Problem Loading 38 Special in a Puma

[tcomer]

Hey all. I have a Rossi Puma Stainless gun I bought new last year. I load 158gr Laser cast lead bullets in 357 with 7.7grs of Ramshot's True Blue powder. These shoot great. I decided to make a light load for the wife in 38 Special. Same bullet, but 4.8grs of the same powder in the 38 case. This load is all over the target. We're talking 6" groups at 15 yards. Off a bench no less. Gun cleans easily after firing with just the usual specs of lead. Is this too light a load for these bullets? I have 125gr HP Winchester bulk jacketed bullets that I load with 9grs of the same powder in 357. This load is even more accurate than the 357 lead loads. Any idea what I'm doing wrong with the 38s?

[colo native]

try 3.1 gr Bullseye...

[J Miller]

tcomer,

You may be doing nothing wrong. Sometimes certain combinations just won't work well. Here's some thoughts about your Puma:

The Laser cast bullets are generally VERY hard. Unless you run them at or near full mag pressures they will not bump up to seal the bore. What diameter are they, and what is the grove diameter of your barrel?

Then there is the extra free bore the shorter 38 case gives you, this may allow the bullet to enter the rifling different than the longer .357 cases. Try your light load in the longer cases and see what happens.

As for the jacketed bullets being more accurate, I've had that happen to. The jacket material is harder than lead. Even if the bullet is a bit undersized will take the rifling and be accurate where the lead bullet won't.

The first thing I'd do is try the 4.8gr load in .357 cases and see what the accuracy is. That might be all it takes.

Joe

[Chuck 100 yd]

Joe pretty much has it covered. Hard cast bullets usually need to be pushed hard to be accurate.

[tcomer]

I've never slugged the gun because it did so well with the other loads. The bullets are listed at .358 diameter. I do use Lee lube on them to prevent leading. Just something I do. I had a feeling it might have something to do with the hardness of them. I loaded 100 rounds but stopped after about 25 when I saw how they shot. Not sure I want to go that low a load in a 357 case, but I will try the jacketed HP when I shoot these up. When I had good luck with the 357 loads, I bought 2000 of 'em when they were on sale. This 38 load shoots great out of my little S&W snubbie.

[J Miller]

tcomer,

The .38 SPCL case is only 1/10" shorter than a .357 Mag case. That isn't enough difference to cause any trouble. But if you wanted to try the light load in the longer case you could bump up the charge from 4.8 grs to 5.0grs to compensate for the difference of length.

Joe

[tcomer]

One other thing I forgot to mention. I use CCI 500 standard primers in the 38 loads and CCI 550 magnum primers in the 357 loads. Not sure if that would make a difference, but thought I'd mention it.

[Lefty Dude]

For light loads in 38 case's I always use mag primers. Like 3.2 gr. of Alliant American Select with a 140 gr. lasercast RNFP. This is a CAS load from the Alliant pamplet. And 3.5 gr. in a .357 case.

This is a very accurate & mild load.

[JerryB]

My Rossi 20 inch .357 runs real good with 158 grain cast and 4.0 and 4.7 grains of Unique, both very accurate loads.

[Griff]

158gr RN over 3.1grs of PB, std primers in .38Spl cases are like homing pigeons in my wife's Puma. I swear it's like they've got little magnets inside the way they ding on the 200 yd gong!

[tcomer]

Well I just threw together some 38s with the Winny 125gr JHP, CCI 500 primers and 5.9grs of the True Blue. These shot great. Very mild load. I'll just have to use the Laser Casts in my 357 loads. Thanks for the advice and listening to my problems.

[Hobie]

Dare I state the obvious and say that anytime you change something you'll likely change your results?

My question, why does your wife need a different load in that gun? I don't have a .38 Special load that gives more than about 4-5 fpe recoil in a rifle of that weight.

[tcomer]

Wife likes to shoot, but not the recoil. She got bit by a scope on a 308 gun of mine. She loves my Henry in 22 mag. But jeeze, I can reload 38s cheaper than those V-max bullets in that Henry. Recoil of a pistol doesn't bother her. But then again, the gun is not near her head

[Ysabel Kid]

Dare I state the obvious and say that anytime you change something you'll likely change your results?

My question, why does your wife need a different load in that gun? I don't have a .38 Special load that gives more than about 4-5 fpe recoil in a rifle of that weight.

Ditto. Any "true" .38 Special load in a Puma should be very pleasant to shoot with little felt recoil. You need to get up into the +P range, or the .357 Magnum level to get a kick. If you really want loads that purr, try 125-grain LRN-FP's over Trail Boss. You can get loads from the IMR/Hodgdon website. These are specially for CAS and there is really no felt recoil. To me in a lever gun they feel little different from a .22 LR!