It may well be true that ammo and reloading supplies are in short supply
But, that hardly justifies risking destruction of one of the firearms you already own by trying to get maximum velocity form an undersized bullet with a fast powder using faulty reloading equipment. Maxing those 100gr bullets to go another 200fps will not make them all that much more lethal. MxV² is fine on paper but it just does not work out on the street. Power is fine accuracy is final. Plus firing one round that might be as dangerous to yourself as your opponent isn't a great plan. It is a poor one. What your trying to do might work and it might well wreck your gun. If you do hit the max load and then your equipment gives you even a little bit more your screwed. If I was going to try this I would use a digital scale go up by very small amounts trying a small group of each level in something heavy duty like a model 28 or a Ruger firing over a chronograph and checking for flat primers and stick ejection
Don't compound the lack of foresight to keep a good stock of ammunition and or components by trying to fix it with extremely risky reloading practices. BTW you can get Lee molds of Ebay and have them in a couple days and lead too. Plus if you go down to the local metal scrap yards they may well have some. If your dire prediction is correct you should be looking at this and reliable simple loads that DON'T RISK YOUR GUN. Tearing down perfectly good target loads to make extremely risky ones isn't a good plan, its a waste of good loads.
If you lived near me I would sell you 100 primers for regular prices.
If you keep going in the direction your headed now, all I see the gun pictured above.
I checked ebay and I flat out refuse to pay $150 for a $40 Lee mold from a scalper. Stop buying from scalpers and they will stop. My “lack of foresight” was a lack of budget, even before the panic putting back thousands of rounds was an expensive proposition. I’d thought of reloading before but did not anticipate it getting this bad this soon.
I fully intend to start at the minimum load and work up and have loaded 6 rounds of each charge level to take to the range and will be using a Caldwell G2 Ballistic Precision Chronograph, which I bought specifically for this purpose. And I do use a digital scale, it gives accurate readings however it has an annoying habit of a wandering zero after a few seconds and it doesn’t like to update when powder is only trickled in. To use it, I get close, then pour the powder in an empty case, re zero the scale, then pour the powder out of the casing back on to the scale, then I repeat until it repeats the correct measurement, so I will measure say 7.1 grains, pour off the powder, re zero, then measure the powder again, if it still reads 7.1 I know the measure was accurate the first time, I repeated that process for each round then hand fed the charged cases through my press.
Where do you get that the bullet is undersized? It is made specifically for .38 special, it is light though, is that what you meant?
I’d be happy to test with a .357 magnum if I had one but I don’t, I only have the Model 10, however I know that the 10-6 WAS able to handle .357 magnum if it was chambered for it (at least occasionally) and the models 13 and 19 (at least) used the same frame, so I suspect it can take at least that much pressure.
These loads are specific for daily carry (when I am carrying the revolver), I only intend to make about 50 once I get the load data. My range ammo is just standard low velocity stuff. As for plans to supply myself during the shortage, those indeed will be soft loads, for the reasons you mentioned and also to preserve materials. I plan to load 158 grain cast powder coated bullets over a light to medium powder charge using established load data, and if it gets as nasty as I suspect I will also be using home made primers and home made black powder and range pickup brass so the loads will be very light indeed.
I agree, tearing down loaded rounds is indeed wasteful however it is the only way I can get primers short of making them myself from match heads and since these are intended for defensive carry I will not use an improvised primer, hence why I tore down target rounds to get primed cases. I appreciate the gesture with the primers and I sincerely wish I did live close enough to do that but I don’t. For me to get primers I must either cannibalize loaded rounds, make my own, or pay a scalper, and I refuse to pay a scalper. As far as I’m concerned the scalpers can shove the primers up their buts then sit on a nail. Same reason I won’t buy from Cheaper Than Dirt (you know, if “dirt” is gold and platinum, and “cheaper” is like a penny, “you saved -5000%!”)
