Titegroup vs ??? for 38 special?

[mattri]

Good day gents,
Looking to start loading for an older 15-4 38 special. It is in pretty rough shape cosmetically but from the one box of factory ammo I've put through it seems to shoot well. I plan to refinish it as a project but for now would like to shoot it some, just at the range no carry or comps.

Plan to shoot store bought cast 125/158s.

Have Starline brass on its way and actually found some WSPs. The only powder I see locally is Titegroup, and occasionally HP38. Seems like Titegroup would work fine for what im doing- thoughts/suggestions?

Would love to try Unique, Bullseye etc but haven't seen any in forever and think my lgs may not even carry Alliant anymore.

Any info appreciated thanks!

 

[zeke]

Am using hp-38 for 125 lrnfp and 158 lswc. Very good accuracy in both

 

[Rider1300]

I’ve been using TiteGroup for many years …….some say it’s too dangerous because it is a fast burning powder. I have never had a problem; but then again, I am very careful about my reload procedure and really like TiteGroup

 

[minconrevo]

Titegroup along with a number of other powders work well in .38 Spl. My favorite was Solo 1000, which has been discontinued for a while. Accurate #2 works well with mid range loads. HP38/Win 231 good ones.

 

[serger]

You might want to look at shotgun powders. For years I used
700X and Red-Dot and Herco.

I still use Herco. (For about all my midrange handgun stuff)

 

[Ameshawki]

I use Titegroup in almost all the handgun calibers I reload.

 

[Skeet 028]

lthough I found a couple pounds of Tightgroup powder here in the powder
mag...I have never used it. I do use WW231. But I've never really used Bullseye either. I've kinda shied away from TG as the charge weights are so small. BE too.I am about to use my last 1 1/2 lbs of WW 230
\

 

[gmarshall99]

I use titegroup in all my revolver calibers. It is forgiving on large cases like .45colt.

 

[OKFC05]

There's a baker's dozen powders that work well in .38 Spl., in fact, virtually all the medium pistol/shotgun powders, e.g. HP38 (aka win 231), bullseye, Universal, Titegroup, 7625, clays, 700-X, CFE Pistol, WST, HS6.

 

[AJ]

I am the opposite of most responders. I use Bullseye in most of my handguns. I do have H-38, 231, 700-X, Unique, 2400 and a couple of others in the powder locker, but Bullseye is my go to for plinking loads.

 

[Sevens]

If we somehow got EVERY handloader that regularly loads .38 Special to respond, there one be -one- guy that nominates himself as the President of the NEVER TITEGROUP in .38 Special club. That one man would be me.

Titegroup has good points and bad points and I could expound but I will stick to the task at hand. There is one big reason that I will suggest you avoid Titegroup for this job:

Titegroup is maybe the highest nitro powder on the market and it burns HOT. In my experience, hotter than anything I have ever used, noticeably so. I find that this heat just makes all my K-frames blazing hot after even just 2-3 cylinders. I was taught revolver handling by PPC shooters back in the 80’s and I wrap the fingers of my left hand around the cylinder and eject with my left thumb — the scorching cylinder from Titegroup is bad enough that at my bench, Titegroup has earned a lifetime ban in .38 Special.

I load and shoot thousands of .38 Special each year and my absolute go-to powder is Bullseye. If I could not get Bullseye, I would probably use W232/HP-38. If I could not find that, I would poke around elsewhere, possibly Accurate#2.

I would try a dozen new powders for .38 Special before I would use Titegroup ever again in .38 Special.

 

[rwsmith]

Red Dot is close....

I've used HP-38, Unique, Bullseye, Titegroup and Accurate #7 and maybe a couple that I've forgotten. All of them worked well.

 

[Greyman50]

I also use Bullseye but none can be found now days. IIRC used HP-38 in some loads that were ok. Out of town so can’t post exact load.

 

[chief38]

Used to use Bullseye and while it worked very well, it was a bit dirtier than the Titegroup is. Been using Titegroup for 15 years now and it works quite well for 38, 357, 45acp. It is also supposedly less case position sensitive. Although my powder of choice for 45acp is W231, when times were tough Titegroup worked just fine - has a little more recoil than the W231 at the same velocity.

 

[cowboy4evr]

My powder of choice for 38 spl and 45 Colt is Red Dot . It is what I grab when reloading those calibers . It's bulkier than bullseye , tite group among others , fills the case better . I use older load data , I don't buy / nor need new manuals .

 

[DWalt]

Titegroup is very similar in performance to Bullseye. 3 to 3.5 grains behind about any lead bullet will work fine. People sure go off the rails in answering everything other than your very simple question.

 

[cporfe]

In my younger days I used to shoot SASS. Me and my "sponsor" in the sport used Clays for our .38s. Dirty, but cheap, at least at the time. I reloaded about 1,500 rounds a year. He did about 15,000. It worked but that's about all. I changed to Titegroup and had to be real careful because the amount of powder used for a reasonable load was smaller and I was always checking to prevent double loads. I did my last batch of 2,000 with Trail Boss powder. It filled the cases well and was reasonably accurate, for my purposes, as anything else I tried. BTW, I used 125 grain lead bullets either .357 or .358 depending on what was cheapest. I also used magnum primers to make sure the smaller load would kick off. I will add I used these .38 reloads in everything from .357 cowboy guns to a Model 15 I have that I like. Just my 2 cents.

 

[glenwolde]

I've been reloading the .38 Special for a very long time and have tried many powders. HP38 is my choice. But the truth is the .38 Special is magical. It works well with almost any powder.

 

[.38SuperMan]

Word has it that Alliant is no longer producing powder for the consumer market so Bullseye, Unique and Universal along with many other powders is supposedly gone. So what is currently on dealers shelves is all there will be at least for some time. I understand this is due to fulfilling commercial, not consumer, contracts. I found 2 pounds, one locally and one mail order, and bought them to go with a pound I already had.

BE as were many other powders were unobtainable during Covid soni started texting what I could get. I had a good stock of HP38/231, CFE Pistol, HS6/540 with a partial bottle of unique and Bullseye. Hodgdons powders were the most available which includes Winchester Western and Accurate.

I used a lot of 231/HP38 and HS6/540 over the years in quite a few cartridges including 38 Super, 38 Special and 45 acp. I’m old and arthritic now so comfort is key in my shooting. I mainly shoot 48 Special now and went back to 231 and found in light loads it becomes very position sensitive. I had 400 fps variations depending on how I held the pistol, barrel up or down. I hand weighed each test load so accuracy wasn’t an issue. I tested in a 2” Colt, 2” Smith and a 3” Colt. Again these were just above Hodgdons published minimums but had 2 rounds fail to fully ignite lodging the bullet in the barrel and leaving the unburied powder in the barrel as well. As mentioned the velocity spread was extreme not to mention lodged bullets. As a side note im certain the powder just didn’t ignite becaus it was still in the barrel and cylinder when I opened the cylinder.

I wound up trying Accurate 2 and Nitro 100NF. Nitro 100NF is slightly faster than Bullseye and works extremely well in 38 Special (Polymer coated 125 and 158’s). I also experimented with AA2 and found it to be even better with 158’s. Velocities with both are excellent as is accuracy and recoil is very mild with 158’scand AA2.

I’ve since adopted N100NF and AA2 as my most used powders. Also in light loads 231 is very dirty but both Accurate powders are very clean. I think if I could only use one powder AA2 would be my choice.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

For 38 Special my choice;

Bullseye
BE-86
W231
HP38
Unique

So usually my LGS will have one of the five I listed. Currently they have the 8# kegs of Bullseye.