by Butch6.5 » 26 Nov 2018, 7:07 am
Hey wizard welcome to the wonderful world of the 357 magnum .
I have been running my Smith and Wesson 686 for many years without any trouble and must admit it is both the most fun and reliable of any of my pistols .
I was given a couple of boxes of both the 145 and 160 grain a while ago and found that there was little difference when it comes to target shooting
Due to stock shortages I was not always able to find the same projectiles and constantly having to change my load data I bit the bullit ( no pun intended ) and got into casting my own projectiles and it was the best thing I ever did.
For a once off fee of less than $200 I got a bottom pouring smelter, Lee 148 grain SWC mold , a bottle of allox liquid lube and sizing die and have been making free projectiles ever since, they are as good as bought ones and I can shoot a whole lot more as now I only pay for powder and primer.
I use AP70 as I have found it to be perfect for me, as far as load data for black widow I can’t find anything for 145 or 160 grain in the ADI book ( single action cast data ) page 274
The closest data would be 148 grsin LHBWC data using AP70 staring load COL1.290” 3.5 grains max at 4 grains making between 880 FPS to 989 FPS with a small pistol magnum primer
For my cast 148 grain semi wad cutters I have found 3.9 grains of AP70 with a magnum primer to be perfect still holding the 357 punch with great accuracy
All these ADI data loads are for 357 cases not 38 special
Hope this helps and great shooting