Test Firing The .357 Ammo I Loaded Yesterday

[JimT]

I went to the Range early this morning. It was clouding up and sure enough, I got rained out. Ran about 50 rounds total through the sixgun and the rifle .. the most through the sixgun. When I started testing the rifle it began raining shortly thereafter. My last target has big old fat raindrops on it. It's OK though. I never complain about rain in July!

First Target .. 20 yards ... old model Ruger Flattop .357 ... 160 gr. SWC 17.0 gr. Lil' Gun
Recoil was fairly stout for a .357. This target was shot from a clean, non-fouled cold barrel. This load hits about 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" high. I did not mess with the sight setting.

1p.jpg

Second Sixgun Target

2p.jpg

Third Sixgun Target

3p.JPG

Then I switched to the rifle. The first target was shot from a cold non-fouled barrel.

1r.JPG

From that point on the groups became patterns.

2r.jpg

I shot several others with no improvements. I decided to fire some groups with the rifle using my 125 gr. JHP loads. It started raining heavily as I shot this group.

3r.JPG

That's 5 shots ... 3 in the bottom hole and 2 in the top. This rifle has always liked the 125 gr. loads.

Back in the shop I pulled the cylinder on the sixgun and checked it and the bore. There was no leading. A pass with a brass brush and a dry patch through the bore and it looked excellent.

I checked the rifle and there was no leading in it. I pulled the bore snake through the barrel twice, then pushed a dry patch through. The patch came out with some light carbon on it and the bore looked good.

IMG_6992.JPG

I think I will load some of my more accurate bullets with Lil' Gun and see how they do. These are 160 gr. flat point and are extremely accurate in the 38 Special. Or maybe this rifle just don't like Lil' Gun?

[wvfarrier]

I really like Lil Gun in 357 rifle loads and 300AAC.

[COSteve]

I really like Lil Gun in 357 rifle loads and 300AAC.

+1.
And, I've found that Lil'Gun loves longer barrels. My 158 grn full power loads are still accelerating out of my 24" barreled rifle. At my range which is at 6,100ft asl, I clock 158grn Zero JSP bullets at a blistering 2,005 fps with 18.0grns of Lil'Gun in my 24" Rossi '92 rifle! (A speedy 1,952 fps in my 20" Carbine.) That's 10% faster than with a full charge of H110 and for me, I find them more accurate as well.