Progress with the Puma .357

[jnyork]

I have been messing around with my new-to-me Puma .357 model 92 with the 24" barrel. I had some feed problems with my reloads which were due to improper crimping, I got the Lee Factory Crimp Die and solved that problem completely. I got the Marbles Tang sight installed after getting Marbles to make up a proper 10-32 thread tang screw. Worked with several powders, 2400, Unique, Blue Dot and Bullseye, the Bullseye won easily. All loads were with Berry's 125 grain flat points. I still have some tinkering to do, like getting the Lyman 17A front sight and the Merit adjustable disc aperture for the rear sight, when I get those installed I think I will be able to see the sights a little better, being 72 years old has its drawbacks. I also got the dvd on smoothing up the action, and a spring kit from Brownells, the trigger is now about 5 pounds which makes offhand shooting kind of iffy.

The 10-shot group below , fired at 40 meters, was the first one I shot after getting all the above accomplished. 5.0 grains of Bullseye, Federal Magnum small pistol primer, Berry's 125 grain flatpoint. Velocity averaged 1097 over the ten shots with a spread of 48. I noticed a couple of the cases showed some soot from blowback so I am going to boost the loads a couple or three tenths and see if that doesn't fix it. The group is exactly 1 1/2 inches center to center, I called one low, also the last shot of the group I got so excited with my results so far I gave the trigger a mighty yank, resulting in the one out at 8 oclock.
To be honest, this group is about as good as I can see the sights, so I'm happy so far.

[PaulG]

Nice shooting!

That load will do it. Same load out of my Rossi .357. 100 yards, 2.6" and 2.8". Peep and blade, 73 y/o eyes.

Paul

[GTKF]

I also use 5.0 gr of Bullseye with Hunter Specialty 125 gr truncated cones. Getting under an inch at 50 yds in my 1894 CB

[PaulG]

An update on the .357 load with a 125 gr. plated bullet and about 5.0 gr.s of Bullseye.

As jyork and I and perhaps others have found, it is a nice mild accurate load.

I recently ran a set of these over the chronograph, and found they averaged about 1150 fps out of my 24" Rossi.

I have a set of steel silhouette swingers that are 2/5 size, slightly smaller than those used in the current smallbore lever game. They are 1/4" thick, probably common mild steel. I was concerned about the .357 causing damage, but yesterday I set the pig at 100 yards and hit it with the .357 load. It swung the target and made a nice ring. Made slight dimples, much like the .22 but larger of course. Thinking about it, this .357 load is almost an exact parallel to a .22 rf, soft lead bullet at the same velocity. About 3X heavier than the .22, but also proportionally larger frontal area, so the impact is spread out. No surprise that the effect on the target surface is similar.

Paul

[PaulG]

Another FWIW.

I have now tried three brands of 125 gr. plated bullets: Berry, HSM, and Rainier. I can't discern any difference in accuracy among the three brands.

However, the HSMs and Rainiers have a similar rounded ogive and are shorter than the Berrys. The Berrys have more of a truncated cone. With the HSMs, even with the bevel on my Rossi chamber, they hang a bit on chambering. The Berrys feed smoothly.

At the local Sportsmans' Warehouse, the Berrys are about $25 per 250 and the HSMs about $32. I got 1000 Rainiers for $90 plus shipping from Midway. Once they are gone, I will probably stick with Berrys as they seem to offer the best balance of performance and price. They also come in a nice plastic box.

Edit: I just revisited this and found that I had typed Berry when It should have been Rainier. Sorry. Better corrected late than never.

Paul

[jnyork]

I also found that my "come-ups" on my Marbles tang sight on this rifle with this load are exactly the same as on my Marlin 39a with the same sight, shooting either Federal Champion or Automatch. Makes it a lot easier to keep track of things.

[PaulG]

See correction to my last post.

Paul