Anyone using either of these two powders for reloading the 357 Sig? What are your experiences? I have done a test load of each and they are not bad. The Universal seems to give less felt recoil and slightly more accuracy. That could just be me though? Compared to factory loads the primer shows more flattening.

I have not used Universal yet, but Unique & WSF (sim. burn rate). I would NOT USE any of the uberfast powders like Clays, TG or BE in the 357sig. Unless you are running mousefart loads, the very steep pressure curve can prove catastrophic if you have a bullet setback & the small charge wt. means zero support for the bullet if it does try to setback. Depending on the charge wts. it doesn't surprize me you are getting flattened primers.

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Originally posted by p01forme3:
Compared to factory loads the primer shows more flattening.

That in itself is a little frightening. It means that your playing in the deep end of the pool. I'm with fredj - slower powders are safer for 357 Sig. My powders of choice for 357 Sig are VN350 and VN105.

I use Universal for .357 Sig target/practice loads. This is 5.8gr with a copper plated 124gr TC 9mm. This results in a Plus 9 mm type loading less than 1200 ft/sec as I recall....The brass seems to tolerate this as I have reloaded closing in on 5 times with the brass I have....

Much less than 5.8gr, the slide short cycles so this seems a safe load. I have not noted any stress on my Winchester primers, how many gr are you loading?

Also, you can't double charge as the powder fills about 75% of the case....

Thanks for all the information. My Universal load is 5.8 gr and the primers a slightly flatter than factory Lawman - The Bullseye load is more grains per their loading chart and feels much hotter than the Universal load. I am going to try both Accurate #9 and VV 3N37. I have reloaded a lot with Universal & Bullseye and both their reloading manuals had load data for the 357 Sig - so I gave it a try. The Universal felt week compared to the Lawman factory load and the primers flattened the same or just slightly more than the Lawman. The Bullseye felt the same as the Lawman but with more primer flattening. Thanks again.

Are you sure you haven't switched your laod data around? Universal is sim. to Unqiue or Universal, while I haven't used it in the 357sig, 5.8gr seems pretty mild. If you are using MORE Bullseye, that is a bit scary. Switching to A slower powder will yield you better/safer results.

I doubled checked and the loads for Bullseye is higher grains than Universal. The Bullseye pressure indicated is lower as well - though the felt recoil was higherand the primer flatten more than the Universal load.
http://www.reloadammo.com/357sig.htm

I used the powder manufactures manuals for load data - this link is just a summary. Interesting!

I am going to load VV 3n37 and Accurate #9.