Rossi .357 Mag Lever gun

[Master Blaster]

I am looking for max loads used by folks here, and for target loads.
My request is for my fellow THR members to share their experience reloading for a .357 magnum lever gun and share their top loads and their lightest target loads that they have used and work well in a .357 magnum lever gun.
How fast for the top loads and how slow for the lightest cowboy loads? what bullets do you use that cycle reliably? and what bullets for max velocity hunting etc?

I am trying to ascertain the range fo a .357 mag lever gun as the 4 reloading manuals I own dont seem to list any data other than for hand guns and TC contenders.

Thanks

 

[kcofohio]

Loadbook USA has rifle data listed. Lyman manual has loads for lead bullets if I remember corredtly.

 

[buck460XVR]

Every load manual I have, plus most of the online data sources(i.e. powder manufacturers) have .357 rifle load data available. Generally max revolver loads will be your max handgun caliber carbine loads. When going light I suggest you keep above a load that produces 850 fps in a revolver to avoid a stuck bullet in your carbine. I also would not use a powder faster than Unique. My Rossi really likes a bulk 158 JHP over 7.5gr of Unique for a plinker. 16gr of H110/W296 under a 158 JSP for deer. When using max loads in a lever .357 carbine, because of the way they lockup at the rear of the bolt and can stretch cases, many suggest new or once fired brass only.

 

[ch84]

The all in one caliber load book from cabelas has rifle data from all the company's or you can look at hodgdons site if you use their powders. I've used 140 grain xtps an 18.8 grains 296 for 1975 fps. I worked up to that but will try to find one a little lower cause it's hard on the brass. I just shoot 38s for plinking

 

[Wil Terry]

WOW !!! WHY did you buy a new 357MAG levergun then expect someone else to do all your developement work for you ? READ THIS: No one can predict what will work in YOUR rifle/carbine; NO ONE !!! Furtheremore, every new loading manual from the past 15+- years has pressure tested loading data for leverguns, none of which are stronger than or take heavier loads than ANY common 357MAG revolver. YEP, I did presure test ALL of mine but that does not and indeed cannot apply to yours. NOW, go get to work, do it yourself, and do it RIGHT.
And so it goes...

 

[Mauser69]

LOVE my little Rossi

I just got my Rossi 38/357 about a week ago, and I am just starting on loads, so I cannot give you any experience on the 357 stuff yet. But I CAN tell you that this little gun (carbine with 20" round barrel) is a pure joy to shoot. The only thing I have done so far is add a lace-on leather butt pad to extend the toy stock about an inch (or a tad more) so that it is a bit closer to what my 38" arms need.

For a plinking load, I am absolutely impressed with .38 Spl, 2.2 grains 700X under a 158 gr LSWC. This tiny little 600 fps load doesn't even need ear plugs, and it shoots dead-on accurate at 50 yards without every having touched the sights out of the box!

And to think I was gonna spend over $1000 on one of those purty new Winchesters - glad I bought the little Rossi 92 instead! Way less than half the price, and a whole lot stronger to boot. On top of that, this thing has one of the absolute best factory triggers I have ever felt. No idea if I just got lucky there or what, but I sure didn't expect that from a cheap gun. Everything about this gun surprised and pleased me. I had previously looked at a little 16" M92 at the local sporting good store, and it seemed like nothing but junk. Not only was it way too small, but the stock was poorly fitted, looked like it was made from a cheap 2x4, and finished in liquid brown shoe polish with drips and runs! Ugh. So I was very worried about buying anything made by Rossi. I did eventually find someone with a 24" rifle in stock, however, and it seemed to be a much better gun, but damn was that 24" octagon barrel HEAVY for such a small caliber! But it gave me courage to take a chance on a mail-order 20" carbine; I figured I'd probably just have to replace the stock anyway. But this one I got has a very decent stock with good fit and finish - it actually looks like genuine walnut. So the leather butt pad seemed like a good solution - it actually looks pretty good, gives me the length I wanted, and even provides protection for the little gun when I bang it around in my UTV. When I slip it into the scabbard there is hardly anything left exposed to get nicked or scratched.

