Berry’s Plated 158 grain loads for .357 and .38 special.

[Dan Forrester]

Hi everyone, I’ve been loading Berry’s thick plated 158 grain bullets for a little while in both .357 and .38 special loadings.

I’ve been using 5 grains of Unique in .38 special and 6 grains Unique in .357 magnum. I’m shooting them in a Ruger 77/357 with an 11” barrel. They seem to hit pretty hard and stay quiet suppressed. I don’t have a chronograph so have no idea how fast they are going.

How much more do you think I could safely bump up my powder charges of unique? I’d like to get them right up to the sound barrier and have an efficient burn of all the powder in the 11” of barrel.

Any other powders I should try? I have the following in hand:

Bullseye
Trail boss
Win 231
Unique
Vihtavuori 3N37
Blue dot
2400
H110
Win 296
Imr 4227

Thanks,

Dan

 

[AJC1]

Hi everyone, I’ve been loading Berry’s thick plated 158 grain bullets for a little while in both .357 and .38 special loadings.

I’ve been using 5 grains of Unique in .38 special and 6 grains Unique in .357 magnum. I’m shooting them in a Ruger 77/357 with an 11” barrel. They seem to hit pretty hard and stay quiet suppressed. I don’t have a chronograph so have no idea how fast they are going.

How much more do you think I could safely bump up my powder charges of unique? I’d like to get them right up to the sound barrier and have an efficient burn of all the powder in the 11” of barrel.

Any other powders I should try? I have the following in hand:

Bullseye
Trail boss
Win 231
Unique
Vihtavuori 3N37
Blue dot
2400
H110
Win 296
Imr 4227

Thanks,

Dan

7 grains in a 357 is definitely not sub sonic. It is my favorite unique load.... for your purposes faster is better for minimum muzzle pressure. Bullseye would be good. If you want a good clean case and fast burn ramshot competition might be great.

 

[IWAC]

Do you want your load to be useful in your rifle and a companion revolver? 7 grains of Unique shouldn't strain anything, if it is accurate, and 5.5 gr. is good, too! Good luck finding "the" load!

 

[n2omike]

If you get tired of plated bullets and want something tougher and more accurate, RMR is the way to go.
If I was reloading for this caliber, I'd love to load the 147 grain 'smiley' bullets! lol Around 10.9 cents each and free shipping. Their 124 grain is even cheaper... especially if you use their periodic discounts.
Good Luck

.357" (.38) | RMR Bullets

www.rmrbullets.com

 

[Palladan44]

Start with 10% less than Alliants published max load of Blue Dot, you'll likely pick up about where you left off With Uniques maximum...

 

[AJC1]

Start with 10% less than Alliants published max load of Blue Dot, you'll likely pick up about where you left off With Uniques maximum...

I love BD. It's not great reduced. 10.5 is max with a 158 cast and a ten percent reduction is dirty and erratic. Honestly it should be treated more like h110/296. I always run a mag primer, cci 550.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

7 grains in a 357 is definitely not sub sonic. It is my favorite unique load.... for your purposes faster is better for minimum muzzle pressure. Bullseye would be good. If you want a good clean case and fast burn ramshot competition might be great.

You beat me to it. Bullseye at 4.7gr is good for probably 950fps. That’s what it does with a Linotype 160gr from my 10” Contender barrel. That’s pushing MAX though. Back off 10% and work up.

I suggest No.5 as well. I think Competition might be too fast. He won’t get to 1100fps before the pressure spikes.

Avoid powders like AutoComp that are designed to produce excess gas for ported barrels.

 

[GRIZ22]

To my experience 5.0 of Unique in a 38 spl gives 900 fps in a 4". Kind of a +p load. 6.0 grains of Unique in a 357 gives 1050-1100 fps in a 4".

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I love BD. It's not great reduced. 10.5 is max with a 158 cast and a ten percent reduction is dirty and erratic. Honestly it should be treated more like h110/296. I always run a mag primer, cci 550.

Blue Dot really prefers a large bore and a longer load profile. The .44Spl 190gr BNWC load I have is perfect at 10.4gr. It drives the soup can straight and true.

BTW, per Alliant 10.2 is max for the Speer DCHP.

 

[Dan Forrester]

Well after reading everyone’s response I decided to stick with 5 grains of unique. As GRIZ22 says it’s kind of a +P load which is basically what I’m looking for. Just a good general use .38 special load for use in my rifle that hits hard and stays subsonic.

I also worked up to 4.6 grains of Bullseye as was suggested and the rounds worked just as well! Didn’t really notice much difference in either their perceived hitting power or how loud they were. It’s nice to have another powder option and I must say Bullseye always seems to meter better than unique for me.

The 7 grain of unique in the .357 case is definitely supersonic out of the 11” barrel. Got some of these loaded up for when I want more power and don’t mind making a little more noise.

I appreciate everyone’s help!

Dan

 

[IWAC]

In a recent American Handgunner article, one scribe mentioned his ".38 Trail Load"...6.0 gr. Unique under a 150-158gr lead SWC. My go-to load for decades has been 5.5 gr. Unique/150-158 gr SWC, too. Chrono'ed 860 fps/357 brass. Should work plenty good in rifles. In fact, I'm thinking of upping my load to the 6 gr. level. Should be pleasant to shoot in revolvers and rifles, too.