How do I go about choosing just one bullet. I have a smith 6 inch 686 and a Rossi 92. 38/357. Bullet 358156 gc. 358429. And plain wad cutter. I only want one, for target and hunting. I jump around to damn much. I do think the 358156 is more accurate. Tough to decide. Johnny
Only one bullet?
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- Last Post 25 December 2023
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I was in your boat until last summer. I have several rifles and revolvers in 357 magnum.
I tried the 358156, the NOE 360-180 WFN, Lee 358-158 RF and several others. I have tried several bullets, powders, etc. I wanted to make my like simple and pick one combo.
After a lot, and I mean a LOT of testing, I settled on the RCBS 38-162-SWC. It drops at .361". I gas check and size to .358". I lube with 2 very light coats of BLL and load them over 12.5 gr of 2400. This has become my standard load for all of my 357's. Greatly simplifies things. It gives me about 1500 fps in my Marlin 1894's and shoots about 3-4" groups at 100 yards with open sights.
One of my rifles actually prefers bullets at .360" but it will still shoot these at .358".
The RCBS bullets edges out all of the others in the accuracy department for me but not by much. The RCBS bullet is very close to the Lyman 358156. I think the difference is the RCBS has a full diameter front band and the 358156 has a smaller front band. I could be wrong.
I then took all of the left over loads from testing, and there were a lot, and took my grandkids out to the river bed and spent the day drinking coffee while they shot up the loads for me. A win/win for me.
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