What alloy for target shooting

johnnyjr

johnnyjr

Well-Known Member
So now that I'm basically going to be shooting 38/357 for awhile my question is what bhn, would you more experienced recommend. This will be for my 686 6inch revolver. I have a green dot sight on it.
I've always wanted to try lol at 200 yards..
I have the 358429 and the 358156 gas check. I'm thinking of using the 358156. Just curious if a soft or hard bullets are better. I size to 358.
Not sure what muzzle velocity would be needed.. tell me your thoughts... Johnny
 
J

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I guess at 200 yards, the faster the better for the sake of flattening trajectory.

I shoot straight, air-cooled wheel-weights/gas-checked and lubed with 45/45/10 or BLL at 1800 fps plus in 357 Mag rifles with excellent accuracy (at 50 yards) and no leading. Haven't shot them at 200.
 
B

BudHyett

Active Member
For years, my standard alloy was 94% Lead / 4% Antimony / 2% Tin that several of us bought in ton lots and shared. This is a 12/13 Brinell Hardness and works well at all pistol velocities. Today that buying group is gone and the scrap yard has closed, thus I mix alloys for the 12/13 Brinell Hardness range.
 
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johnnyjr

johnnyjr

Well-Known Member
Fiver,
You mean equal parts. I'll get on it in the morning. I hope you are right.. thanks. Johnny
 
johnnyjr

johnnyjr

Well-Known Member
Fiver,

That's a lot of linotype, you sure you told me right??. Damn that's going to be one hard ass bullet... Johnny
 
Mitty38

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
I do 100 yard shots on an 12" gong. With my Taurus 66. 6". Have not done 200 yard shots because my eyes and abilities, would need a scope and a dedicated gun for that.

Just mix something you can reproduce. Or make enough, set aside. So you won't have to make any for a few years.
Label it pistol alloy.
Or hard pistol alloy, Carbine alloy , etc If you make a softer alloy for your slower pistol loads.

I try to keep it softer then Hard Cast in a pistol. Or the Rossi Rifle.
Even for the hot loads in magnum plane base. I never have used any thing harder then commercial hard cast, in the .357. Pistol or Rifle. And that's screaming H110 loads.
You can always powder coat to stiffen them up, Or even gas check and PC. If you go extreme.

70 lbs pre mixed will make a lot of .357 bullets. Like over 3000.
That should keep things consistent for a while.
 
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fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
don't shoot for stupid hard.
but it really ain't gonna matter, 2% tin and 4% antimony shoots fine.
so does 2.5-2.5 or 3-3 or 1-3.
the point is if your just gonna shoot one cartridge and one bullet for the next 10 years you might as well have 500 lbs. of the same-same lead and work your loads around it.
the same goes for the powder.
700-X, B-eye, red-dot, unique, whatever clone or close-nuff powder will all get you on target.
start at 700 fps and go towards 900 fps.
when you wanna go to 200yds, then slide on over to some 2400, AA-#9, BE-86, AA-4100 or whatever they got on your local shelf and step things up to enough to get there speeds.
this isn't hard, the key is consistency.
consistent neck tension, consistent case length, consistent crimp, consistent alloy, consistent state of anneal, consistent hold on the grip, consistent speed above or below the sound barrier, same-same-same.
that's where you need to focus your attention.
 
T

Thumbcocker

Active Member
Never shot 200 with .357. Regularly shoot 200 with .44 mag at 1300-1400 fps and .44 special at 900 fps. ACWW does fine. Iron sights. You will know in a hurry if your load can cut it. It is not as hard a people make it out to be. Trigger control is very important. Have fun and let us know how you make out.
 
JonB

JonB

Halcyon member
I'll stick with what I said here.

Best alloy to use?

Been doing a lot of reading about different alloy and it's usage. What do you all consider to be the best...for my 38/357 in revolver and rifle. It's pretty much all I shoot anymore. One topic I read mentioned hard ball for target and or hunting.. thanks,johnny
www.artfulbullet.com www.artfulbullet.com
 
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Monochrome

Active Member
BudHyett said:
Be very careful. Soft alloy will work for many loads and I've come to believe alloys can be too hard. The art pencil pack for testing alloys works within the ranges you are talking about and will give you an understanding of what you have.

Testing Lead Hardness
Click to expand...
have a handy diagram that gives a correlation of what the PENCIL hardness equates to on the BHN scale?
 
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