Give cast bullets a try in your 1894 .357

that's all i ever use its cheap fodder and that way i can shoot many times compared to jackets. so far 1500rds thu my 357

Dwight Hardy:

Tell us more...... what weight bullet(s) are you shooting? What profile(s)? What powder(s) and what charge(s)? What primers and cases? What diameter are you sizing your bullets too? What kind of accuracy are you getting at what distance?

Pictures of resulting targets are also helpfull!

Inquiring minds want to know!

Ed

I've only tried them with one load: 158 gr SWC, 4.3 gr Unique in 38 spl. They were not very accurate.

Both of our 357 rifles seem to like the Lee 158gr RNFP with about 5.5grs of Unique in 357. That's a 1894C with a microgroove barrel and a Navy Arms 1892 with a 24" heavy barrel.

Willy:

What diameter are you sizing them to?
And what size groups are you getting at 100 meters/yards?

I just got a 1894C/Microgroove from another forum member (thanks Shooter1911 !) and would like to find an accurate load for Pistol Cartridge Silhouette.

Ed

They miked out to .358/.359 out of the mold (it's been a few years since I measured them) and I'm just alox lubing them without sizing them. According to my notes, I don't think I ever even fired them over the chrony.

I mainly just use them for plinking and small game and Mrs Willy uses them more than I do. Haven't really sat down and did any range work with them. But I usually hit what I'm aiming at with them.

Willy:
Would that be the TL358-158-2R or the 358-158-RF or ?
I assume you're tumble lubing them?
What "formula" lead are you using? 20:1, 2/6/92 or something else?

I'm trying to not re-invent the wheel... I'd like to start with works well in other peoples rifles, then see what I can wring out of this one!

Thanks Willy!

Ed

5-6 grains of unique with lees 158 grn tumble lube, plain base semi wad cutter. Lubed with alox and fired though 1894 CB 20 inch barrel with Ballard rifling. Just cast from straight wheel weights.

Never chronographed it, but i doubt its a scorcher and it makes a fine plinking/small game load with no leading and the "unique sludge" is non existent.

If you haven't tried it, I recommend trying IMR 4227 for heavier loads.

Not the tumble lube bullet but the RNFP with regular lube grooves. But I use alox on it anyway.

About 10 years ago, I mixed up a couple of big ol' cast iron pots full of scrap lead and poured it into ingots using a muffin tin for an ingot mold. I have no clue what alloy it is, but it's a lot harder than what I'd use for a muzzleloader and I've still got about 100lbs of the ingots left. I have a tendency to "if it looks like lead, it goes in the pot". ;D

Thank you everyone for your input! I now have a starting point.
As soon as I finish moving my business to our new location, maybe I can find some time to get to the range.

Thanks again for all your opinions!

Ed

I was using 158 gr SWC measuring on top of 6gr Bullseye for .38 and 13.5 gr AA#9 for .357. Both use CCI 500 primers. I just switched to 158 gr RNFP.
The .357 loads pack a pretty good wallop, but I'm thinking of switching to a 180 gr bullet.
GH1

Mine are 158gr Laser Cast RNFP on top of 6gr Unique and a std pistol primer.Chrono= pistol-1050fps
rifle(1894c)-1280fps.Very accurate,no leading,and feeds great.Also load a 180gr WFNGC with std
primer and 15gr of Lilgun.Same results as other load but chrono=1750fps.