I already load for my 642, but I am getting a 686 and going to start up on 357. I know for SD with the 642 and hunting rounds with the 686 I will need very different special bullets. But I would like to use the same bullet for both the 642 and the 686 for general practice/target and plinking. What would be a good all round “bread and butter” bullet that will work well in a snubby 38 and a 4” 357? I was thinking 148 or 158gr semi wad cutter or a regular wad cutter. Does this sound good? I don’t want something that is too heavy for fun with the 642 or too light to load up in a medium hot 357.
PS if it matters i will be using Unique if i can.

I just don't know how you can go wrong with your standard 158 grain lead projectile, and it's what most fixed sight guns are sighted for anyways.
I suppose buying a lighter grain boolit would cost a few pennies less (less material) but it never mattered enough to me.
I haven't been loading SWC's much lately, I'm liking the Missouri RNFP and the Penn TC. Both make soft cast for 38 pressures and hard cast for 357 pressures. I use a lot of the soft cast and run it a little over 1000 fps (chrono'd) from my 4" M66 with a 357 case no problem. My 38 load is around 750 fps.

For my target and plinking loads I use 158g Rainier flat nose bullets. I buy them in packs of 500 and find them to work great. I use Rainier for my 357 Sig target loads and they are excellent in the accuracy department. For the 38/357 loads I use Unique, Titegroup, and 2400. Around 5 grains of Unique works great with the 158g. Others here like Montana Gold and Berry's.

148gr lead DEWC...38 special....cci 500 primers....3.5gr Unique
Works for me. Target, Plinking, Kills rabbits and such Now!

Most versital is 158 SWC in 357. Unique can do everything but the real hot loads.

IMHO, Unique is not the best choice for that scenario. In .357, Unique works well for plinkin' and for lower velocity target loads, but for hotter hunting type loads you'll be better off with a slower powder. 158 grainers work well in .357/.38 for both hunting and paper, whether run hot or slow. Type of bullet is a personal preference, but for deer sized game with the .357, I like a tough bullet that will penetrate and leave an exit wound.

The 158 gr LSWC is hard to beat. I use a lot of them. They only problem (not really much of one) is as mentioned, the hardness of the lead alloy. The hard 158 (18 BHN) us fine for Magnum velocities but not the best for your snubby practice. You may get a little leading but heck the barrel is only 1 7/8" long.

I buy this bullet as I shoot more paper than anything. I really do not need to load up full house 357 Mags just to plink at the range. I have a box or two of the harder 158 grs for those big boomers but find these softer ones just fine in 357 target loads.

If you are gonna hunt with the 686, splurge and get some XTP's or similar bullets although the hard lead will work.

Missouri Bullet Company

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Still Running Against the Wind

My favorite 38/357 bullet is a hard cast 158gr SWC. That is the bullet weight used to develop the .38 Special and the bullet weight used to sight in your M642. A charge of 4.0gr W231/HP-38 under that bullet is my favorite .38 Special load.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I shot this very load back in the day. One of my all time favorites.
If I remember right I bumped it to 5gr 231 in 357 cases. It liked cci 500 primers best for me. If I was using Unique I would also bump the powder 1/8- 1/4-1/2 grain.. Have to play with it a little for best accuracy.

Personally, I don't like using my standard 158gr range loads in a 442/642 for practice. Besides, what weight bullet are you using in your defense loads? Don't want too wild a change in POI between practice and defense loads, right? Since I use a 135gr defense load, I use lightly loaded Lee TL WC for practice. Try shooting 50 or so standard 158gr range loads in a 642 and get back to me on how it went. You can load 158gr SWC very lightly for the 642, but then you have the problem of keeping them separate from the 686 range loads. For me, a WC means light load every time.

For my 686 hunting loads, a .357 158gr SWC is fine, and you can load them in .38 for range/IDPA/plinking. Again, no problem in telling which load is which.

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Science plus Art

Well, kid, welcome to the forum!