 

[Kernel]

I had a 20" Rossi carbine, but sold it about 10 years ago. Still regretting that move. :banghead: It was a hoot to shoot. Ate everything. Even black powder. It was from the mid 90's, before they started putting that godawful safety on the bolt. I can understand the need for a safety, but why couldn't they of found a less intrusive way to do it? I'd get another one, but I just can't dig that friggin' saftey switch, and I never see any of the old ones for sale.

 

[PO2Hammer]

In carbines I stick with magnum brass to avoid chambering issues.
For your light load I would recommend trying the Hornady 140 LFP 'cowboy' bullet. It was designed for lever actions and it delivers the accuracy in every gun I've tried it in.

Work your load up from the bottom of your data. Use revolver, single shot pistol, or carbine data, it's all usable. Hodgdon online data for .357 uses a solid 10" test barrel, so that data isn't far off from what you'll see in a carbine.

There's a lot of empty space in a magnum case with a short bullet, so choose fast powders that have low position sensitivity and/or good bulk like Trail Boss, Clays, Universal, Unique and Titegroup.

When I shot IHMSA Field Pistol, Titegroup turned out to be one of the most accurate powders for light loads with light bullets at 100 yards in my single shot .357 pistols, and also shot best in my carbines. It's very dense, so watch those small charges closely.

 

[ch84]

You can remove that safety an there's plugs that fill in the space

 

[Glockula]

I have found a few good loads for my 16" 92. 4 -4.2 gr of bullseye under 125 gr lead has been dead accurate. I have used unique and 2400 behind 125, 140 and 158gr xtpfp. The 125's and 158's near max with 2400 are working well for me. I use all CCI 500 primers and new starline brass for my full house .357 loads. Start low and work up. Have fun with the rifle

 

[Master Blaster]

Thanks for your replies, and yes my manuals do have rifle data I am embarassed to admit I did not look in the rifle section.

 

[gamestalker]

Most of the books I have are separated into handgun and rifle loads. Sierra, Hornady, Sierra, Speer, Hodgdon, and Winchester, probably others too. Unfortunately, I don't have one of those 92's, but I do load full house H110 / 296 loads, H110 and 296 are the top dog, and I'm certain a max wheel gun load with those will do just fine to get things started. Always use magnum primers with H110 / 296.

For a general hunting bullet XTP's are great and reasonably priced. At a higher price tag one can go with Gold Dots, or, you can spring for some really expensive Barnes. Plenty of choices available for full tilt jacketed loads, have fun! Sorry, I can't help with light target loads, I don't ever do light.

GS

 

[Armymutt]

For plinking, I just run mine with .38 SPL 125 gr from Xtreme. The current batch is over Autocomp, but we'll see what's available for the next batch. I just went a couple of grains above the minimum. No need to waste powder just to break some clay pigeons.

 

[Schwing]

I have had mine for a little over a year. My favorite .357 load for it is 7.5 grains of 800x. I know that is not a common load but it yields close to 1400 fps (with 158 grain either LRN or LSWC bullets) and is dead accurate. It is far from a max load but I find it loses accuracy driving my lead hotter than that. My bullets are sized to .358 and are usually between 16-18 BHN.

I have gone up to the max load for the 800x (I believe it is around 8.1 but you will want to verify that). I was uncomfortable using my lee powder measure at that max load because it can vary about -.4 grains with 800x. The velocity only increased around 50 fps at max load and, even though still accurate, they were no better than 7.5 so I keep it there for safety reasons. I can easily shoot silhouette targets at 100 yards with these and I have horrible eye site.

If you are loading jacketed 158 grain bullets, 14 grains of 2400 will yield around 1700fps with good accuracy. Mine seems to like lead just as well and I am cheap so I don't shoot a lot of jacketed bullets with it.


As for soft fun plinking loads, my favorite is the same bullet with 5.6 grains of unique. It shoots like a .22.

As always, verify everything with published load data.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm going to take you in a slightly different direction. Yes 2400, W296/H110 and AA#9 are all good powders for any .357 Magnum ammo but I got outstanding results from Lil'Gun in a Carbine. I would not use it in my revolvers because of the possibility of forcing cone damage but it's just fine in a rifle. The loads were tested for accuracy @50 yards and 100 yards and shot in my Marlin 1894C.

