Advice greatly received for reloading .38 Special

[1066]

Hello there, I have recently purchased Lee Precision single stage reloading equipment and about to embark on the world of reloading.

I was hoping that the wealth of knowledge and experience of the Full-bore community might impart invaluable recommendations and tips for me please.

I have a Ruger 77/357 and a Rossi M92 underlever which I use presently use at varying distances from 25 – 100 yards.

I’m particularly interested in bullet, powder and primer selection.
Should I use lead RN-FP or jacketed ? What weight – 158gr or less ?
Should I use Alliant Unique or Bullseye or a n other manufacture ?
Which small pistol primers should I use - CCI 500 or Federal 100 ?

It is my intention to move onto reloading .357 Magnum at some point too.

Many thanks in advance for your replies and advice.
Best regards.

Are both your rifles chambered for .357? If so, why are your thinking of loading .38 Special for them?
The fact that you can shoot .38 spec through them doesn't mean that you should. You could also shoot .38 Long Colt and .38 S&W in them if you so wished. Only fairly recently there was a thread where someone had been shooting .38 special in his .357 revolver. He than switch back to .357 rounds and was surprised when they wouldn't chamber.

I'm a fan of Unique with home cast 158gn lead bullets - work very well at 25 - 50 yards.

[mag41uk]

Hello there, I have recently purchased Lee Precision single stage reloading equipment and about to embark on the world of reloading.

I was hoping that the wealth of knowledge and experience of the Full-bore community might impart invaluable recommendations and tips for me please.

I have a Ruger 77/357 and a Rossi M92 underlever which I use presently use at varying distances from 25 – 100 yards.

I’m particularly interested in bullet, powder and primer selection.
Should I use lead RN-FP or jacketed ? What weight – 158gr or less ?
Should I use Alliant Unique or Bullseye or a n other manufacture ?
Which small pistol primers should I use - CCI 500 or Federal 100 ?

It is my intention to move onto reloading .357 Magnum at some point too.

Many thanks in advance for your replies and advice.
Best regards.

I have a Ruger 77/357 - quite a pleasant little gun. Sure - shoot 38 special level loads from it but stick to using 357 cases to do so.
One thing I have learnt about this rifle is that cartridge oal can be a little fussy feeding out the rotary mags.
I am using cast gas checked bullets mp moulds @ 170gn,Fiocchi spire point fmjs,LEE 135gn rnfp and a MP moulds @ 153 gns
There is a whole range of powders suitable. BA10 and CSB 5 I am using for 25/50 yds with the plain lead style.
The gas checked and fmj I am using SP3 - 2400 and DO37.2. This last powder seems to work exceptionally well and are all full power loads.
I have yet to chrono any of these but the BA10 loads are probably around 900fps and the gas checked 170gn probably in the 1650 fps area.
I have also used some 110gn and 125gn fmj which must be getting on for 2000fps and they were pretty accurate.
Cases are PPU and any small pistol primer. I am using CCI and Murom.
It has been a very accurate rifle but only after I relieved the forend away from the barrel as it was touching - would prefer to change the stock eventually.
TBH 357 is a pretty easy cartridge to load for as its been around for ever.

[Lever357]

I use Shellhouse Bullet Co 158 grain lead RNFP bullets with Sellier and Bellot small pistol primers (can get them for £32 per 1000 and never had a fail to fire) and have used Lovex DO32 powder and now using Viht N320

[mrbeech]

I was thinking of using .38 rounds as my 11 year old nephew also uses the rifles and it’s a bit easier on him.

I’ve previously read a couple of posts where people are using .357 cases with lighter loads (similar to .38) the comments by ‘1066’ and ‘mag41UK’ now makes complete sense. Thank you both.

I bought the Rossi second hand in April 2019 it’s now had approx. 900 rounds in total through it and I’ve only had the Ruger since June this year so just under 200 rounds through it.

mag41uk, many thanks for the level of detail and content that you’ve provided.

Thank you all for info.
Best regards.