Black Powder in the .38 Special / Cheap Reloading

[Firedeath7878]

Looking to get into reloading, because of the ammo prices. The price of ammo has had a big impact on how much I shoot. It hard to keep a good stock of any caliber I shoot. Brought a Model 10-11 awhile back and love it, I'll shoot a couple hundred rounds at a time. While researching how to reload, I saw that black powder is cheaper than smokeless ($11.50LB).Thats about half as smokeless. My question is does it save any using black powder,have any of you guys used it before, and does it take more power to get the same boom. Will still be some months before I get things set up, just trying to research the cheapest route. Any info, and experience will be appreciated. Thanks

[alwslate]

I doubt that you will be able to shoot 200 rounds of black powder
handloads in a 38 spl at one session unless you take a bucket of
soapy water to the range with you. If memory serves the black
powder charge for 38 spl was 21 grs and the typical smokeless charge
of most handloads is about 3-4 grs. I don't think you will find any
thing cheap about trying to use black powder instead of smokeless,
however you measure cost, financial or otherwise. The others on here
will tell you if you want to shoot cheaply cast your own bullets and
look for quantity buys in surplus smokeless powder.

[Pisgah]

The proper cartridge-load of BP is always the same -- enough to fill the case up to the base of the bullet, slightly compressed,leaving absolutely no airspace in the case. Commercial hardcast bullets and their hard lube won't work well -- you need softer bullets and lube. Fouling is often severe enough to tie up a revolver after a few rounds. Clean-up is messy and critical -- while a gun shot with smokeless loads and given a quick wipe-down afterwards can remain rust-free for months afterwards, a gun fired with BP can literally rust overnight unless scrupulously cleaned and oiled. Not saying it can't be done, but it's not really a practical alternative to smokeless powder. And, I don't know where you are but $11.50 a pound sounds mighty cheap. Prices I have seen lately run from around $15 a pound for large lots (25 to 50 lbs.) to around $22 for small lots of a few pounds.

[Titegroups]

Makes no sense to use black powder, more economic to use smokeless, titegroup will get you probably the most number of rounds from a pound as it has about the most energy per volume.

[Rule3]

Black Powder in the .38 Special / Cheap Reloading

NO, very bad idea.

[JohnK]

I grew up, working for my uncle, the owner of Dixie Gun Works. Have shot about everything imagineable, with black powder; civil war cannons, on down. He made me clean all of them...............

That Smith revolver, will have black powder residue spread ALL throughout the complex innards of that nice piece. Without a COMPLETE strip, and tear down, and through cleaning, EVERY TIME, it would shortly be a piece of rusted junk.

Black powder is hygroscopic (attracts moisture) from the instant it is fired.

I totally agree with a poster above, you probably wouldn't get through two cylinders, before binding occurred.

Loved playing with black powder guns, gave it up, because of the blasted corrosive mess.

[scattershot]

I don't think it's a good idea, either. It will get a bullet down the barrel, to be sure, but the residue will clog up the gun in short order, not to mention that there is an involved cleaning regimen that must be done, even after one round. $11.50/lb sounds awfully cheap to me, and as someone said above it usually runs $20.00+.

Bullseye is a classic powder for the .38 Special, and 2 1/2 - 3 grains is a nice mild plinking load. At 7,000 grains per pound, that's pretty cheap shooting.

I would recommend re-thinking your cheap shooting strategy.

Good luck!

P.S. Sometimes it pays to read the can of powder, too, as some brands put less than a pound in a can, making you think you're getting a deal when you're not.

[growr]

SASS shooters do this a LOT....but their reasons are NOT for economy, but rather for the big boom it creates. They also use softer bullets and lube designed for BP (SPG usually) so that they CAN run 5 stages in a day without cleaning.

I would not do it for a M10....my 1873 SAA Uberti copies...Yes, indeed!

Randy

[Moonman]

If you've heard that BULLSEYE IS DIRTY,

Just wait till you try your NEW AND IMPROVED LOAD!!!!

[Titegroups]

Not that I don't like to shoot my black powder guns, but it ain't going in any modern gun I have single actions included. Like putting diesel in a gas motor.

[semperfi71]

By now...you should have a very qualified answer.

I would add this. I shoot both smokeless and black-powder in a variety of handguns.

Shooting black powder in a modern S&W D/A revolver is not cost effective.

You will use a lot more powder than you would in a Bullseye load (excellent for .38 Specials). You WILL have to find and buy specific black powder bullets. You will have to find or make wads to protect the bullet from the black-powder. You will have to detail strip after each shooting session. You will have to clean your cases after each shooting session. You probably will tie up a S&W modern D/A after a lengthy shooting seesion.

