Griffin hollow point boattails 165 grain slugs. Single loaded by hand. This photo with a slug in the mag is to demonstrate how it looks loaded in the mag. Mag will not cycle with these slugs. I tried them in both the stock magazine and a Matt’s Modded Mag from Pitbull Air, same result.
With these heavier slugs it appears that as the pressure drops, the bullet drop becomes more pronounced as seen in the verticle pattern below. I’m not sure what happened to the 5th shot. I think I may have gone through the same hole as the fourth. I held over a little more on the final shot. Looks like two shots may have gone through the lowest shot about 1.5” below the bullseye.
Griffin .357 hollow point boattail slugs 175 grain.
Below is the only group I shot with the 175 grain Griffin boattail slugs. Looks to be about 1” CTC (maybe a little tighter) from 50 yards.
I’ve noticed that when hand loading these, they may be slightly undersized or a little small for this barrel. Once they are pushed past the breech o-ring very little, if any, resistance is felt. I’m not sure if this is due to Rich throating the breech or if it directly correlates to the slugs’ diameter (.357). It was suggested that I slug this barrel. It may be time to do so. I’d also like to measure the diameter of these slugs. It may be time to test some .358 slugs. I’m not sure just yet considering I like how the 140-145 grain Griffin slugs shoot thus far, but this is the point of testing ammo. 185 grain Griffin boattails up next.
.357 Griffin hollow point boattail, 185 grain slugs.
This group doesn’t look good but these slugs surprised me. I was told that the M357 couldn’t shoot 185 grain slugs.
What surprises me is that I was able to adjust my holdover and hug the x axis of the grid (the horizontal line). My problem is the recoil of this gun. I’m gripping the gun tighter on some shots in attempt to better stabilize the gun, but still manage to move it causing my shots to move left and right, typically right. I have a bad habit of doing something that makes my shots go right, I may be gripping the gun too tightly. I want to work with these slugs more in the future. That first shot was cash money in terms of hitting a kill zone in the vitals. I wouldn’t run out and hunt with these just yet. I’m pretty rusty in general. I did adjust my holdover after the 3rd shot and brought the last two shots back up. From my experience today, I say don’t count out the 185 grain slugs. It seems to me that the M357 can shoot them just fine from 50 yards. This group was from a seated position in a plastic folding chair behind my portable shooting table using a Caldwell rest.
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