Soft shootin, clean burnin .357 loads?

[Muttly]

Few years ago, loaded up a pretty good amount of .357. Might actually run out, hafta load more up in the next year..
Loaded up a LOT of 158 grain plain base semi wadcutters in front of 6.5 grains HS6, nice and soft shootin, kids love it. Bit too light, looks like black powder going off. Probably be rounding up a bunch of 160 grain gas check LFNs, looking for a good mid range to soft load, clean burning..
Thought I,d see if anybody had any powder/ load suggestions??
No plans to use it for hunting, just a fun gun that I dig out once in awhile, 8-900 fps be plenty of speed, don't mind a little bit more..

[JM]

First cartridge I ever reloaded was .357 Magnum.

I used the yellow plastic Lee dippers with Winchester 231, Starline brass & Oregon Trail cast semi-wadcutters.

Don't recall what the charge weight was any longer & my dippers are packed away. It was a very clean burning & reasonable powered load.

[JSilva]

Before I switched to 9mm for target shooting, my .357 consisted of
158 swc on top of 6.1 gn CFE pistol. Starline brass and cci primers. COL of 1.59. Gave me a 12 shot average of 830 ish FPS in 4" tubes
Also did unique at 5 grains. 825 fps or so.
Overall, the CFE metered better for me so that was my preference in powder.
I'll check my log book later for other loads.

[telebasher]

I've been using 8 1/2 gr HS-6 under 358429 in my 6in. Blackhawk with great success. Need to shoot over the chrono and see what the numbers look like but shot a pup coyote @ 90 steps and he went down like the Hammer of Thor hit him so good 'nuf. This load is very soft shooting IMO, and very accurate.

[sixshot]

Muttly, lots of different powders will get you the speed you mention in the 357 magnum with ease, HS6, 231, WST, Unique, Universal, etc. Just check any of the reloading manuals & you'll find several powders listed. My question is, why a gas check? You're just wasting money on a GC bullet at those velocities in the 357, might as well use 38 specials unless you have lots of 357 magnum brass.
Any decent plain base bullet is going to be much cheaper to buy & you'll probably never be able to shoot the difference, just my opinion, others may tell you different. Either way, good luck with your soft, mid range loading, that's the main thing.

Dick

[okie44]

5 gr. Tightgroup with the 158 in 357 mag brass makes a nice plinking load.

[eagle1899]

4.8 Grains of Red Dot or Promo with a 148WC with a firm crimp.

[Muttly]

First cartridge I tried reloading, 9.3x62,first handgun round, .357. Still have the Lee dippers too! Think I still have a couple cases from my first attempt to bell the case neck, waaay overboard, probably opened up to .44 cal..
Gas check over plain base, mostly a creature of habit. Run gas checks in everything else, can run em fast when the mood hits, seems easier to slow em down a little and still be fairly clean burning..
Appreciate the replies!
Been mostly foolin around with long bows last couple years, starting to have enough time to do some reloading and shooting again!

[jsh]

Are you sure your smoke is powder and not a lube thing?
Or are you speaking of getting the gun dirty inside and out? If your worried about dirty gun syndrome, dunno what to tell ya. I let the target tell me what the load is doing. Soot will clean off easy enough.

[Rimfire69]

FWIW, Trailboss at 3.5-4gr, will be in the 800 fps area under cast 158s depending on gun. Hodgdons 4.2 max will be near your targeted vel range.

[sashtr]

3.5 g HP38 or 231 behind a 148g cast WC with any primer.

[bulasteve]

I'll suggest Trail Boss as someone above did. Also, I'd suggest deepseating those SWC's to gain efficiency while going lighter(softer). I haven't done this in 357, so can't give specific charge weights.

[Muttly]

Yeah, probably is the lube... Have,nt been doing much reloading last couple years, some of the obvious stuff isn't quite as obvious anymore..
Hafta do a little foolin around, check some different charges with the same bullet and powder.