But haven't really decided on the powder to use. Have about a 1000 158 gr semi wadcutters I am going to load first. I have most of the usual suspects as far as powder. Haven't loaded 38s in a long time. I don't need killer loads but do want to use those ol bullets up. What load would some of you recommend? After the cast bullets I am going to load another 1000 or so with 125 gr then 140 gr HPs. Then finish up the last of the cases with some other bullets..Haven't figured that out yet but maybe some higher end 158 gr over a stout charge of 2400...just cause I have a bunch of it. Want to not have to load 38s for another long time.... What say y'all for any favorite loads. Will have more than 4000 when I am done with 38 Soecial cases... Then I'll do the 357s

3.8gr. of Titegroup works well for me with a 158gr. bullet.

With 158 gr cast swc, 3.2 grs Bullseye or 3.5 grs Red Dot works well for me. Happy loading and shooting :-)

I like those in the 4.0 to 5.0 grain of Unique.

Even 3.5 or a little more of Bullseye.

Lots of folks do well with 231 also

The bullet is a versatile one and should perform well in most all loads

As you know there are a handful of powders that have been used in the 38 Special for almost 100 year. My go to .38 Special powder is W231. I charge between 3.7gr to 4.0gr W231 under a 158gr LSWC.

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SWCA #3437

Well I have all of those powders. I've never really used Bullseye and I have part of a 4 pounder of Tightgroup... Used a bit of it and never loaded anything with it for some reason. May have to load a few and shoot some first. I may even go and get some of the old powders I have like Alcan 5 Winchester 230 and Hodgdon HS-5. I still have those and the data to go with them.. How about Green Dot? Have plenty of it also

I used Greed and Blue Dot in shotgun and handgun loads long time ago. The "Dots" are great at one temperature, but the same load isn't useful or necessarily safe in different extremes. I have gone to WW231 (almost the same as the old WW230) as my standard handgun powder. My F-I-L uses Bullseye exclusively! For target type loads, you primer will determine the powder charge. (He still uses his 100,000 Alcan primers!) But a hot primer, like Alcan, Fiocchi, or CCI small pistol mag, will require a 2/10ths reduction of Bullseye, to have target velocity (in both 38 Special and 45 ACP)

Ivan

You will like HS-5 but I would stay a day from W230. It is very position sensitive and unpredictable. That's why W231 was developed.

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SWCA #3437

I bought a butt-load of Unique two or three political crises ago and it has served me well in 38's and 45's in my Dillon SDB.

For me a 3.5 grain dose of 231 is a very mild accurate load with the 158 LSWC.

For plinking loads, WST is my favorite. For +P's, HS-6 was my go to, but its gotten hard to find. I use CFE-P now with good results.

The 158 gr. lead bullet is a great weight bullet for a 38 or a .357 Magnum, if it is set up for the weapon.

With a light J frame revolver I like to start out with a light load of Trail Boss or Bulleye powder at around 572fps for a light target load, with a full load stopping at 851fps.

In a K frame I can start this bullet out at 751fps with Bullseye
and move up to 890fps in my 6" for a light +P loading with a full load of Unique pushing the 158 lead up to 1014fps if needed.

With the .357 case the 158gr bullet can do 788fps with Traill Boss for a "Cowboy load" or 900-960fps with any fast powders for light target work.

Medium heavy loads at 1100 to 1200fps may be accurate in your Heavy frame revolvers for 50 yard shooting with the "Full loads" being best at 100 yard Metal targets, due to minimum bullet drop, if you don't have an adjustable rear sight.

Loads in the 1280fps or higher with this heavy bullet will have heavy recoil that might be uncomfortable.

Have fun.

Titegroup(3.8) for cast bullet burns hot;it smokes a lot.But otherwise,it is accurate,economical,flows well and gives very good velocity for the pressure involved.
I like Unique in the slightly above 5 gr area for a load that speaks with a little more authority.
Green Dot I save for my .45 Colt and low vel cast bullet loads in my 30-30

And that reminded me why I quit using the Tightgroup. A lot of smoke with cast bullets. Even shooting outside it was a lot of smoke. I have at least 25 lbs of Unique but think I want to use some of the older powder I have. I do know I am going to use up the Alcan primers. I'll bet I don't have more than 4 or 5 bucks a thousand in them. I do have a 1000 Alcan SP primers marked as S&W I will keep. I even have little tins of Alcan bullets somewhere. I even have boxes of new factory 20 ga cases marked S&W-F

I think Nevada Ed has made a life study on the use of 158 gr bullets in the 38-357. Thanks for the suggestions. I only have one K frame 357 in all my stuff and after putting it back to factory specs I've never shot it. The rest are M-27s and 28s. I know I will use up the really old 2400 in the 357s. Hopefully pictured below

Attached Thumbnails

 

Skeet;

The good thing about those old cans of 2400 and Hercules/Alliant powders is that they.......................

will not roll off the reloading table.

