Reloading 38 Spl +P 110 gr JHP

[38SPL HV]

I picked up some Winchester 110 gr JHP’s and plan on loading 38 Special +P and 357 Magnum (1200 fps loading) 110 gr JHP factory equivalent loads. Appreciate any suggestions and experiences loading the 110 gr JHP in 38/357. I have Power Pistol, Unique, W231 and Accurate #5 powder and CCI-500 primers. I do have Lyman load data for the 110 gr Speer JHP…but appreciate any experience you may have (I usually load for lead cast bullets).

I also would like to load a duplicate of the 38 Spl +P+ 110 gr JHP “Treasury Load.” Approximately 965 fps from a snub…probably doable using Power Pistol. Maybe you can help with this also?

After your inputs, I’ll put loads together and head down to my spot to chronograph the loads and will post results here for us.

 

[Spur]

I just finished some 38 +P load development with some Zero 110g and 125g JHP with both W231 and MP138 (from American Reloading....which is listed as similar to W244, which is similar to W231 but a little slower I think). I can post that for you, it's at near maximum but I ended up going with the MP138 because for some reason the W231 was acting position sensitive in that the first round of a cylinder seemed slower, the W231 groups weren't as tight as the MP138 ones (though that could be my shooting), and the velocities were slower.

38+P, 110g Zero JHP over 6.2g MP138 was clocking at 1149 FPS with SD of 29 FPS

38+P, 125g Zero JHP over 5.6g MP138 was clocking at 1065 FPS with SD of 14 FPS

38+P, 110g Zero JHP over 5.9g W231 was clocking at 1025 FPS with SD of 79 FPS

38+P, 125g Zero JHP over 5.3g W231 was clocking at 954 FPS with SD of 42 FPS

This was a new 8 lb jug of W231 that I had ordered from Brownells a few months ago and I found a few posts other places where people were reporting on position sensitivity with some of the more recent production W231.

Edited: To add gun used for the above results was a Ruger GP100 with a 4" barrel.

 

[38SPL HV]

Great info Spur…what barrel length was tested?

 

[Forrest r]

A couple years back I decided to test a cast cramer #33 indoor semi-wadcutter bullet with p+ loads in a snubnosed (2" bbl) 38spl. A cramer #33 is a 115gr bullet with a round nose. Don't know why cramer called it a swc??? It's the bullet on the right.

Unique does extremely well with light bullets in the 38spl/p+ loads. I test a 7.0gr load of unique using that 115gr cast bullet in that 2" bbl'd revolver and got 1100fps with it.

While 1100fps was impressive, that load hit +/- 7" low @ 25ft in that revolver. That same revolver shot to the poa with 158gr +/- 850fps loads.

 

[gwpercle]

When Lee Jurras came out with the explosive 110 gr. JHP's we had a lot of fun shooting water filled bottles and such .
These are my pet loads from back then :
All loads with 110 gr. JHP and Unique

38 Special - +P by todays standards
6.6 grs. Unique @ 1054 fps
7.5 grs. Unique @ 1247 fps

357 Magnum
9.0 grs. Unique @ 1312 fps
10.0 grs. Unique @ 1466 fps

These are safe in my large frame revolvers but start low and work up to them in yours ... Ruger Blackhawk 357 magnum ,
6 1/2" bbl length
Primers were standard not magnum . Unique is easy to ignite .
Gary

 

[BE Mike]

I remember when the first, so called, treasury load, 110 gr. JHP rounds in .38 Special came out. I still have a few around from the 80's. As it turned out, they didn't have very good stopping power performance in the field.

 

[stansdds]

I remember when the first, so called, treasury load, 110 gr. JHP rounds in .38 Special came out. I still have a few around from the 80's. As it turned out, they didn't have very good stopping power performance in the field.

Yep, great expansion, thanks to the high velocity, but poor penetration due to the bullet being of such low mass.

 

[71vette]

Can’t remember which website did a write up on the treasury load, but the writer also did some load work ups using published data. Win 244 loaded to max +p tracked very well with factory Winchester +P+ 110’s. I did some testing a while ago with Win 244 (one of my favorite “general purpose” pistol powders) and Hornady XTP’s:

110gr Hornady XTP +P (Treasury Load)
6.2gr Win 244, 1.445” COAL, SPP

4” 67: 1118fps
2” Magnum Carry: 1028fps

The rounds shot well and had a healthy “bark”, especially from the Magnum Carry. I also really appreciated that these are +P, not +P+. Makes me feel a touch better abou Shooting them in 38 Specifical guns.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I made +P in my M49 snub nose with a win fac 110 JHP bullet and Unique powder.

It did however shoot 1.25" right of POA at ten feet, with a two hand hold.

At 15 feet with a sand bag, I had 4 touching and the 5th at 1.14" .

 

[BrBa]

I would probaby try Unique first, since those don't seem to be full power loads. Check Alliant's website and 1-2 load manuals if you can.