Just to make my point, here are some of my chrono numbers from the Carbine:
170gr Sierra JHC bullet
W296 - 15.5gr - CCI-550 primer - AV 1699 fps
Lil'Gun - 17.0gr - CCI-550 primer - AV 1793 fps

180gr Hornady XTP/HP bullet
W296 - 13.6gr - CCI-550 primer - AV 1495 fps
Lil'Gun - 15.0gr - CCI-550 primer - AV 1584 fps

180gr CP WFNGC bullet (Cast Performance hard cast gas checked)
H110 - 13.7gr - CCI-550 primer - AV 1547 fps
Lil'Gun - 14.8gr - CCI-550 primer - AV 1567 fps

Lil'Gun is slightly slower and probably took advantage of the longer barrel of the Carbine and delivered ~100 fps more velocity than with W296/H110. Accuracy was good with all the loads so IMO that was a wash. All 3 of those bullets are hunting bullets so a little extra velocity to insure reliable expansion is not a bad thing as long as accuracy is good to. (and it was)

Just a note, I loaded a 125gr XTP bullet with a full charge of H110 and from the carbine the AV was an amazing 2239 fps. With 2400 the AV hit 2055 fps. With a Sierra 140gr and 150gr JHC bullet the differences between H110 and 2400 were 40 fps and 15 fps respectively with H110 on top. I can't remember now why I did not try Lil'Gun with the lighter bullets but I think it was because I felt Lil'Gun was too slow for the lighter bullets. I might do that test sometime in the future...

Hope this helps...

 

[TenDriver]

If your 357 Model 92 is anything like my 44 Model 92, it wants a full house magnum load. Mid charge H-110 / W-296 load with a 240 gr XTP for mine. I'm thinking 158 for yours.

 

[buck460XVR]

Lil'Gun is slightly slower and probably took advantage of the longer barrel of the Carbine and delivered ~100 fps more velocity than with W296/H110.

Like AA, I have had good luck with Lil' Gun in my carbines. It was how I used the last of it up after I quit using it in my revolvers. It's performance in the carbines does not justify to me the buying of it just for them, since H110/W296 and IMR4227 work just as well and since they can be used in my revolvers, are to me, more versatile. IMR4227 is slower than W296 and H110 and seems to really like long pipes(whether they are carbines or handguns) and heavy projectiles. It does not give me the top velocities that H110/W296 gives me, but accuracy is great and seems to be more consistent. It also is less temperature sensitive than H110/W296, this may be why it is more consistent in accuracy thru wide temperature fluctuations. I have used it more in .44 Mag tho than in .357. By Burn Rate, Hodgedon lists Lil' Gun as one step faster than H110/W296 in the manuals. I suspect the faster velocities can be attributed, like the excess heat it produces, by the higher Nitrocellulose content than H110/W296.


While the little Rossi's are extremely accurate, they are also known to shoot high with most ammo. I had to change the front sight of my Rossi in order that I didn't have to aim low. You can order higher front sights and other after market goodies for your Model 92 from Steve here.....http://stevesgunz.com/index.htm

 

[rogn]

The '92 Rossis came chambered in 454 Cassul, this was as over pressured a round as you can find. So reasonable loads are not too much of an issue, all current published data in new quality cases should be good, and safe. I don't have a 357, but I do have a pair of 45s. My experience with the 357 has been in revolvers, but both guns Ive found VV N110 to produce great results , good velocity, great accuracy, and very clean. Just my observation.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Like AA, I have had good luck with Lil' Gun in my carbines. It was how I used the last of it up after I quit using it in my revolvers.

LOL !!! That's exactly why I tried Lil'Gun for the Carbine, I had most of a pound left over when I quit using it for my revolver too!

 

[joneb]

Target load, I loaded and shot some Extreme 158gr plated FP today for a Rossi M92 with 11.0gr of 2400 and CCI 500 the COL was 1.575, which I may shorten do to feed trouble. These loads were very accurate in the M92, but not so good in a 2.75" Ruger Sec. Six, poor accuracy and unburnt powder.