24" Oct .357 on the Way! - some advice requested

[huckleberg]

Hello, new to forum.

Have a 24" oct barrel .357 on the way, wanted to get some ideas from the group.

I already ordered the gunslinger spring kit, the Steve's gunz DVD, safety hole plug & mag tube follower; cannot wait to get it all set up!

My questions are around sighting. Can anyone here speak to the value of the skinner barrel peep sight on this model? anyone else have a receiver sight with a front globe sight? i know it will never be a tack-driver, but i like to try and wring the best accuracy i can out of all my rifles.

also, on the 24" barrel, anyone have a good recipe for med to hi potency .357 loads that are also very accurate? i reload ... am going to start with 158gr JHP on H110 with CCI 550 primers

Thanks!

[akuser47]

Hello welcome to the forum, I think you are going to love that rifle. I always say this to all first try to be patience and cycle break her first spary her with oil and sit watch a cowboy movie and cycle her 500 times do not dry for just decock each time then when you flush her you will have some good mating surfaces already. So when you tear her down problem areas can be easier to spot. As for rounds for the 24" inch I cannot help on that. My 20" love sierra 158 soft points loaded with cci primers and 10. grains blue dot, with remington .357 mags cases seated at 1.58 oal, they shoot really good though I like 180 grain lead as well. I have more of these on hand at moment same as 158xtp. Others will have more info to add than I.

[dpe.ahoy]

Check out Hodgdons LilGun for bullet weights of 158 and heavier. That powder seems like a perfect match for the 357 with those weights. The powder is very good for other select cartridges as well, gets great velocity at equal pressure or the same velocity at lower pressure. Go to Hodgdon's web site and then the reloading section. You will need to check the revolver section for the 357 and LilGun unless it's different than the Annual Manual Hodgdon puts out. DP

[knifemaker]

Huckleberg;

You are in luck as I have just finished doing some extensive testing with my Rossi 92 357 mag. with both Win. 158 gr. HP and Hornaday 158 gr. XTP HP. My rifle has the 20 inch oct. barrel and you should get about 50 fps more in your 24 inch barrel.

I had a two prong goal with my Rossi as I also have a companion revolver that is a Cimmarron 1873 Colt clone with 3-1/2 inch barrel and I wanted to work up a load that would interchange with both guns. I was able to obtain that goal by using Win.296 with is the same as H-110 and this can be confirmed with Hodgdon powder company that markets both powders.

Due to the pistol being on the smaller Colt size frame I wanted to stay away from the top pressure loads that may shoot that gun loose after several thousand rounds, but still have a blacktail deer load that would give me 1600 fps out of the Rossi 92. That would be a good 100-125 yard deer rifle and most of my shots at our blacktail deer in CA. are between 50-100 yards.

I ended up with a load of 15 gr. W-296 which is the minumum load for the 357 mag. Do not reduce this load. I was able to obtain an average of 1620 fps out of my 20 inch barrel as measured over my chrony. The pistol gave me an average of 1040 out of it's short barrel. The pressure level of this load is only around 28,000 CUP as compared to the max of almost 40,000 cup if you load your cases to the max of 16.5 gr. of W-296 or H-110.
By loading to the max of 16.5 gr. you only gain 100 fps in velocity,1700 fps over 1600fps, but gain over 11,000 CUP in pressure. Your Rossi will have no problem handling the max pressure if you should go that route, but you will extend the life of your cases by using the lower powder charge. As it stands with me the load I settled on 15 gr. will be a middle of the road load for the pistol and I do not have to worry about shooting it loose in the next few years.
I second the advice to go to the Hodgdon powder web site and check their information since you plan to use one of their powders for your new rifle.
Just one bit more information. When I first set out to test loads for both of my guns, I started with Allant-2400 powder. To get the velocity i wanted in the rifle at 1600 fps, the pressure was higher then I wanted for cross using in the revolver, but switching to W-296 gave me what I was looking for.
I also obtained the Guntz video and his stainless steel mag follower and spring kit for the ejector. I went one futher and also purchased his rear peep sight that replaces the safety and got the front fire sight. Both of those sights really helped me on obtaining the full accuracy out of the rifle as my eyes are 66 years old and I highly reccommend both sights. I installed the rear sight and installed the front sight by centering it in the dovetail and the rifle was dead on for windage and only out one turn on the rear sight for elvalation at 100 yards. I may have been very lucky on that.

[huckleberg]

Thanks folks for your responses! Gun is marked as "shipped" by the vendor ... weather permitting it will be here soon ... expect me to post more questions as the process begins!

[huckleberg]

first spary her with oil and sit watch a cowboy movie and cycle her 500 times do not dry for just decock each time then when you flush her you will have some good mating surfaces already.

I have heard conflicting stories, some advocating a complete de-oil cleaning job upon receipt, then cycling it with the metal clean and dry ... some have said that this was all the fixin' their rifle needed! any opinions on that option?

I am leaning more toward what you say above though ... except I have a dozen snap caps that I was gonna run thru the gun repeatedly to see if the trigger mellows after use as well ...

[akuser47]

first spary her with oil and sit watch a cowboy movie and cycle her 500 times do not dry for just decock each time then when you flush her you will have some good mating surfaces already.

I have heard conflicting stories, some advocating a complete de-oil cleaning job upon receipt, then cycling it with the metal clean and dry ... some have said that this was all the fixin' their rifle needed! any opinions on that option?

I am leaning more toward what you say above though ... except I have a dozen snap caps that I was gonna run thru the gun repeatedly to see if the trigger mellows after use as well ...

These guns are better with more oil than not enough mainly when breakin it is even more inportant. but even after she is broke in I keep mine lubed well always and never had any trouble. Some think no lube breaks em in faster and yes it can be it can cause undue wear rather than just marry the parts when dry you are actaully putting more wear into them on all metal to metal bearing surfaces. I think oil is better.

[huckleberg]

So I am leaning towards a complete clean of rifle upon receipt (to remove the shipping/packing oil) then relube with a quality gun lube and cycle 500+ times with snap caps ... any opinions on that?

Huck

[akuser47]

So I am leaning towards a complete clean of rifle upon receipt (to remove the shipping/packing oil) then relube with a quality gun lube and cycle 500+ times with snap caps ... any opinions on that?

Huck

I think that will be a great start keep us posted.

[donhuff]

Doing it with the snap caps will take forever and I bet you give up before you get there. While I'm not sayings its a bad thing, just not really necessary. I do it while holding the trigger down with my left hand. That does cycle the hammer and mainspring to get them broken in, but does not cause the problems that dropping the hammer on an empty chamber does.

And then reclean and relube and it will feel like a different gun.