A buddy's Puma cal .357 mag only feeds cartriges from the magazine with an OAL of 1.50 - minus inches.
The Lyman manual shows these max loads:
168 gr. cast swc + 15.7 gr of H110, OAL 1.553
170JHP + 15.5 of H110, OAL 1.59 inches
180 JTC sil. + 15.0 of H110, OAL 1.585 inches.
  Would a load using a 180 hard cast bullet + 14 grains of H110 at an OAL of 1.50 inches be a safe one in a Puma? He actually shot these, and no signs of hi pressure were observed.
Should a so small reduction in OAL allow the use of max manual loads as those listed above?
  I have seen references to 16 gr. of H110 plus a 185 gr. cast as beeing safe in a 92 action, but do not know the OAL for this load.
  Thanks in advance.

The critical dimension when you're working with data from another bullet is the length from the base of the bullet to the crimp groove.  If the "BTC" length of the cast bullet is shorter than for the jacketed, you would have some room to *safely* work with.  One needs to tread carefully in such a situation.  ANY sign of high pressure, like a deformed primer or excessive case-head expansion (it would be well to measure with a micrometer, with a hot factory load as a control), is a red flag that something is wrong with the picture.
Good shooting
Mark