Have fun with that loading.

I used a lot of Hercules powder back in the day. I have some still unopened little cans of various powders. I used and sold 15 pound kegs of Red and Green Dot. 25 pound cans of Dupont IMR and 12 pound cans of 700X. Against the rules to have cans that size now I guess. I bought 8 25 pound kegs of Solo 1000 from a vendor at the World Skeet Shoot in the early to mid 90s. He was almost giving it away. Thanks for the suggestions

My Gosh..........
you have 25 lb kegs, Alcan 5 and 230 powder !!
You do like to save things, don't you?
I ran out of w540 & 571 a few years ago and thought I was a .........

About Green dot with that 158 lead bullet.

J frame snubnose......... 3.5~ at 613fps max at 822fps.
( 110 JHP +P at 950fps )

K frame 158 lead........ 4.0 at 824fps max at 905fps.
( Unique full load at 968fps )

686 6" 158 Lwc OAL 1.58" LRN OAL 1.66" (target)
LRN 5.0gr Green Dot at 984fps
LWC Maximum load per chrony work...... 1281fps. Hvy crimp

Note;
a nice light J frame 2" target load with the 148gr BBwc lead bullet for me
turned out to be Green Dot at 2.8grs at 600fps at POA.
I would not trust this minimum load in a 4" barrel ?

Later.

I happen to have some of that WST powder. Never have used it in handgun loads. And don't really load 12 ga target loads any more. May have to try it. The fellow who I loaded up with all the reloading stuff(I didn't need) for the model 34-1 gave me a lb of the CFE pistol. last month. I do want to try it in something. I was looking at the loading books and since I have about 5 or 6 pounds of HS-5 I think I will start loading the SWC lead bullets with it. I have 1250 or so of them. When I load the 158 gr XTPs I will use the 2400 I think. Want to push them a bit. Not to absolute max but a nice crisp load. That should use up about a pound of the HS-5 and most of that pound of 2400. Then I can sell the cans. I happen to have a bunch of them.

Powder..oh my. Using the last of a 3 lb keg of Hi Vel #2 from 1937. It is a great 30-30 powder I have useable quantities of Win 230 540MS 295 630 680 452 473 and a couple others I can't remember...Alcan AL120 AL-5 AL-7 and AL-8 Surplus Hodgdon 4831, 4676 4895 BL-C(not #2) and one called H-108...probably a couple others. I had an unopened 50 lb keg of 4831 but someone needed it a lot more than me..A LOT more. And I have HS-5 HS-6 and HS 7. I also used up the last of the surplus WC-820 I got from Jeff Bartlett. It was just about like AA-9 so I used it in the 410. It was a great powder for that but it was so fine I had to sweep up the migrated and spilled powder off the bench after every 500 or so rounds..

Unlike many others The only experimenting I ever did with the 38 sp was playing with the old Chief's Special with real light loads of Bullseye with 148 gr HB wadcutters. My wife liked shooting that little gun with loads not much more potent than 22s. She and my daughter used 'em to shoot rodents in the grainery in the barn. We raised the grain and ground our own feed for critters. The only Bullseye I ever used and still have the rest of that metal can.

686 6" with CFE Pistol powder cci500 primer

110 jhp 6.5~ ...... 6.8@999fps 7.0*@1080

158 LWC 4.8~ @747fps ........... 5.5*@939fps


9mm with CFE pistol powder C9 3.5" (* max)
115gr plated 5.0~ 1.12"oal @960fps 6.0*@1139fps
124gr plated 5.0~ 1.14"oal @983fps 5.5* 1.12"oal @1097fp
147 Speer TMJ 4.0gr 1.165"oal@812fps 4.5* 1.13"oal @951fps

Loads for my weapons....... maximum may be over pressure.

Thanks for the ideas on the CFE Pistol. I found one box-bag of 110 gr Winchester JHPs I can load them and be done with 'em. I don't have to load 9mm. Thank goodness. My wife has a little 9mm C9 and I have a Kimber Micro 9 I carry in the summer. Kind of an ugly brown thing with Crimson Trace grips. But it shoots pretty good with the 147 gr HPs. Not hardly worth loading when you can buy factory for cheap.

I ransom rested several powders in my model 14-6. The most consistent accurate load at target velocities was 3.5 g of WST. The WST was more accurate than Bullseye, Unique or WW231.
The other loads were not terrible but the WST was consistent at 1 3/4 to 2" at 50 yards.

