I stumbled across some 125 truncated nose cast bullets to load in 38. I normally use 148/158’s in this caliber but have used 125 plated (not great results).

Anybody run 125’s in their 38’s? Accuracy?

I have a bunch of different powders to try from bullseye/red dot/trail boss/ hp38 on the fast end and unique/power pistol/herco/hs6 for the medium burners. Have slower but they’re not suitable for 38’s.

I acquired about 1000 of these 125’s I can do some development with. Just don’t know if they’re ok for paper punching groups or plinking steel as far as bullet inherent accuracy or what to expect.

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Jim

I've not had the best luck with 125's, but my powder on hand at the last time I tried them was Universal, which was probably a bit slow to be the ideal powder for a 125gr lead bullet. I shoot 4" K-frames in 38, so 148gr and 158 gr are my go to lead bullets.

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Hillbilly

I use a +p load of HP38 with 125gr. OK accuracy, not great, 148 gr is better for light loads. Have tried all the way down to 105gr, but 148WC and 158SWC are my go to loads.

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Science plus Art

In order to keep recoil down in my light J frame snub nose revolvers
I tried the 125 gr LFN bullet a few years back, for family members.

Bullseye at 786, Red Dot at 786, w231 at 661, Universal at 582 and trail Boss at 676fps all shot well.

The 125gr LRN "Cowboy" style with a 38 spl OAL of 1.36" liked
Green Dot at 579, Universal at 600 and Trail Boss at 600fps.

There were LOTS of good results in the 6" 38 and .357 Magnum cases
it just depends on what power level you want to load at.

If you have a 6" 38 Special;
Red Dot at 4.0grs does 950fps +/- and Green Dot at 4.0grs does 840fps +/- that
both gave me a nice plinking load with this lead bullet.

Have fun.

One of my favorite 38/357/9mm bullets is my cast Lee 125 RNFP. Most of the time I use my "mystery metal" my mixed alloy running about 11 BHN. I have PCed a lot and I size them according to the gun they will be used in; .357"+ for my 38 Specials. For my 357 Magnum .358"-359" works best and 3 of my 9mm get .357" and one gets .358"+ (and .359" ain't too big). The same with the bullets I have PCed. All work well and are accurate, more so in some guns than others, but all acceptable.

I never liked them much until circumstances (shortages) forced me to shoot some coated 125gr LRN from SNS Casting. I was also forced to use 700-X. One of the most accurate .38 loads I've ever shot. Go figure.

Size matters . If the 125 gr. cast lead TC are sized .358 / .359 you will have much better accuracy .
If they are sized .357 maybe , it depends on the guns throats etc.
If sized .355 / .356 another maybe , but might be too small.

Usually 125 TC cast bullets are designed for 9mm the giveaway is no crimp groove .

Noe makes a 9mm 125 gr. TC mould that cast a .358 diameter bullet , sized .358 it works like a charm in 38 special / 357 magnum loads . I use the taper crimp die from my 9mm Luger die set to apply taper crimp as this bullet has no crimp groove.
Size that same bullet to .357 and it works in 4 different 9mm Luger pistols . I ordered the mould with a Gas Check so high velocity and leading is not a problem .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Give True Blue a try ... or don't.

Thanks guys. They’re .358” and have a crimp groove. I’ll try one of the faster powder I have. I just enjoy shooting paper and steel plates so no serious work with them.

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Jim

I had good groups in 4" and great groups in 6" but snubbies had patterns!

Ivan

Nice to know. I only used them in 6" to be fair.

I loaded 1000 with 4 gr. of Unique for light loads for a beginner shooter. They seemed as accurate for me as anything else I shoot and with very little recoil using a 4 in. M19. Larry

I put together some 38 special loads with 125 gr cast bullets and titegroup powder . Very mild recoil and quite accurate. I used current load data . Regards Paul

I tried some 130s several years ago, consistently shot high. Could not use the same site image that I was used to with 158s. Later read that this was fairly common with light loads in 38s.

My 14-2 loves them 110 grainers to. Haven't had a bad load using published data.

The 2 groups on the bottom are with coated 125 grain bullets.
They are really clean with the coated bullets and low recoil. This gun likes them but it seems to like a lot of stuff.

Let us know how they turn out for you OP

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Some Might Say.

If you only had 100 I would say give them away but you have 1,000. Load them up with either Bullseye or HP-38 and have a ball shooting steel plates. This way you won't have to drive them hard or worry about load development to produce tiny groups lol. (Like you said in Post #9)

You just might like them on steel but like you I'm a 148/158gr bullet guy.

Let us know how everything works out.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Yeah I’ll load some up and let everyone know. It’ll be a couple weeks until I get to the range though unfortunately...wife has plans for the family almost every weekend in October!

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Jim

Wives sure have a way of getting in the way of what’s important to them. I haven’t been able to figure out how to change that in 40 years. But she shoots with me often so that helps.