9mm 147 g for .38/357 rounds?

I bought some 147g RN bullets in .357 dia. I plan on loading them in .38 and .357 cartridges to shoot out of my .357 rifle. I'd also like to use Titegroup powder as that is what I have on hand. I also have some Bullseye powder as well. So a couple of questions come up for me. Is the 147g .357 bullet ok for 38/357 loads. I've seen it called a 9mm bullet but my 9mm bullets are typically .355 dia. Also Titegroup is typically referred to as a pistol powder. I'd like to use it for a rifle cartridge. Do I have a workable combo here with the 147g .357 die. bullet and the Titegroup powder out of a 18" .357 cal rifle barrel? I'm thinking going with 3.4g of Titegroup. Opinions?

Most 38spl/357mag cast or swaged lead bullets would be .358" but I am going to guess that you slugged your bore and decided that you need .357 sized pills.

The bullet, if correct for your bore, will work fine. Perhaps a RNFP might be a better choice for a tubular magazine rifle but you did not mention what rifle you are using so I will go with the assumption that it is a ruger with a rotary magazine and thus no reason for flat meplat projectiles.


As for a rifle cartridge, you are shooting a pistol cartridge out of a rifle length barrel. This is effectively the same as a 9x19mm PCC of the AR or cz flavor. I can't comment on your proposed charge as I have never loaded titegroup in a 38 or 357.

I measured the bullets and they are.357 dia. copper plated from Xtreme bullets. I loaded up some .357 with 3.5g Titegroup and some.38 spl. with also 3.5g Titegroup. Next trip to the range I'll test them while keeping watch for squibs out of the.357's.

typically jacketed 9mm=.355, cast=.356/.357, jacketed 38/357=.357, cast=.358-.359. Ends up being about .002 difference, and most barrels will shoot one or the other caliber better, but they are safe to interchange on one condition. A revolver or tube mag in a carbine absolutely need a solid crimp, especially if using 9mm bullets, often the issue is 9mm bullets don't have a cannelure, and can setback under recoil. That being said, I've launched 380(9mm) bullets past 2500FPS out of my Win 92 clone, and used 158gr (38/357)RN subsonics in 9mm stuff. It's more advanced techniques, and you need to make sure you have a decent crimp and correct tension, but it's easily done, and somewhat common. There are a few guns like Ruger blackhawks that included cylinders for both 9mm and 357. Regardless if it's out of a rifle or handgun it is a cartridge that needs a handgun powder burn speed, most any pistol powder faster than 296/H110 works.

Yes , and Maybe .

Will be safe . Accuracy depends upon your particular rifle .

( usual disclaimers about crimping plated bullets )

Shot them today. 357mag loaded with 3.5g titegroup. Not impressed. 38 special with same load did a little better. About a 2"group at 50 yds. I guess I'll keep experimenting and see what kind of results I can get.

I never got good results using light loads in 357 cases. Check how much powder volume is left open in the case as this tended to give me Inconsistent velocity issues. 38 cases worked but I typically liked a powder that took up more volume. I liked 148 wadcutters and bullseye for this.

What rifle are you shooting OP? What optic?

Shooting a Ruger 77/357 with a Vortex Diamondback 4x12x40.

NeutronBlu said:

Shooting a Ruger 77/357 with a Vortex Diamondback 4x12x40.

Click to expand...

Ok thanks. This lends considerable clarity to your mention of group sizes.

I did some work a while back with .357 and 38 Special for my Henry lever action. I don't have my notes, but the bullets were either 158 grain Xtreme plated round nose flat points, Zero 158 grain JSP, or both. I know I used the Zero JSP in 357. My rifle shoots these well in .357 loads. And I know I used the Xtreme bullets in 38 special, as Xtreme recommends a velocity max of 1500fps. I therefore restricted Xtreme to 38 special only.

Long story made shorter, I tried 5 different powders with the Xtreme 158 in my Henry lever action, ranging from Titegroup on the fast side, to Unique on the slower side.

Not that I really cared for punching holes on paper, as I chronoed with an eye much more toward load velocity consistency and finding good accuracy results with a lower cost alternative to .357. Unique as I suspected boosted velocity a bit in the rifle barrel. But precision with Unique was definitely nothing to write home about. In fact, none of 4 powders I tried performed as well as I'd have liked.

I had the best luck with Titegroup, my fastest burning option. I won't publish a charge weight, especially one I don't remember with absolute certainty. My best guess is that bullet obturation improved, as did my results with the faster powder.

Now for me, the best I could keep any loads tried was the Titegroup with Xtreme 158 combo. That was right around 2 inches at 50 yards. For me that was victory, for at least at present. I love that rifle but I fight the buckhorn sights on that rifle and really have to bear down with it, or I can all too often meatbag shots anywhere. That rifle need Skinners, I need younger eyes nowadays, and both.

I just this week checked that same load, this time with 50 rounds for cycling in the lever gun. Snapped home or babied quietly, I had no issues in the Henry, which kind of surprised me, but in the good way.

Good Luck!

Yeah the 158g RNFP has been my usual 357/38 bullet of choice with Bullseye powder. Xtreme had a good price and free shipping on the 147g RN bullets so I thought I'd try them for a change. I'll give them a try in the AR9 as well. Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Nice to hear from the knowledge base on this forum.