I 2nd that vote for WST . It and WSF get the most use on my reloading bench for my revolvers . Regards Paul

I do have a pound or two of that WST around and may have to try it, Are y'all loading it with cast of jacketed bullets. wv 109323...I can tell you I doubt I can even use the extra accuracy potential but sure nice to know it is there.. I had a Ransom Rest and it sure does work..Only thing I used with it was a 6 1/2 inch M-27 and a 6 inch pre 28. They could shoot but not that well....but I didn't search all that much

Alliant Bullseye powder is good for revolver and pistol loads but.........

like you, if I use it with the Mec Jr. for light 12 Ga. trap loads....
I end up using the broom to clean up the "Leakage" from the shot bar.......

even with the copper and rubber gaskets !!

Ah;
the fun times of reloading.
You never know when you are going to have a "Moment".

Skeet 028 : I am shooting cast , 158gr . Regards Paul

I've got lots of the 158 gr SWCs. Found at least another 2000 of 'em in a real obvious place...up on the window sill in the grudge. Commercial cast ones I picked up back when!. According to the tag inside I got 'em for 15 bucks at a show in Livingston Mt

38 Special w/ 158 gr. cast LSWC :
3.5 grs. Bullseye
3.8 grs. Red Dot
4.0 grs. 231
4.1 grs. HP38
4.7 grs. Unique

All of the above have worked nicely in 38 special as standard velocity 38 special loads and proved accurate and economical .
Gary

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Wow! No help with loads, but impressed by how many empty casings you have, Skeet 028.

I have thousands of 38 Sp cases. Some I got at an auction when I bought a bunch of 44 mag cases. Auctioneer said you got the whole batch. Took a long time to get through that bunch of cases. I even got little baggies of 380 auto cases..all new...enough to fill one and a half pound coffee cans. Same with 223 cases. I have at least 8000 and I just sold 2000...And with all those 38 special cases....I will have to buy some 357 mag cases to get to 500. I recently threw out at least 2000 WWII 30-06 all cleaned deprimed etc. Recycle place would not take 'em. I used to sell a lot of reloading stuff. People gave me cases and I guess I never said no. I recently found 22 boxes of 7mm Mauser commercial cases all once fired in 7mm Ackley Improved chamber. They'll be around a while Duh! If I could I'd put them on ebay...but they don't really allow brass cases to be sold

For years my standard load in 38 special using 158 gr cast bullets was 5.0 grs of Unique . I got that load from Skeeter Skeltons writings . Regards Paul

I used unique in a lot of different calibers over the years. But I have all this old powder and some of it I am going to use. I have at least 5 pounds of AL 5 about the same of HS-5 couple of pounds of 5066...probably put that in the 45 auto. Have at least 4 of those metal cans of 2400. I'm going to use up some of those powders. Grandkids can shoot 'em up.

BTW I read all those Skeeter articles too He got me using Unique alot.

^^^^^^ What powder and primer shortage? ^^^^^^

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S&WHF 366

Same here ... but for decades , like 40+ years ...Then somebody tells me ... That's now a +P Load...you need to back it downto 4.7 grs. Unique . So I say 4.7 grs. but my powder measure is still set @ 5.0 grs. and My Ruger Blackhawk doesn't mind !
Gary

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To be honest I AM getting a little low on the older primers. Especially the small pistol primers. I happen to have 4000 large pistol Alcans that are marked 5 dollars per thousand..., only 1100 small pistol but the rest are newer generally..a few partial Winchester 108s in the little wooden trays. Mainly from estates I have bought in the past. I've never had a bad batch of primers...except some Federal shotshell 209 that had a recall. But powder I do have. I recently burned over 20 pounds of surplus 4831 that was stored in jars. not by me though. At one time it was sold in paper bags. The world is a different place these days.

Alcan primers at $5.00 / per thousand ... you showing your age now .
During the last great powder shortage I found two sealed 8 oz. cans of Alcan #5 squirreled away on the back top closet shelf ... the price tag was marked $2.00 ea. Whoa Momma !!! Wished I had bought more back then ... Alcan #5 was good stuff .
Gary

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.

I probably didn't buy those primers new myself..they probably came from an estate lot I bought in the past. I do remember buying primers in the past for under 5 dollars...but that was back when you knocked the center out of shotshell primes and seatedprimer cups..I can't remember who made the tool for that...but I did do it..Shotshell primers were a couple bucks more per M. I think I am going to take a picture of some of the old powders I have left here. I'll bet I have powder some here have never heard of. I have even loaded Dupont bulk smokeless powder and still have some. I do need to use some of it