loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

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alphalimafoxtrot
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Re: loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

Post by alphalimafoxtrot »

Lee Loader Team, thanks a bunch for your thoughts on getting me started with my .35 Remington plans!

For your info, here's a pic of the 158 grain, .358 dia. Badman Bullets poly-coated bullet that I am loading. I also load a smaller weight Badman PC bullet for plinking with my revolvers.
357 SWC Badman PC.jpeg
When I get a moment, I am going to email Patrick Reagan, the owner of Badman Bullets, to ask for his thoughts on recipes for using this round in .35 Remington. He is extremely courteous, and promptly calculated loads for my other rounds and forwarded the data to me in a day. I would like to hear what he has to say!

thanks.

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Re: loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

Post by Macd »

Glad to hear you have made progress. Let us know how they shoot. I also have been playing with the idea of loading up some pistol bullets for my 760. I am looking at 1900-2100 fps. INHO this eliminates unchecked cast and even plated bullets. There are a lot of jacketed bullets out there in .357 but most are hollow point. I thought I might go with the Hornady 35780 XTP FP but now am leaning toward the Speer #4207 158 grain TMJ "Plinking" bullet. If I can find the bullet in Canada my first try will be with IMR4227 in the 24-27 grain range.
021-4207 Speer.jpg
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Re: loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

Post by Macd »

I finally found a supplier for the Speer bullet but the price was a bit high. Ordered 100 just to try them out. I also ordered 1000 Cam Pro 158 Truncated cone plated. I have found their bullets to be well made. They are accurate in my S&W 10-5 but just about everything shoots great in that revolver. The heavier plating (8 mil) has held up to magnum rounds in the 357. I should be able to load them to 1500-1600 for the 760. The cores are 98% lead 2% antimony so they are pretty soft. This hopefully will mean good obturation.
cp_38158__82759.png
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Re: loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

Post by Macd »

Loaded up and now need a break in the wet weather. Going to start at 24 grains of IMR4227 and work up from there. I wasn't happy with neck tension so to improve consistency I gave both a good crimp with a FCD.
Speer & CamPro 158.jpg
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Last edited by Macd on 03 May 2018 07:40, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

Post by Ohio3Wheels »

+corn

Make smoke,
Curt.......makin' smoke and raising my carbon foot print one cartridge at a time +guns +guns
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Re: loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

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Ohio3Wheels wrote:+corn
+corn +corn
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Re: loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

Post by Macd »

I didn't mention the problem I had with bullet seating depth. Both bullets are .357 not the .358 normally used in the 35 Rem. The short length and the smaller diameter of both meant even at the lowest setting of my seating die the bullets are seated at or just over touching the lands of my 760 Rem rifle. The rifle goes into battery with both bullets without problems.

CamPro seated to 2.202 hits the lands at 2.197
Speer seated to 2.201 touches the lands at 2.201

The maximum average pressure for the Speer TMJ bullet with 27.0 grains of IMR4227 (my max test load) is predicted by QL at 34,303 psi. This is getting close to the 39,885 psi CIP max for this calibre. I set the initial start pressure at 10,000 psi to allow for the crimp and zero jump. I will be working up from 24.0 grains and shooting over a chrony and checking every case for pressure signs.

The predicted maximum average pressure for the CamPro plated bullet with 25.0 grains is 29,737 psi. Again I set the start pressure at 10,000 psi. I purposely kept the plated bullet load to no more then 25.0 grains. The softer lead core compensates somewhat for the slight jamming and I do not expect any pressure issues but will be just as viglant.

I am comfortable with things as I have them set but will be looking at a way to temporarily adjust the seating stem of my die to seat the bullets off the lands if this little experiment is successful. I will also order another mandrel for the neck sizing die and take it down slightly to improve neck tension on the smaller diameter bullets.

One final note for the newer handloaders out there. I am straying from the normal here based upon a lot of research and my own experience. I don't recommend this experiment to anyone else.
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Re: loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

Post by Macd »

This is the results of my experiment with pistol bullets in the 35 Remington.

All cases were new unfired fl sized Remington brass. All trimmed to 1.908. Primers were CCI200 (LR) Powder IMR4227. Fill rates were from 68% (24 grains) to 78% (27 grains). Two bullets were used. I loaded both to their respective crimp cannelures which placed them just shy of the lands. The Speer TMJ 158 RNFP had an OAL of 2.195. The Cam Pro 158 copper plated TC 2.192. Both bullets received a heavy crimp with a Lee FCD. This was to compensate somewhat for their smaller (.357) diameter than .35 rifle bullets (.358). If I decide to try this experiment again I will order a spare mandrel for my sizing die and lap it down to provide a better neck tension. All shooting was at 50 meters with a Remington 760 pump action resting on my hand which was resting on a shooting bag. All loads 5 shots except one round that jammed and was not fired. All charges trickled up to just tripping the electronic scale to the desired weight.

158 Speer TMJ
Chg ....... Min ....... Max ....... Spread ....... Avg ....... SD ....... QL FPS ....... QL PSI
24.0 ..... 1804 ...... 1968 ........ 164 .........1876 ...... 59 ......... 1892 ........ 18464
25.0 ..... 1855 ...... 2057 ........ 202 ........ 1977 ...... 86 ......... 1963 ........ 20310
26.0 ..... 1996 ...... 2213 ........ 217 ........ 2139 ...... 85 ......... 2034 ........ 22312
27.0 ..... 2210 ...... 2235 ......... 25 ......... 2224 ..... 13 .......... 2104 ........ 24486

158 Cam Pro Plated TC
Chg ....... Min ....... Max ....... Spread ....... Avg ....... SD ....... QL FPS ....... QL PSI
24.0 ..... 1855 ...... 1998 ........ 143 .........1935 ...... 59 ......... 1873 ........ 17450
25.0 ..... 2034 ...... 2114 ........ 88 ..........2070 ...... 40 ......... 1944 ........ 19252

- Accuracy was from 1 inch to 4 inches at 50 meters with the Speer at 27.0 grains coming out best.
- I believe the biggest problem with the pistol bullets in the 760 is the proximity to the lands when they are crimped in the cannelure as well as the smaller diameter which doesn't allow for consistent neck tension even with a heavy crimp. The Cam Pro performed more like a jacketed bullet than a lead one according to the comparison with QL predictions. This is probably due to its 8 mil plating thickness.
- IMR4227 is not the best powder for this application.
- with a CPI MAP of 39,885 PSI there is still lots of room for higher velocities with a rifle powder like H322, H335 or Reloder 7 if the bullets can handle these speeds. I have some H335 I may try next.
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Re: loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

Post by alphalimafoxtrot »

OP here to follow up with some information I received from Patrick Reagan, owner of Badman Bullets.

I attach a QL pdf he forwarded to me as well, for reference. This data is for his 157 grain RNFP bullet using TiteGroup powder.
And here's the bullet I forgot to include earlier!
157 grain RNFP badman.jpeg
35 Remington 157 RNFP TiteGroup Powder.pdf
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alphalimafoxtrot
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Re: loading 35 Remington with pistol bullets?

Post by alphalimafoxtrot »

OP back once more to show you my other .35 Rem rifle that will be blasting the SWC bullets. It is a 1908 Remington Model 8. Semi auto so the bullet profile isn't such a big deal, as it can be with the lever guns.
Remington_8_1908_1 copy.jpg
Remington_8_1908_2 copy.jpg
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