers when running them hard, or closer to "spec." I haven't done almost anything in cast lead in .357 Magnum, but I do an irrational amount of jacketed. When I run them nuts-out, they tighten up for me.

You'll never make a proper .357 Magnum load using Bullseye powder. 2400, AA#9, H110/W296 or Power Pro 300-MP is at it's best here. I've also had good luck with Hodgdon Longshot if the heavy charge weights have you seeing dollar signs with the slow burning magnum powders I previously mentioned. Longshot uses a good bit less powder than the slow burners.

As for your POA versus POI, we often find that that FASTER the bullet, the lower on the target it prints because the slug is getting out of the tube before the recoil is making the entire revolver rise in response to the shot.

With a fixed sight revolver, if you can put together an impressive group at a long (for handgunning) distance, I would simply be very happy with that and learn to adjust your sight picture to get the job done. But that's just me. I build a dizzying array of different handloads, but chasing down a load with the select purpose of matching a fixed sight guns POA to POI is not on my list of tasks to accomplish. :wink:
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
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JustaShooter
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Re: .357 Magnum target ammo advice needed

Post by JustaShooter »

Sevens wrote:You'll never make a proper .357 Magnum load using Bullseye powder. 2400, AA#9, H110/W296 or Power Pro 300-MP is at it's best here. I've also had good luck with Hodgdon Longshot if the heavy charge weights have you seeing dollar signs with the slow burning magnum powders I previously mentioned. Longshot uses a good bit less powder than the slow burners.
No doubt, which is why my "proper" .357 Magnum loads are built with H110 at the moment. These are fire-belching, jello-pudding-grin inducing, a-fun-time-was-had-by-all loads for sure, and hit to point of aim. Which is why I'd like to find target loads that do the same.

I'll take the rest of the post into consideration as well and see about "hotting them up" a bit and see where it gets me.
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stephen45-70
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Re: .357 Magnum target ammo advice needed

Post by stephen45-70 »

i kind of get a chuckle from these threads ... no offense intended .

but here is the plain truth .. you have a fixed sight revolver . there is no magic cure

you have a choice ... be happy with your fult tilt magnumized loads hitting to point of aim .
or buy a taller front sight and adjust it with a file to shoot to point of aim with your target loads .
if you honestly believe you are going to get a mild target load and a full magnum load to shoot to the same point of aim you have a very long fools errand ahead of you .

the usual best course of action with fixed sights is to find the load that the revolver and you shoots best and adjust it to that load .
and live with your other loads not shooting to the same point of aim .

if you cant be happy with that you would be best served by selling the gp and buying another one with an adjustable sight
stephen45-70
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Re: .357 Magnum target ammo advice needed

Post by stephen45-70 »

hmm a bit of confusion on my part between your first and last post .

rethinking this based on that .. it seems you might be looking to get your target loads to point of aim and saying screw the full tilt magnums .

the easiest way is to just buy a taller front sight and file it down to match point of aim and point of impact , provided you are happy with your target load acuracy .

i do stand by my statement to find the best shooting load for the revolver and you and then match the sights to that and live with how anything else shoots .

you also need to give it a real hard think on what distance you want to regulate your sights for , its much easier to aim low and guess where its going to hit then to aim high and cover up what your shooting at .
25 yards is a practicle distance to regulate for
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