Eat bolonie and save money to buy smokeless powder.

[blujax01]

I dunno. I'd love to see the look my range officer gave me if I fired out several chambers of BP at our indoor range!

[wiley]

Bullseye runs $12-16.00 a pound for 5x the reloads as a pound of black, easy pick, here!

[2152hq]

I shoot American Pioneer (Clean Shot) out of cartridge revolvers, rifles and shotguns. All the smoke you want but no fouling like BP.
50rds leaves you with no more fouling than the first and that looks about like a load of RedDot.
Loads the same as BP,,fill the case to the bullet lighty compresses it and crimp lightly. Card & fiber wads in the shotshells.
Regular lubed bullets are fine.
Cleanup is a water wet patch or two, dry and oil. Wipe down the parts.

I've shot many many rounds in Webleys, Colts and Winchesters of it. Shot shells mostly in a '97 at skeet birds.
A few 45acp loaded with it for a shaved Webley MkIV went through a 1911 Colt.
Worked the action just fine, not too bad in the accuracy dept either.
Easy cleanup. Something I wouldn't do in any of the guns w/ BP. Too much of a mess. I know that from experience. Even my C&B days are over.

It's something different....but with all that,,it ain't cheap. You want cheap,,stick to smokeless loads.

[11e40]

try some bullseye or trailboss.

[ArchAngelCD]

IMO the powder isn't the place to try and save money when reloading especially since you can load between 1750 and 2000 handgun rounds with one pound of powder. Finding free brass and finding cost effective bullets is where you will save the most when reloading.

[k53]

Man, I got a pound of hp-38 for about 18 bucks... at around 4 gr a load..... well that's pretty darn cheap!!! Cheapest part of the whole load

[smithnframe]

A pound of Bullseye goes a long way! I've shot thousands of 38's loaded with 3 grs of bullseye and any cast bullet I want. 7000 grs in a pound....about 2333 reloads!

[Firedeath7878]

Thanks for all the comments guys, Never knew black powder was so crosive. Seems I've been trying to save as* backwards. Always helps to have an outside perspective, an opinion just for situations like this. Thanks again.

[Rule3]

Originally Posted by Firedeath7878

Thanks for all the comments guys, Never knew black powder was so crosive. Seems I've been trying to save as* backwards. Always helps to have an outside perspective, an opinion just for situations like this. Thanks again.

There are of course, Black Powder Guns. In fact I just bought my first one. A Navy revolver, got a steal at the pawn shop came with everything! 44 cal lead balls, powder, caps, cleaning stuff tools, powder horn etc. One of those nice Italian replicas with lots of brass on the receiver, nice hardwood grips.. I will post a picture when I can pick it up.

Don't forget black powder explodes, smokeless powder burns very fast.

[Vulcan Bob]

Now I have loaded the 38 Special with black powder for SASS (cowboy) matchs but in comparison with smokeless its much more expensive. I find that 3.5 grains of Bullseye with any old lead 158 grain bullet is about as cheap as it gets with very good results. Good luck and have fun!

[jtcarm]

Get a cap& ball wheelgun if you want to shoot bp. Nasty stuff.

Besides, that, I can't speak to modern substitutes, but BP is quite unstable. I wouldn't want to store it at home.

[ballistic]

Originally Posted by jtcarm

Get a cap& ball wheelgun if you want to shoot bp. Nasty stuff.

Besides, that, I can't speak to modern substitutes, but BP is quite unstable. I wouldn't want to store it at home.

Please tell me how a 1 lb can of blackpowder is unstable?
I have been told that if it is kept cool and dry it should be OK.

[VAdoublegunner]

If you are getting black powder for $11.50/lb that is a great deal! It's running a good bit more than that around here.

I shoot lots of it in Ruger Old Army revolvers and various BP rifles. However, given the choice of shooting it in a modern gun or not, I'd go with a modern smokeless powder if you are just plinking. It is not all that hard to clean up with the right stuff, but much more work than is necessary unless you just want the fire, smoke and boom.

I load 45Colt with roundball and BP on occasion. Kinda fun actually and pretty accurate. Clean up of a SS Vaquero with a couple of sprays of my special solution, some Ballistol and a thorough brushing and a couple of runs of near boiling water through it with a final lube has it going again. But it is much easier to shoot smokeless; you can forget about cleaning it for weeks and not do any damage to it. A roundball and a little Green Dot shoots just as well, and without all the cleaning effort. But, you do miss out on all that fire, smoke and boom.....

[gregintenn]

If you're wanting to save $, I'd suggest you locate a good source of lead wheelweights, and invest in some casting equipment. A 4 pound can ofBullseye will last you for years!