Picked up a bunch of reloading components (not cartridges) from an estate sale and I now have several hundred 110 grain Speer JHP .358 bullets. I was thinking of using a load of 5.5 grains of unique or maybe bullseye or 231 (have all of these powders. Does anyone have a preference for any of these powders for this type of bullet?

thanks

.358 or .357?

.38 special jacketed are normally .357.

.357 and they are Winchester not Speer (was thinking of my reloading manual)

thanks

I think either one would be fine. I would chronograph them and see which powder produces the best load. I loaded some with Blue Dot.

Figuring the energy, at max velocity, they are just as good as a 125 or 158 bullet. You get more speed with less weight. I find the recoil easier to control with the lighter bullets.

They may and probably will shoot lower than 158 grain.

David

If memory serves, almost a foot lower at 25 yards.

110 gr is fine for 38 Special. I used WW231 years ago for 110 gr varmint loads.

I've loaded 110gr JHP's at +P levels using W231.

It first depends on if you are shooting a little J frame, K or L frame.

I always load all my 38 special ammo to J frame spec's for safety.

My J frame snub get around 824 fps with Bullseye and 875 fps with Unique.
in a 6" barrel both give me around 999 fps for my best accuracy.

Good loading.

110gr bullets are not my favorite weight but like you I'd bought a bunch of IMI 110gr JHP bullets years ago and tried them out. I much prefer 125gr JHP bullets over the 110 gr JHP's.

Speer #13 says 5.9gr is the minimum load for their 110gr JHP in the standard pressure .38 spl with a DNR (do no reduce) notation. The +P loads are shown below.
I've used 5.6grs of W231 and the velocities from a 4" revolver was barely over 1,000 fps. With 6.5grs of Unique they ran 1,147 fps out of the same revolver. Unique will give you best velocities but you'll need more than 5.5gr.

Thanks everybody, these would be just plinking loads in my model 27. Would not by 110 grain bullets but these were free and so was the Unique so I will give them a go.

thanks

Though Bullseye works fine, for a light bullet I like a little slower powder, therefore Unique gets my vote. 110 gr is my least favorite bullet but if I had free bullets and powder I wouldn't complain a bit.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I use Unique. Use it for everything. Then again I have some W231 and have no problems with it. Either would work well. Probably better than Bullseye for this venture.

5.5gr of Unique might be a little dirty but may work for you.

I had to move up to 5.8grs to clean things up and get better accuracy with the little 110 Jhp bullets that I was shooting in my J frame.

No problems...........you are a long way from a +P type loading.

Thanks for all the reply's, off to the bench.