Survival UK Forums

Mort I'm not decrying the AK...tis a fine rifle it just doesn't fit my criteria namely light weight , accurate(relatively)uses cheap and easy to make ammunition(no lubing or trimming cases), will turn it's hand to all purposes I foresee needing... will harvest all manner of prey and is capable of fending of aggressors at up to 200m with the magnum round....just fits what I need from a survival gun...the only real weakness I see is the cartridge is just a little short on legs but if I prized that more highly then I would be after a gunsite scout or a steyr scout in .308 but I would lose the cheap economies of reloading and that round would vaporise the smaller prey I'd also struggle getting my group to shoot it as lightweight .308's are a bit kicky.

All a matter of preference as the .38/.357 is capable of taking medium game cleanly within its range limitations.

I reload a lot of cast bullet rifle rounds, most recently concentrating on lead bullets in the 5.56NATO loaded down to .22 magnum velocities.

I have been loading 55 gn cast bullets and 5 grains pistol powder, which gives me small game rifle loads for the same cost as pistol rounds.

As for the "kick" ?? That is a matter of perception also. I suppose I am just used to it and do not give it much attention. I have one 7 pound .308 that shoots a 3/8" group center to center at 100 yards so it apparently is not affecting my shooting too much.

---

Once you find a gun and load that shoots like this you start to lose track of "normal".

A friend of mine used low powered rifle loads, with cast lead heads, in .308. He was assured by the manufacturers that Unique powder was safe ( from memory I think he was using 11grns ), but after shooting several hundred of this load one blew his rifle up. We don't know why, speculation is that it might have been handled differently and the powder was all sitting towards the front of the cartridge or his powder measure threw a light charge.

I have avoided normal pistol powders because of this, and use Trail Boss which is a bulky but low powered powder usually used for "Cowboy Action Shooting". It's a relatively safe powder, basically if you can fit the powder in a case without compressing it then you won't exceed pressure limits on any modern cartridge and you can work downwards from there.

I use trail boss for one of my .38 loads...I intend to store more of it because there are so many light loads listed for various calibres it makes it a good all rounder to have,very smoky/dirty though

---

I'm also using dippers for there simplicity and ease of stowage...the 3 loads I'm currently making are .7cc trail boss(3.2 grn's)cci500 primer under a 158grn lrn.....3cc ramshot zip(3.7 grn's)cci500 primer under a 158grn lrn and my magnum round is....5cc ramshot zip (6.1 grn's) cci500 primer under a 158 grn lrn......this means i only have to have 3 dippers and i have committed these loads to memory.....one bullet/one type of primer/two powders(could get away with just the zip)three dippers can even get away with just the one set of dies but its very hard building .357's with .38 dies on a hand press(doable though)I'm going for simplicity/ease of logistics

Trail Boss is designed to fill the case and seat the bullet just like black powder.

That is good from a safety standpoint but increases the powder per shot cost greatly. A .38spl case will use 20 gns of powder while the Clays powder will be 1/4 that weight. Powder being sold by weight, that means a good deal more expense to reload with Trail Boss.

I have been loading Unique in rifle loads for more than 40 years with no ill effects to the firearms I have used. I also have the Lyman cast bullet reloading manual that is full of loads listing Unique as a safe powder.

The basic danger is that Unique charges are so small that one can easily double charge a rifle case and not realize it. That could spike pressure to dangerous levels.

Using Unique as a cast bullet rifle powder also cuts down on that list of powders I must keep in inventory. I can reload rifle, pistol and shotgun with one powder.

Clays comes close to doing the same thing and if I were starting up my reloading all over, clays would be one of my logical choices.

I used to claim that all I used was Unique for pistols and shotgun and IMR4350 for rifles, but times have changed. With our supply problems over here I now use what I can find and make substitutions when necessary, sort of like one would do in a SHTF situation.

Long term, if you know what you can substitute, and when, you will be shooting long after others have let their firearms go to rust.

---

Midnitemo, the Lee reloading die sets in 38/357 and .44spl/44mag come with a .10" spacer ring that allows one to set the die in the press and lock the set ring to .38 spl or 44spl setting on the die.

All that is needed to change to the magnum reload is to place the spacer under the lock ring when screwing the die into the press.

mort....I don't have a problem with my benchmount press just the hand press is very stiff to operate when sizing or flaring due to the very slightly thicker brass of the .357 case .... going to get lee loaders for both calibre's as back up and a dedicated .357 die set.

---

trailboss over here is near enough the same price per oz (9 v 16) £24 v £40 just a little bulkier to store

Which "hand loader" are you using?

Most of them leave a lot to be desired in the leverage department and the Lee "hammer tool" is extremely slow and makes me very nervous on that last stage of hammering the slug into a primed and charged case.

The old Lyman squeeze tools did not even offer full length resizing, they just squeezed the neck down enough to hold the bullet.

After all these years of reloading I have accumulated several extra expanding, seating and crimping dies after wearing out the old hardened steel resizing dies in several calibers. I am very thankful for the development of carbide resizing dies! The resizing/decapping die will work for either magnum or spl and one can set up and mark the dedicated magnum dies.

I load so few real .357 magnum cases that I just set up the single stage press to do them. .38spl I do on the automatic press and I have a turret plate dedicated to them.

.44 magnum is just the opposite and I have the turret set up for the magnums since I see few 44 spl cases.

Carbide dies are great, much better than messing around with steel dies and lube. It's well worth giving the cases a good wipe with a clean rag before sizing them, a piece of grit can jam a case in the die, then you end up yanking the press handle up and all your nicely lined up cases fall over, the primers fall off the shelf, the front screws holding the press down work loose and you end up swearing at the whole thing. If you have an older Lee Challenger the casting that holds the handle on then snaps off.

Trust me on this :-)

I try not to full-length resize as it reduces case life, it's not necessary if you're using a light load in the same gun.

happy with the 77/357 it functioned flawlessly with both .357 and .38 rounds(some have had issues with .38's failing to feed) funnily enough the .38's grouped left of point of aim biggish group's(4 inch) but that was on iron sights at 25m ... same size group for .357 but 3 inches lower and also left of point of aim...on closer inspection the front blade is not central so that would explain the off to the left.....going to fit the optic's tomorrow(bushnell ultra hd 1.75-5x32) won't get to zero for a week though

Well it looks like my gun dreams are over before they even start.

I had my home visit yesterday & despite never even been arrested in my life, it seemed very hostile from the police side from the start, & they were making out like I was a master criminal. Who knew dialling 999 & also disagreeing with a copper (on seperate occasions) was such a major thing?

They said they'd pass on their report & I'd hear back in due course. The guy who runs the club I shoot at says don't worry too much as he's never heard of a refusal after they've gone to the bother of a home visit/interview, but I'm pretty much certain it's going to be a refusal or a grant with heavy restrictions.