I am thinking of loading some 125 gr plated .38 Spec flat point bullets for my M60 no dash as practice ammo. I am trying to get the same POI as my Speer 135 gr GD SB carry ammo. I expect to accomplish this by running them at a slower velocity than the Speer, to make up for the lighter weight. I am not concerned about the lesser recoil for practice. I am sure that recoil would not be noticed in a defense shooting.
My Speer manual shows the "do not reduce" load as a full grain more than Accurate data does for the maximum plus P load. There is no middle ground here. The Speer data is for a Gold Dot bullet, while the Accurate data is for an XTP bullet.
Does anyone have any recommendations for such a load? I would think that I need something around 800 FPS or a little less, to match the POI.

Thanks,
Rick

Lee's Modern Reloading Second Eddition lists the following for a 125 plated .38 with Accurate #5.

Start 6.5 Vel 1030
Max 7.2 Vel 1171 Pressure 17000psi

I don't know where he gets his data from.
It list a load for Jacketed 125grs with a range of between 6.1 to 6.8 Which does match the data from Accurate.

So use the data at your own risk.
I don't load plated bullet or that light weight either.

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Pete.

I have some older Accurate loading data that is the same as what PDL gave you. In fact, the Accurate data specifies the bullet as the Ranier 125 FP.

Thanks for the responses. I am glad to see that there is some actual loading data for available for plated bullets.

Rick

I did a lot of load development about 5 years ago to find a Speer 135gr SB replica and I think I found one that's as close as can be found. This load was developed with input from Speer when I asked about data for their 135gr bullets.

The load I came up with not only replicates the velocity and felt recoil but the type of recoil too. What I mean when I say how the recoil feels, some recoil is like a push, some is more of a snap and so on. I figured if you're going to make replica ammo make it as close as possible.

I used a Hornady 140gr HP bullet for the development because they cost a lot less than the Speer bullets and at the time were much more available.
Here is the load:
Speer .38 Special +P brass (any .38 Special brass will be fine)
CCI-500 primers
Hornady 140gr HP bullet
6.8gr AA#5 (not the Max charge)
OAL = 1.450"

I sent a few loads over the chorno shot from a 1.875" barrel M638 and here are the numbers:
6.7gr AA#5 - 818.8 fps AV
6.8gr AA#5 - 834.0 fps AV
6.9gr AA#5 - 849.9 fps AV
7.0gr AA#5 - 870.0 fps AV (Max charge, Speer supplied data)
Even though the velocities are higher with the 6.9gr and 7.0gr loads the 6.8gr load feels most like the factory ammo and also seems to be the most accurate in my revolver. Your results may differ. I hope this helps you in your replica loading.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Check the Accurate manual #2 page 98. They list a RAN 125 bullet. That is a plated bullet and they list loads for AA #5. If that doesn't help use load data for cast bullets.

There is little difference in POI in any .38 spl bullet of any weight that's loaded to typical factory velocity and specially with bullets of such small disparity of weight as 10 grs when shot at 25 to 50 yds. Unless you can hold 2" groups at that range I doubt if you can tell one bit off difference in the less than 1" POI. Go to Hornady's free ballistics calculator if you want to see it in raw numbers. The Speer 135gr GD has a BC of 0.141 and a 125gr JSP has a BC of 0.140, can't tell you what the BC of a 125gr plated is but it should be pretty close to the same.

Most people will shoot their snubs at 25 yds or less and at such short range bullet weight means little unless you try excessive velocity changes like comparing a 125gr .357 mag vrs. the .38 spl load and even then you should be MOA of head kill zone.

I think we are looking at two different effects here.
Granted that the BC doesn't matter at ranges under 25 yards. But, I am referring to muzzle flip, and that does make quite a difference, at least for me, and its in the opposite direction to the effect of BC. With muzzle flip, the slower bullets impact higher, at least at short ranges. (There must be a range where these two effects cancel).
In my case, I was using Double Tapp 150 gr WC's at about 750 FPS from my 2 inch M60. They were hitting about 8 inches high at 25 yards. The lighter, faster, Speer 135 gr SB was shooting close to POA. I have ordered 200 of the Speer SB bullets, and will try the 6.8 gr of AA#5 (thanks ArchAngelCD) recommended in post 5 above.
But, I am also interested in a load for my 125 gr plated bullets that most of my range shooting will involve. I would like it to shoot to the same POI as the SB ammo. I think its likely to do that if I keep the charge near the top of standard pressure. I will appreciate standard load recoil on my 70 year old hands, in any case.
It might be that I am getting more muzzle flip than others experience, do to too light a grip? Maybe I need to look into that.
I enjoy shooting my no dash M60, and am interested in more accuracy than would normally be considered acceptable for a "belly gun".

Thanks for all of the considered responses,
Rick

As I recall (and I could be wrong, but don't think so... ), don't most plated bullet manufacturers recommend using cast bullet data? Seems like that would make sense to me, but then, I don't load plated bullets (I cast my own).

They do.

Have to put more.

Some do, but Barry's recommends using jacketed data. I would like to cast my own, also, but would have no place to shoot them. The ranges around here are indoors, and they go over every bullet to check for plated or jacketed and use a magnet to check for any steel.

Rick