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Joined: Fri Nov 10th, 2017
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My son, who is new to the reloading scene, bought all Hornady equipment with the exception of the scale and powder trickler which are both (I think) Frankford Arsenal. He has been playing with a light 357 load (both WC and SWC). He's learned a lot in the couple of weeks he's been at it. The Hornady and Frankford Arsenal stuff seems to be of good quality.
The 357, 41, 10mm, and 44 are all fantastic platforms to learn load characteristics. They all have a wide range of bullet weights with a wide range of powder weight to make a slow round (1000fps and less), intermediate round (1000-1120 fps: sub-sonic), and to the heavy hitters above the sound barrier.
A top end 38 Special +P load is usually my starting point with everything but bare lead on my 357. There are some powders like HS-6 and IMR 4227 that are so-so with a regular primer/light crimp but they really come alive with a magnum primer and a heavy roll crimp where they can pick up another 90-120 fps with the same load. I have found sorting brass by brand, then by length (trim fixes this), and internal volume will make consistent loads easier. For target rounds I like sub-sonic and hunting/SD rounds I like 1150fps and faster.
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Tony
NE ATL
'04 XLT regular cab 3.slo stepside
Semi retirement