38 special and Unique

[S&Wdave]

Is there a good load for 148gr DEWC and Unique for the 38 special. Target shooting at 25 yrds. Thanks

 

[gwpercle]

The load I have found to be accurate in my Model 64 38 spcl. is 4.4 or 4.5 grs Unique with a bevel base wadcutter. This has a muzzel velocity of about 875 fps. Bevel base bullets are best under 1000 fps so don't try to drive them too fast.

gary

 

[Alk8944]

If you insist on Unique then something in the 4.2-4.5 gr. range will do well. The downside is Unique doesn't meter well, particularly in small charges.

You will do better with Bullseye, Red Dot, 231/HP-38, WSF, Universal Clays, etc.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Sorry but I don't use Unique but if you decide to change powders W231/HP-38 is very accurate in the .38 Special especially with 148gr WC bullets. I charge between 3.2gr to 3.4gr W231 under a 148gr DEWC. Unique is a slower powder and will not burn well at the lower charge weights and pressures normal in a .38 Special Wadcutter load.

 

[photoman]

For light .38's, I use 231 or Bullseye.

 

[nicky4968]

I have had very good results with 3.2-3.3 grains of Unique under the 148 gr DBWC.
OTOH, I hand-weigh each and every charge. You might find this to be tedious.
Although the heavier charges listed above are just fine, I have never found an advantage to them.

 

[sixshot]

Don't forget WST, its almost exactly the same as 231, meters well & burns clean, I use lots of it.

Dick

 

[Russell Cottle]

Shot a lot of PPC in the early 70's with 3.5grs of Unique and a 148gr 'home cast'. (The PD's old Star reloader was set to throw that weight so all the 'team' shot the same load.)

 

[S&Wdave]

I do a lot of skeet shooting so I have Universal, Unique, HS6,and 700X on my bench. I was going to pick up some W231 to try but until then which of what I have would work best? Just getting back into shooting my S&W's again and all I use to shoot was light Bullseye loads.

 

[Steve C]

I have Universal, Unique, HS6,and 700X on my bench. I was going to pick up some W231 to try but until then which of what I have would work best? Just getting back into shooting my S&W's again and all I use to shoot was light Bullseye loads.

HS6 is a bit slow for anything but heavy loads but any of the other 3 will work fine for standard pressure target loads. Data is plentiful, just follow the book or on line data.

 

[alwslate]

Don't forget WST, its almost exactly the same as 231, meters well & burns clean, I use lots of it.

Dick

WST is actually a replacement for W452AA and is quite different than W231 and it's twin HP38. I have both W452AA
and WST and while both are primarily shotgun powders they
are usefull in standard velocity handgun loads. But.... for 38sp
loads if Winchester intended WST to be an improvement over
W452AA they should have tried a lot harder.

 

[nitesite]

My 148-gr DEWC load for overall shooting is 4.8-gr of Unique and a Federal 100 primer. Maybe a bit much for gentle target shooting but it makes a very clean burning and effective small game hunting load, as well as a very good SD load. And it's pretty accurate for target as well.