Recently, on a quest for a good, day in, day out, night in, night out, .357 load, I found a series of posts here and elsewhere recommending 6.0 grains of Unique behind a good 158 gr LSWC. The sheer number of replies, espousing that combination got my attention and I was interested enough to give it a try.
While I've long held that one version or another of the much lamented passing of the old "FBI" load is often a good choice for those of us who don't really need the recoil, muzzle blast and accelerated wear on gun parts that full-house .357 loads provide, I'll agree with the suggestion by many that six grains of old Unique is equally good and a bit more robust if that's called for.
So today I cleaned and readied my current crop of .357's for the test. Of interest too, for some, is that my .357's all have different barrel lengths: 3", 4", 4-5/8", 5", and 6". Four Smiths and a lone Ruger Blackhawk. Note too, that it includes J, K & N frame Smiths, as well as the Single Action Ruger. Here is the gun breakdown.
Smith M-60-15 with a 3" full lugged barrel.
Smith M-66-2 with a 4" barrel.
Smith M-27-3 with a 5" barrel.
Smith M19-3 with a 6" barrel.
Ruger Blackhawk Flat Top with a 4-5/8" barrel.
The load was 6.0 grains of Unique in new Starline brass, trimmed to 1.275 for a more consistent firm crimp. Winchester Small Pistol primers were used and the bullet was Lyman's excellent 358156. This is a gas check design that I have found works equally well without the GC up to about 1100 fps with my usual casting alloy of air cooled wheel weights plus about 1% tin for good mold fill out. This combination has kept me in cheap .38 Special and .357 ammunition for just over 50 years now.
Accuracy with it in all of the trial guns was excellent with the M-66, M-27, M-19, & the Ruger keeping a full cylinder full at an inch or less from 10 yds fired offhand (Weaver Stance) without support. And that's for both SA and DA modes of firing. My eyes can do no better, at 75 yo. At 25 yds, from a good rest, this load will consistently shoot 2" groups.
Recoil is as you'd expect: healthy with the 3" M-60 but easily controllable to the extent that I'd have no hesitation suggesting it to a seasoned DA revolver shooter ( and those Hogue Monogrips really help). With the bigger guns, it's really not much of a factor...it's more robust than my long accustomed "FBI" load at 900+ fps, but still allows a full morning's range practice without undue discomfort.
While I don't particularly like Unique's lousy metering characteristics, it's remarkably consistent in charges at this level (6.0 grains), through my Dillon 550B's powder measure. All loading BTW, was done on a 550B and all charges were thrown. It's still a great powder for all around use with handguns, IMHO.
Here's the chronograph results for 6 shots in all but the M-60 which has a 5-shot cylinder. Weather was 48 degrees, with the chrono set at 10' from my shooting position. The LSWC (Lyman's 258156 w/o gas check) weighed 162 grains full dressed, and was sized to 0.358"
M-60...3" bbl...1020 fps, Ext Spd 36
M-66...4" bbl... 1034 fps, Ext Spd 27.......With GC: 1060 fps, Ext Spd 21
M-27...5" bbl... 1077 fps, Ext Spd 12
M-19...6" bbl... 1138 fps, Ext Spd 23
Ruger BH...4-5/8" bbl...1090 fps, Ext Spd 33
As I also shoot a lot of wadcutters as well, I'll include it too. My load uses a Lyman 358091, a wadcutter with a crimping groove allowing about 1/8" of exposed button nose above the crimp. With a very mild taper crimp (just removing the case mouth flare), and 4.0 gr of Bullseye, in Starline Magnum brass, I get 882 fps with an Ext Spd of 15 for six shots from my 4" M-66. This is a sub 1-1/2" grouping combination at 25 yds with my M-27, M-66, & 6" M-19.
Lastly, here are the guns. Forgot to add the Blackhawk in the grouping so it's separate.
Best Regards...Rod
While I've long held that one version or another of the much lamented passing of the old "FBI" load is often a good choice for those of us who don't really need the recoil, muzzle blast and accelerated wear on gun parts that full-house .357 loads provide, I'll agree with the suggestion by many that six grains of old Unique is equally good and a bit more robust if that's called for.
So today I cleaned and readied my current crop of .357's for the test. Of interest too, for some, is that my .357's all have different barrel lengths: 3", 4", 4-5/8", 5", and 6". Four Smiths and a lone Ruger Blackhawk. Note too, that it includes J, K & N frame Smiths, as well as the Single Action Ruger. Here is the gun breakdown.
Smith M-60-15 with a 3" full lugged barrel.
Smith M-66-2 with a 4" barrel.
Smith M-27-3 with a 5" barrel.
Smith M19-3 with a 6" barrel.
Ruger Blackhawk Flat Top with a 4-5/8" barrel.
The load was 6.0 grains of Unique in new Starline brass, trimmed to 1.275 for a more consistent firm crimp. Winchester Small Pistol primers were used and the bullet was Lyman's excellent 358156. This is a gas check design that I have found works equally well without the GC up to about 1100 fps with my usual casting alloy of air cooled wheel weights plus about 1% tin for good mold fill out. This combination has kept me in cheap .38 Special and .357 ammunition for just over 50 years now.
Accuracy with it in all of the trial guns was excellent with the M-66, M-27, M-19, & the Ruger keeping a full cylinder full at an inch or less from 10 yds fired offhand (Weaver Stance) without support. And that's for both SA and DA modes of firing. My eyes can do no better, at 75 yo. At 25 yds, from a good rest, this load will consistently shoot 2" groups.
Recoil is as you'd expect: healthy with the 3" M-60 but easily controllable to the extent that I'd have no hesitation suggesting it to a seasoned DA revolver shooter ( and those Hogue Monogrips really help). With the bigger guns, it's really not much of a factor...it's more robust than my long accustomed "FBI" load at 900+ fps, but still allows a full morning's range practice without undue discomfort.
While I don't particularly like Unique's lousy metering characteristics, it's remarkably consistent in charges at this level (6.0 grains), through my Dillon 550B's powder measure. All loading BTW, was done on a 550B and all charges were thrown. It's still a great powder for all around use with handguns, IMHO.
Here's the chronograph results for 6 shots in all but the M-60 which has a 5-shot cylinder. Weather was 48 degrees, with the chrono set at 10' from my shooting position. The LSWC (Lyman's 258156 w/o gas check) weighed 162 grains full dressed, and was sized to 0.358"
M-60...3" bbl...1020 fps, Ext Spd 36
M-66...4" bbl... 1034 fps, Ext Spd 27.......With GC: 1060 fps, Ext Spd 21
M-27...5" bbl... 1077 fps, Ext Spd 12
M-19...6" bbl... 1138 fps, Ext Spd 23
Ruger BH...4-5/8" bbl...1090 fps, Ext Spd 33
As I also shoot a lot of wadcutters as well, I'll include it too. My load uses a Lyman 358091, a wadcutter with a crimping groove allowing about 1/8" of exposed button nose above the crimp. With a very mild taper crimp (just removing the case mouth flare), and 4.0 gr of Bullseye, in Starline Magnum brass, I get 882 fps with an Ext Spd of 15 for six shots from my 4" M-66. This is a sub 1-1/2" grouping combination at 25 yds with my M-27, M-66, & 6" M-19.
Lastly, here are the guns. Forgot to add the Blackhawk in the grouping so it's separate.
Best Regards...Rod
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