I am seeking two loads, one light for introducing new shooters to the sport and another for accuracy. I ran 3.9 to 4.2 gr W-231 and found velocities under 600fps from a 4 inch 686 and very poor accuracy. Groups tightened with 4.4 gr. which might be the right load for beginners. I will now start working up, but have no idea what max load or max velocity I should stay under. Max for a 125 gr. jacketed bullet is 5.1 from my Lyman's manual. That might be too high for the plated Rainiers. If I can't make this shoot, I plan to try Bullseye. Your thoughts and experience appreciated.

I think you are on the right track using a starting charge of 4.4gr W231 under that bullet. You can go up to 4.8gr safely if the accuracy will improve. Both charges are standard pressure rounds and with that light a bullet you won't achieve objectionable felt recoil.

For an even lighter feeling load you might want to try a charge of 3.2gr to 3.5gr W231 under a 148gr DEWC bullet. Wadcutters are soft shooting and very accurate.

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Try Trail Boss powder. I have used 4.5 gr. Trail Boss with the 125 gr. Rainier for ca 780 fps. I have also used Trail Boss with both lead and plated 158 gr. bullets in the 38 Special.

Thank you for the thoughts so far. I am also loading to the maximum published length for the .38 special. They funciton fine, but I wonder if the low velocities and poor accuracy I'm seeing is a function of too long a COAL for the shorter 125 grain bullets.

I don't think the OAL has anything to do with it.
I think you're seeing the problems of the "short bullet--light load."
All these problems go away with the 148gr wadcutter and 3 gr of 231. If you like plated bullets, they come in 148gr WC also.

I shoot my test loads at 100yds to see if they are still going straight, which shows up marginal stability at shorter range. Try your 125gr loads and you'll see they aren't all that stable.

Very interesting. I loaded up twenty from 4.4 to 4.8. No pressure signs. Groups shrank from around three inches at 25 yards with 4.4 and 4.5 gr to under two inches with 4.6 and then opened up again to over three with 4.7 and 4.8. Guess I found my load. I plan to load up the 1,000 bullets I have and buy no more. I do have the Rainier 148 gr. bullets in stock and will try those with the load recommended above.

Velocity of the 4.6 grain load is 716 fps which is around what the manuals predict, but with a standard deviation of 41(ten shot groups) which is way more than I see with other calibers. Powder seems to be flowing freely and the scale tells me it's probably not the powder charge although I didn't measure each case. I am using mixed brass. I'm loading on a 650XL. I plan to bleieve what I see on the target and ignore the sd.

Many thanks for the guidance.

I found that 4.0 grains of Bullseye and a 125 jacketed bullet to be very accurate. Nice load to shoot.

I believe your high standard deviation is the result of two factors: 1) Mixed headstamps; and 2) The amount of airspace in the case.

The lighter W231 loads you tried first were probably burning more like a fuse; the charge was strung out along the case body. Try chronographing a string by tipping the muzzle up between shots. This will allow all of the powder to flow back against the primer. I wager you will see a much lower standard dev.

As a previous poster mentioned, Trail Boss is a good option, because it is deliberately made to be more "bulky" (occupy more space). I have also had good results with IMR SR 4756 for this reason, but it is better suited for +P loads.

Thanks FEG. Your thoughts are confirmed by all Federal headstamps and shorter COAL producing lower standard deviations but about the same groups on the target.

I have now gone to bullseye 3.7 grains with this 125 gr Rainier load which shoot a little better than 4.6 gr. W-231 in my 686.

2.7 to 3.0 Bullseye under the Rainier 148 gr. DEWC shoot very well and are now my go to load for target work.

I don't have Trail Boss in house, but I do like the higher case fill. I will try some if I find any.

Thank you all for talking me through this.

Hank,
I have found Mr. FEG's suggested load to be the cat's meow. Sound like you did too! It's the load my wife refers to as the "bunny farts"...great range load in all my .38s I load on a 650 too and ignore the SD...just look at the groups.

Bob

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