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At least partially on-topic, as I intend to use these in numerous guns, including a pair of leveractions.
I find myself well short of my inventory goal for the venerable .38 Special cartridge. Some of the stuff I have recently shot was loaded over a decade ago, and loaded to light CAS specs. The intention was to use it with my children as they transitioned from rimfire to centerfire. These worked just as intended, but are much too light for Y2K, who wants something stronger to shoot.
So, I'm going to reload a bunch here in the next week or so. I'm not looking to load any +P or +P+ loads, just full-power "standard" .38 Specials. I'll be shooting 158-grain LSWC's, using small-pistol primers (CCI-500's; not "magnums").
I usually load 5 grn of W231 over a 125 grn LSWC. You might want to think about dropping to a 110 or 125 grn bullet if your loading for your kids, you can still reduce the powder charges so that there is insignificant recoil.
Gun Control is not about guns, it is about control!
5 grains of Unique has put a lot of lead downrange for me. For just plinking around, low recoil loads a 22 LR case full of Bullseye is a sweet shooting load under a 158 gr slug. Just get a 22 LR case, wrap a piece of stripped 12 or 10 gauge copper wire around it and use it as a dipper. You can heat it over a gas flame and touch a bit of solder to it if you like. The same dipper of 231 works a treat as well. BUT those are lighter loads. If Y2K is looking for a bit more punch then up the ante to the above mentioned Unique load. I played some with Trail Boss but was underwhelmed by it. It's bulkier but didn't give me the punch I was looking for. Of course, if you want a bit MORE kick to it, then you could try 10-11 grains or so of 4227. That's in +P territory and I believe it would work a treat in a rifle.
Paul - in Pereira
"He is the best friend of American liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion." -- John Witherspoon
Thanks guys. You hit a lot of my standby or go-to powders: Unique, W231, Bullseye. I have plenty of light loads so I want to load these to normal standards. Don't want Y2K thinking everything is as puny as the .22!
I had a hankering to work up a load using Red Dot. Don't know why, other than I have a bunch of it on hand. Anyone have any experience with that powder? I've used it in .44 Magnum loads with good results.
Loads have been as low as 3.1 gr. (might be TOO light - check
it in YOUR gun!) for bullseye competition, up to 4.9 or so.
I use 158 gr. LSWC or LSWCHP. I've found that the 125 gr. slugs
don't always shoot to point of aim in fixed-sight revolvers. The
heavier loads are quite comfortable in 4" revolvers.
Ysabel Kid wrote:I had a hankering to work up a load using Red Dot. Don't know why, other than I have a bunch of it on hand. Anyone have any experience with that powder? I've used it in .44 Magnum loads with good results.
Yep, down to the last ½ lb and need to buy another 8lb jug. I use it my .45Colt 12 & 20 guage shotshells. I was outta 700X for my .45ACP, so I loaded about 100 rounds w/RedDot... look forward to seein' how it works there.
But, I like that PB in the 38Spl due how clean the cases are! It's like you don't have to even tumble 'em. Soon's I get more WWs, I'm gonna get to castin' and loadin'!
Griff,
SASS/CMSA #93
NRA Patron
GUSA #93
There is a fine line between hobby & obsession! AND... I'm over it!!
No I ain't ready, but let's do it anyway!
As the others say-----Unique My all time load back in the day when .357 cases were hard to come by was 6 grains of Unique and a 150 gr. Lyman in a 38 Spl. case---shot out of .357 guns I bet I pushed 20 K out this load out of several different 357's.------------Sixgun
My favorite .38 SPL load is a 158gr SWC over 4.6gr of Unique, this should be close to 850fps from a 4" revolver. I wouldn't go below 4.5gr with Unique as the pressures are lower and it tends to be sooty. At 4.5gr and above though I haven't had a problem. I tried the famous 5gr of Unique but found that my S&W M10 didn't like that load at all. However When I reached the OL' standby of 5.4gr (+P load) things really tightened up
I have some W231 as well but haven't had the time to work with it yet, so I can't comment on that one.
