Alfa .357 starting out

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Lancs_Oakley
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Alfa .357 starting out

#1 Post by Lancs_Oakley »

Looking for some general advice, starting out with a .357 and I have very little in terms of equipment or spares.

Is there anything special I need?

Good suppliers of bullets?

I am also hoping to get a second cylinder at some point, I spoke to Westlake and they advise they need the revolver to match the new cyl and send it off for proof - anyone had this done recently and care to advise of lead times? They said allow a month for proof but no mention of their own time etc.

Any other advice is very welcome.
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PrecisionGunnerUK
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Re: Alfa .357 starting out

#2 Post by PrecisionGunnerUK »

I've had one for a while, nice bit of kit.

Blue Dot powder works well if you can't get any Herco.

I cast my own bullets from soft lead. For punching targets at 20m I've had success using LEE 358-105-SWC. It's a flat base bullet with truncated semi wadcutter cone. Bit of a pain to load due to the truncated cone but - surprisingly - they work for me just as well when loaded backwards. Seems to group just as well at the distances I shoot and very easy to load with the flat base upwards.
I suspect a non truncated cone would work better, but the 105gr SWC are accurate enough for my non-serious use - and I already had the mould.
Never had any issues with leading, all my bullets are sized and tumble lubed with a light coating of Alox.
Same bullet cast with range scrap (i.e. harder bullet) works great in my Marlin levergun with 3.8gr of Bullseye or HP38, very accurate and light load.

For powder measuring I use a dispenser from Anvil Conversions, available here : http://www.anvilconversions.co.uk/index ... age570.htm

When I first bought the gun I tried a hundred of the hollow base wadcutters from Alan Westlake but to be honest I didn't like them after having a couple of the skirts separate after firing. (With the standard powder load.)
Had some issues when I first acquired the gun with either oversized primers or slightly undersized primer pockets causing binding between the primer and the frame, fixed with a *very* light deepening of the primer pockets. Since then it's been faultless.

Cheers!
Paul M.
I love shooting, me ;-)
Correct grammer is so important
Lancs_Oakley
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Re: Alfa .357 starting out

#3 Post by Lancs_Oakley »

Thanks for the info. I have read some people use 9mm bullets as they are a tiny bit smaller than the .357 also that the cylinder is actually .356 so the .357 bullets can be a very tight fit. Is that right?

Also what primers are you using? Thanks!!
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PrecisionGunnerUK
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Re: Alfa .357 starting out

#4 Post by PrecisionGunnerUK »

I run all my cast bullets through a Lee .357 sizer, then re-lube them with Alox. Can't say I've had a problem loading the cylinders, If I recall correctly I did try some unsized and lubed which were tighter to load in the cylinder.

Primers - whatever I can get hold of, I've used Cheddite 209's previously, currently I am working through a batch of Federal.
I love shooting, me ;-)
Correct grammer is so important
Lancs_Oakley
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Re: Alfa .357 starting out

#5 Post by Lancs_Oakley »

Any issues with magnum primers? I know it says not to use them, so I just wanted to check. I sent Alan an email asking about it but didn't hear back.
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PrecisionGunnerUK
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Re: Alfa .357 starting out

#6 Post by PrecisionGunnerUK »

Sorry, can't help on that, I've not used any magnum primers.
I love shooting, me ;-)
Correct grammer is so important
MistAgain
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Re: Alfa .357 starting out

#7 Post by MistAgain »

Lancs_Oakley wrote:Any issues with magnum primers? I know it says not to use them, so I just wanted to check. I sent Alan an email asking about it but didn't hear back.
Only used 1 cylinder full with Cheddite magnum primers , recoil was much sharper and all the primers were hard to extract and were totally flattened .
That was with 2.7 grains Herco .

Remington primers were ok , but CCI frequently gave seating problems . Have used Cheddite now for over a year with no problems.

I get best results with 148 HBWC that are sized to .357 . These grip the taper in the chamber very well . Tried some bevel base FWC's that were supposed to have come from a well known firm , they had casting flaws and were badly lubed . Accuracy was terrible .

Got lucky at an arms fair and picked up a box of Silverlube round nose that weighed in at 124 grains and sized to .357 , they were pretty good . And cheap !.

Someone used to sell a copper washed 148 HBWC , would love to try them . Does anyone know what make they might be ?
Nelly2014
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Re: Alfa .357 starting out

#8 Post by Nelly2014 »

PrecisionGunnerUK wrote:I've had one for a while, nice bit of kit.

Blue Dot powder works well if you can't get any Herco.

I cast my own bullets from soft lead. For punching targets at 20m I've had success using LEE 358-105-SWC. It's a flat base bullet with truncated semi wadcutter cone. Bit of a pain to load due to the truncated cone but - surprisingly - they work for me just as well when loaded backwards. Seems to group just as well at the distances I shoot and very easy to load with the flat base upwards.
I suspect a non truncated cone would work better, but the 105gr SWC are accurate enough for my non-serious use - and I already had the mould.
Never had any issues with leading, all my bullets are sized and tumble lubed with a light coating of Alox.
Same bullet cast with range scrap (i.e. harder bullet) works great in my Marlin levergun with 3.8gr of Bullseye or HP38, very accurate and light load.

For powder measuring I use a dispenser from Anvil Conversions, available here : http://www.anvilconversions.co.uk/index ... age570.htm

When I first bought the gun I tried a hundred of the hollow base wadcutters from Alan Westlake but to be honest I didn't like them after having a couple of the skirts separate after firing. (With the standard powder load.)
Had some issues when I first acquired the gun with either oversized primers or slightly undersized primer pockets causing binding between the primer and the frame, fixed with a *very* light deepening of the primer pockets. Since then it's been faultless.

Cheers!
Paul M.
Paul, do you have any more details of this modification please such as what tool or device you used as mine frequently suffers from this 'jamming up'
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PrecisionGunnerUK
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Location: Carlton, North Yorkshire

Re: Alfa .357 starting out

#9 Post by PrecisionGunnerUK »

Sure, I did a couple of videos on Youtube which showed the problem. Search for "Alfa MLR" and you'll find them.

The primer pockets were - for want of a better term - stroked with an end mill of the correct diameter in a milling machine, unpowered, turned by hand. Just took the slightest amount of material off each pocket. Very, very slight amount.

Interesting comment from MistAgain about CCI primers causing problems, I also was using CCI primers when I first started. Likely if I was using Federal at the start I might not have had the jamming issue at all. I assume CCI primers are slightly thicker than others. Been fine with CCI since did the primer pocket depth adjustment though.

Be careful if attempting the mod, you don't want to widen the pockets and if you make them too deep you could get issues with light strikes.
I love shooting, me ;-)
Correct grammer is so important
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Sim G
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Re: Alfa .357 starting out

#10 Post by Sim G »

Lancs_Oakley wrote:Any issues with magnum primers? I know it says not to use them..... I sent Alan an email asking about it but didn't hear back.

Not surprised. If you don’t heed his manual, why would you heed his email?
In 1978 I was told by my grand dad that the secret to rifle accuracy is, a quality bullet, fired down a quality barrel..... How has that changed?

Guns dont kill people. Dads with pretty Daughters do...!
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