The 38spl is a great load and lots of fun to shoot. Like OKFC said, a bunch of heavy hitters is going be be a bummer from the snubbie. It is your gun though and you did ask a question so, here is my answer as best as I can give it:

3.5gr Bullseye, 158gr LSWC, in 38spl cases, and you are good to go. No, you won't want to shoot a ton of them at one time but, unless you are 12 years old or 5' nothing and 98lbs soaking wet, you will be fine.

If need be, you can get a shooting glove for extended sessions.

The 1 7/8" barrel isn't going to have enough dwell time to make much difference at 7 yards or so.

FWIW.

Again, welcome to the forum and enjoy!

It's hard to go wrong with a good 158gr bullet for either with whatever design you like, but beyond that it becomes pretty subjective and component dependent.

If you are using a hard cast LRN or LSWC you may need to keep the pressure up to get best performance and good obturation. Some of them can be very hard, and more suitable to 357Mag driven faster in the 1100fps range. Otherwise, they can lead on you if driven at too low pressures. But that may not work for your 642, where a good swaged RN or LSWC like the classic Speer one, is a great bullet when driven to around 800fps.

Look at the velocity you want to achieve out of each gun and go from there. A somewhat softer cast bullet will work well for both even if you push it a little faster in the 357, and a good swaged bullet will generally give super accuracy in both if not driven too fast in the 357M.

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" I said, good DAY! "

I am using 158 gn lead RNFP in .38 cases loaded with Tightgroup, for my 686.
This is what I am using as my do ever thing bullet load for right now. I average about a 1" group at 30yards.

Another vote for the 158-grain LSWC . . . you can target-shoot, hunt, plink or use it for defense. The one bullet I'll always have on hand.

Hard to beat the 158 gr. LSWC.

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Andy

I also bump the charge to 5.0gr in a .357 Magnum case. I agree CCI-500 primers are a good choice. I use CCI primers whenever possible and for both pistol and rifle ammo.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Most people use a 158gr lswc with excellent results.

I used to shoot 2 different bullets in my different 38/357 revolvers. I used the Lyman 358311 rn bullet for years. They hit hard & I never had any problems with the speed loaders hanging up on the bullet tips. My other favorite bullet was a 148 gr hollow based wad cutter that I used to buy. They were hard to beat for serious target work & were downright medieval when I turned them around & used them as hollow points.

Now I just cast with a lee 6 cavity mold that has their 158gr round sided flat nosed bullet. They designed that bullet for steal challenges. The flat nose of the bullet hits extremely hard & the round sides allow easy feeding in lever actioned rifles & speed loaders with revolvers.

If the range is short, by that I mean 50-60 yards or less, the swaged 148 gr HBWC is hard to beat. Otherwise, cast 158 gr SWC.

I used the 158 gr. LSWC for over 35 years but SWITCHED to the 158 RNL about 5 years ago. I did like the 158 grain weight, I just disliked the leading they would produce, so I went over to the RNL bullet shape. IMHO they are slightly more accurate because they tend to produce less leading due to their absence of the sharp shoulder. The only think I do not use them for is self defense work. As a "man stopper" the RNL bullet leaves a lot to be desired, but for plinking and target shooting nothing beats it (IMHO).

Chief38

You can't go wrong with a good 158 grain cast bullet (preferably #358156 Lyman mould) and a decent dose of Winchester 231 powder. A good plinking load is 3.8 or 3.9 grains which is good for everyday paper punching.

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Vaya con Dios

I'm with ArchAngleCD: For a good general purpose plinking/target/field load, the 158 grain lead SWC over 5.0 grains of Unique.

In the .38 Special case, the 158 grain lead SWC over 4.8 grains of Unique gives the same performance level as the above mentioned .357 load. I've been using this particular .38 Special load since the mid 1970s.

For target/plinking, I like 148gr. HBWC's. These are accurate, make nice round holes, kind of easy on the budget, and easy on the hand in the recoil department. My wife really likes that part.