.357 hunting load powder choice considerations

[Targa]

For me AA#9 has been the most consistent, accurate and has had the highest velocity (H110 is very close). During my load testing for .357 and .44 mag through a chronograph against Lil’ Gun, Enforcer and H110, AA#9 won out with H110 a very close 2nd place. I have never tried 2400 or 4227.

 

[.45Coltguy]

For me AA#9 has been the most consistent, accurate and has had the highest velocity (H110 is very close). During my load testing for .357 and .44 mag through a chronograph against Lil’ Gun, Enforcer and H110, AA#9 won out with H110 a very close 2nd place. I have never tried 2400 or 4227.

2400 is one of my two go to powders for .357 mag. The other is Universal, with 2400 being No.1.

 

[barnfrog]

I still find it amazing how much difference one tenth of a grain of powder (that's 1/70000th of a pound) can make in how well a bullet/powder/brass/primer/gun combination performs. I tested a tenth-grain increment ladder today around my best grouping charge weight of 2400 in my .357 Blackhawk with Hornady 158-grain XTPs. While the 13.9 grain group is statistically the same as the 13.8 since both have a max spread of 2.7", I'll take the 13.9-grain group every day of the week, and the 14.0 and 14.1 are obviously not even in the running. Distance is 25 yards, shot from a portable bench with the frame of the gun and my forearms rested.


In the first ladder I did with 2400 in 0.3 grain increments, the 13.9 grain group did the same thing: five shots in 1.5" and one outlier. It could absolutely be me, but I'm going to load a couple dozen more of that load, and shoot groups keeping track of which shot comes from which chamber, just for grins and curiosity. Since I'm shooting jacketed bullets it seems unlikely that inconsistent throats could make that much difference, but anything is possible.

Still happy with the way this is going. I have a ladder with AA #9 yet to run. I'd like to get settled on a good load so I can really sight the gun in proper and start practicing with it, though. Deer season will be here before we know it.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I still find it amazing how much difference one tenth of a grain of powder (that's 1/70000th of a pound) can make in how well a bullet/powder/brass/primer/gun combination performs. I tested a tenth-grain increment ladder today around my best grouping charge weight of 2400 in my .357 Blackhawk with Hornady 158-grain XTPs. While the 13.9 grain group is statistically the same as the 13.8 since both have a max spread of 2.7", I'll take the 13.9-grain group every day of the week, and the 14.0 and 14.1 are obviously not even in the running. Distance is 25 yards, shot from a portable bench with the frame of the gun and my forearms rested.
View attachment 1090528

In the first ladder I did with 2400 in 0.3 grain increments, the 13.9 grain group did the same thing: five shots in 1.5" and one outlier. It could absolutely be me, but I'm going to load a couple dozen more of that load, and shoot groups keeping track of which shot comes from which chamber, just for grins and curiosity. Since I'm shooting jacketed bullets it seems unlikely that inconsistent throats could make that much difference, but anything is possible.

Still happy with the way this is going. I have a ladder with AA #9 yet to run. I'd like to get settled on a good load so I can really sight the gun in proper and start practicing with it, though. Deer season will be here before we know it.

Out of curiosity, what was your POA?

 

[barnfrog]

Out of curiosity, what was your POA?

Center of the diamond.

 

[barnfrog]

Ran my ladder of AA #9 yesterday and had a couple interesting groups. These were Hornady XTP 158 grain bullets with 12.8 to 14.2 grains of AA #9 in new Starline brass with CCI 550 primers. Loads were fired at 25 yards with the gun (Ruger Blackhawk) rested on the frame in front of the trigger guard and my forearms rested on bags on the bench. The first two groups were quite similar to what I've gotten with other powders, nothing to write home about but not terrible. But the 13.2 and 13.4 grain loads looked like this:



What I found so interesting (in case it wasn't obvious) was the very vertical orientation of the 13.2 grain group and the very horizontal orientation of the 13.4. I'm used to analyzing rifle groups, but I don't think the "stringing" of the groups means the same thing here as it would out of a rifle. Should I treat these as I would any other group and go by the empirical measurement, or does the linear orientation indicate something good or bad about one or both of them? Or does it say something about inconsistent trigger technique on my part? The 13.0 load was also right around 2.5", which is as good or better than any other load I've tried in this gun so far. I was hoping to find a combination that would shoot 2", but I think this is the best I'm going to get out of this gun. Next step is to load some more at 13.0 and 13.2 and shoot them over the chrono.

At 13.6 grains the group opened up to over 3.5", I started to get cratered primers, and a couple of the empties stuck ever so slightly in their chambers, so I'll pull the rest. Lyman and Hornady both said max was over 14 grains, but Hodgdon and Accurate showed max at 13.8.

 

[joneb]

For me Accurate #9 does very well in a 2.75" 357 mag with a 158gr JHP. It's a different story in a 20" barrel, H-110 wins there.
I use 13.8gr Accurate #9 with a 158gr Hornady 158gr XTP with standard primers in a Ruger Security Six with very good results.