Out of a Marlin 1894, the bullets shoot into the front sight (a 6-moa dot) with boring regularity, and they hit the steel plate hard enough to foul it on it's chains, necessitating going downrange to unwind the target from it's stand.That bullet is a custom, 180 grain, tumble-lube, gas-checked, wide flat nose bullet that a bunch of us designed on the Cast Boolits forum several years ago. It was designed for the .35 Remington cartridge, but several of us stuffed it into a .357 magnum case with a stiff dose of L'il Gun powder. And something magical happened.
That bullet runs out of the Marlin at something over 1600 fps and that wide flat meplat hits like the hammer of Thor. You'll note that the boy said they'd have to walk downrange to un-foul the target from its stand. I know that particular range, and it's about 80 yards from the firing line to the gong.
It's a great load, out of a light, handy, short carbine that gives sufficient energy out to 100 yards for whitetail deer and hogs. The .357 magnum and the lever carbine are a great woods-cruising combination.
6 comments:
It is very cool.
Clarify for me, though, Pop: Y'all on the forum designed this bullet? I though it was an old Lyman bullet... or was that the .30 caliber bullet you were referring to?
I'm just trying to clarify, so I'm not misinformed!
Junior was playing with the old Lyman 311041, a bullet for the .30-30, and someone thought that it would be cool with tumble-lube grooves. Then, someone else thought it would be cool to make it a wide-nose, bore-riding design. Then, someone else said "Hey, how about a 180 grain for the .35 caliber?>
Well, one thing let to another and we made up some designs, and one fellow said that he would "honcho" the ordering. We made three or four of those orders, and I got in on the .35 caliber order.
They even made one, a .311 wadcuttter with tumble lube grooves at about 115 grains. It was designed with tumble lube grooves and looked for all the world like a soup can.
So, yeah, that bullet is loosely based on an old Lyman design. But, updated with tumble lube grooves and a wide, flat nose.
Got it! That makes sense.
Just spent some range time with my friend's new Smith 686+. Now I'm jonesing for one of my own paired up with a Henry Big Boy Steel to match.
There's a guy on bayoushooter selling both a .357 1894 and a .44 1894. If I had the scratch I'd pick them both up. I've got a .44 already.
The Boss runs a .357 Rossi with 160 gr. WFN cast bullets, and it's pretty definite about what it hits! And the same load works well in her GP-100, and in both of her Security-Sixes. At her typical range-to-contact, they will work a charm on deer and hogs. The only problem is that her practicing keeps me at the loading bench more than I would like.
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