ihmsa forums

Just received a new to me .357 Herret factory barrel.

I was perusing the Contender Loading manual the previous barrel owner surprised me with when he sent me the barrel.

I noticed that the heaviest bullet listed is 200gr.

I have noticed there are some 225gr and 250gr bullets available.

Has anyone loaded those weights?

Would it be safe to make a load work up if no one has? And if so, would I start at just below minimum for the 200gr load and work up from there?

This is the first time I have worked with a "Wildcat" cartridge.

Thank you

I had loaded some 200 grain spire point bullets in my friends 357 Herrett Super 14 and they carried plenty of punch. Don't know if you are planning to use your barrel for silhouettes or hunting but the 200s will get the job done in either case. If you still want to try heavier bullets, then a bottom load for the 200 grain bullets might be a good starting point but even dropping another grain or two off the 200 grain starting load might be better and then work up. The 357 Herrett is a good cast bullet cartridge too if you care to try using lead. I have some 245 grain lead meant for a 35 Whelen that I was planning to try myself in my friends Herrett barrel but never got around to them before he sold the barrel. When forming brass, adjust the sizing die down in small increments until you can get a sized case to fit with just slight resistance when you close the barrel. That will ensure you have no head space issues and will make your brass last longer. Nice barrel and easy to find accurate loads for the Herrett cartridges.

Thanks. I am really looking forward to putting it to use. It was an ebay find a couple of days after getting my first Contender. Immaculate barrel, pistol scope, brass, dies, and the T/C reloading manual.

My local range has a cap on velocity. So my thinking was to run a heavier bullet, with a full load, and get the reduced velocity.

I dont know if you have shot it, yet, but those things can beat you up, pretty
bad, specially with heavy bullets. I may be mistaken, but I think the very first
40 in Production was shot with a .357 Herrett. That guy musta
had hands of IRON!

LOCKHART wrote:I dont know if you have shot it, yet, but those things can beat you up, pretty
bad, specially with heavy bullets. I may be mistaken, but I think the very first
40 in Production was shot with a .357 Herrett. That guy musta
had hands of IRON!

You are correct, the first 40 x 40 was shot by Skip Talbert using a 357 Herrett, plus I'm pretty sure it was with a 10" bbl.
Not sure if he had a CPT load & a ram load or just one load.
As to the really heavy bullets they may be to long for the 357's twist, and the only way to really be sure is to load one and shoot it on paper.

I don't really mind the recoil...even 210gr Cast RN over IMR4227.