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I decided to take my .357mag loading to the next level and experiment with some full house charges.
I decided on H110 for powder as it was very slow burning and might work well with heavy bullets. What's scary about that powder, min charge == max charge for most cast bullets.
I have a 6" GP100, which is one of the tougher revolvers out there. While that's some comfort, in the back of my mind I'm thinking "how light of a charge might squib, and how hot of a charge will explode in my face?".
I have 2 recipes I'm testing out:
1) 180gr LRNFP (BHN 12) 12.5gr H110
2) 125gr Hornady XTP (JHP) 22gr H110
#1 might be a tick light, so I plan to load only one into the cylinder to ensure no squibs. This was not published. Hodgdon lists only a 180gr JHP @ 13.5gr, so I worked down from that, and up from a 170gr cast recipe Lyman had.
#2 did have a charge range of 21-22gr in the Lyman book. Both end up compressing the powder when seating the bullet. This is scary stuff. I'm used to throwing 5gr of Universal for plinking.
I've only loaded 5 of each, but I'm now second guessing my budget Lee safety scale and overall precision of my process.
Any hand loading adventures others want to share?
I decided on H110 for powder as it was very slow burning and might work well with heavy bullets. What's scary about that powder, min charge == max charge for most cast bullets.
I have a 6" GP100, which is one of the tougher revolvers out there. While that's some comfort, in the back of my mind I'm thinking "how light of a charge might squib, and how hot of a charge will explode in my face?".
I have 2 recipes I'm testing out:
1) 180gr LRNFP (BHN 12) 12.5gr H110
2) 125gr Hornady XTP (JHP) 22gr H110
#1 might be a tick light, so I plan to load only one into the cylinder to ensure no squibs. This was not published. Hodgdon lists only a 180gr JHP @ 13.5gr, so I worked down from that, and up from a 170gr cast recipe Lyman had.
#2 did have a charge range of 21-22gr in the Lyman book. Both end up compressing the powder when seating the bullet. This is scary stuff. I'm used to throwing 5gr of Universal for plinking.
I've only loaded 5 of each, but I'm now second guessing my budget Lee safety scale and overall precision of my process.
Any hand loading adventures others want to share?