Powder for .38 special light loads

[Pequod]

Going to a gun show tomorrow, hoping to find some powder. I have used Unique, Bullseye, and TiteGroup on .38 special loads in the past and all seemed to work well. It seems from reading the S&W and other forums, a lot of reloaders feel that Unique is better suited to medium or full power loads, and is not as good at lower power or slower target loads.

So, for SWC or WC (158 gr and 148 gr) to be used at around 800 fps, is TiteGroup a better choice than Unique or Bullseye?

Thanks.

 

[Krogen]

I use 231 (aka HP38) in nearly all my 38 Sp loads. The one exception is Bullseye in the classic 148 gr HBWC load. There may be better powders, but my skill level won't show the difference.

 

[4barrel]

Most shotgun powder will work in a 38. Just look it up on the net.

 

[max]

Of the powders you mentioned, I have exp with BE and Unique and they both work fine in the loads you are talking about. 231 also works well in the application.

 

[mr-mom]

I just shot three different .38 special plinking reloads over my chrono today. All were loaded with Penn 158 gr. TCBB bullets, CCI 500 primers. Load #1 was 3.8 gr. of Win 231. Load #2 was 3.9 gr. of Unique. Load #3 was 3.4 gr. of Bullseye. All performed well, but Load #2 with the Unique powder was the most consistent. In a 5-shot string, the average was 755fps, with an extreme spread of 36, and standard deviation of 14. I have all the other data if you are interested.
Dave

 

[Titegroups]

Most of the fast burning powders will work, bullseye and titegroup are commonly used for competitive target work by many with WC. 231 and unique work fine too but a bit dirty with light loads. Try 2.7g of bullseye with the WC's in 38 cases, ome of the most commom loads for "Bullseye" matches.

 

[Wee Hooker]

For what you are wanting, I would recommend Clays. It burns cleaner than Bullseye and produces very accurate rounds. In past years I tried Red Dot, W231, Unique and Bullseye. They all worked but I eventually settled ( as have my shooting buddies) on Clays for all my cast lead loading for target/ general purpose use. 2.9 gr under a 158gr LSWC is a very accurate, clean burning and low recoiling load in the 825 fps range.

 

[Cdog]

Wee Hooker nailed it. For consistent, accurate, gentle loads I've found no better than Clays.

Be aware that it is what it is though. Don't try getting high velocities from it.

 

[all357mag]

Bullseye's the Best!

 

[Infidel_319]

Give ramshot true blue a shot if its available in your area. 7 grains with 125 grain Jsp gave me one ragged hole @ 7 yards. That's 1000 rounds per pound. Works great In .357 too. Just a suggestion.

 

[duck32man]

Pequod- if you are going to the show at the speedway, I too am going. My quest...primers. Good luck,

 

[Infidel_319]

Ramshot true blue, 7.0 grains (+p load).gave me one ragged hole at 7 yards. MV was 677 with an SD of 2. Good light load. That was from a 640 pro .357. Works great in .357 as well and burns very clean. Good luck. That was with sierra 125 grain jsp.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm in the W231/HP-38 camp. It's a powder I feel was made for the .38 Special and .45 Auto. You can load very light or push up the pressures to the SAAMI limits with equal success.

 

[Dave from Pa]

2.8 grs.bullseye 148HBWC 3.4 gr 158gr SWC pretty much does it IMHO.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

For light loads:
3.2gr W231 under a 148gr DEWC
3.4gr W231 under a 158gr LSWC

For normal loads:
3.5gr W231 under a 148gr DEWC
4.0gr W231 under a 158gr LSWC

 

[photobiker]

I agree with the Clays. It's a soft shooter and accurate but doesn't measure worth a **** through my RCBS. Looking into a new powder measure for the Clays and Unique. Shows you how much I like Clays if I'm willing to buy another measurer. It's my go to load for new shooters.

 

[rusty old colt]

TRY TRAIL BOSS BY IMR

 

[Harrison]

Either bullseye, titegroup or 231/HP38 will work fine for light target loads. Bullseye has been the traditional target powder with the 148gr wadcutter since probably prior to WWII. Whatever you can get the cheapest.

 

[Nevada Ed]

W231, HP38 is a great all around powder for the 38 spl.........
but some guns don't shoot Ball powders well and this is where
flake powders like Bullseye and Unique come in to the picture.

Now if Alliant could turn out a powder that would combine reddot and greeddot that would be like w231, they would really have something !!
They just went the wrong direction and came up with Power Pistol............maybe next time?

 

[Ceapea]

I use 2.3gr B.E. with 148gr HBWC's for PPC. This was the best for me, quite a bit better than 2.3gr Titegroup and only very slightly better than 3.1gr unique.
For 158gr SWC, 2.6gr-2.8gr B.E. is really good too. I have not run either of these over a chrono, but they might be a little lighter than (slower than 800 fps) what you are looking for.