Target loads for .38 special

[Rapidrob]

3.0 Grains of Bullseye under a flush seated 158 HBWC. Roll crimp. Target shot at 50 yards out of a Colt 1911 Bo-Mar/Barsto .38AMU.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

My two favorite .38 Special loads are a 148gr DEWC over 3.2gr W231/HP-38 and a 158gr LSWC over 4.0gr W231.

 

[tommy F]

Any quality 150-160 cast bullet over 3.2 Titegroup is my curent standard load.

Tommy

 

[Dale53]

Using a "prescription" suggested by Ed Harris, I load a DEWC in .38 Special cases ahead of 3.5 grs of Bullseye. This is a bit hotter than we used to load but it works for me:

This was shot slow fire, standing, at 25 yards a couple of days ago. I had just bench tested a couple of groups and they were well under 1" at 25 yards. I was shooting my 686 (6"). Why did I only shoot five shots? I know when to quit!

I load the DEWC with one band out of the case, load the sprue end forward (to give perfect bases), use a light taper crimp and it is a VERY consistently accurate load.

Dale53

 

[586L-Frame]

For 148gr HBWC I load with 2.8grs Bullseye.

Tonight, I just loaded a batch of 158gr SWC
with 3.7grs Bullseye for my Mdl 66-2, 586 L-Frames, and my Ruger GP100.

Going to the range tomorrow.

586L-Frame

 

[retrogun]

Dale,
That's some great shooting! I can't shoot that well off a rest! Evidently your prescription works. Thanks for the formula.

Retrogun

 

[retrogun]

Well guys, here's what I ended up with;
Winchester brass
Alliant Red-Dot
Alliant Clays
Speer HBWC 148Gr
CCI primers

My press, shell holder and dies should be here by the weekend. Had trouble finding Bullseye, still looking. Wife gets her new Smith tomorrow and we're off and running.

Retrogun

 

[Bugs100]

I like 3grs Red Dot with 148gr wad cutters. It's not the cleanest but I enjoy cleaning my guns.

 

[bnitch]

Tough time to get into reloading, lucky you found the primers.

 

[g17]

2.7gr bullseye and 148gr DEWC

 

[Skip Sackett]

2.7gr bullseye and 148gr DEWC

Be careful what you shoot these loads out of. They will not exit some longer barrels. If it is the HBWC it's a different story. The DEWC needs a little more to get going, like Dale's load above.

 

[retrogun]

Originally posted by bnitch:
Tough time to get into reloading, lucky you found the primers.

Geeze, you're right there. My son in KY found the primers for me and had a friend who was visiting, bring them back north. The Speer HBWC's I found had 1/8" of dust on the box & were sitting in one horse town gun shop. Today I was tracking down some Hornady 158gr SWC's I was told about and stumbled over a hidden 1lb container of Bullseye. Got the bullets and powder so at least I've enough to get started.
Retrogun

 

[R. Walter]

Whenever I get an itch in my trigger finger one of the best things I know to do is to break out a box of my target handloads in 38Special which are always 148 gr lead wadcutters loaded over 3.0 grains of Bullseye with a small pistol primer.

One can easily squeeze off several hundred rounds with no ill effects in a couple of hours to really scratch that itch.

 

[John R]

Originally posted by retrogun:

Originally posted by epj:
For a mild load that is exceptionally clean burning, I use 3 grains of Clays +/- .2, with a 158 gr LRNFN. Very accurate and soft recoiling in a variety of revolvers.

Oddly enough I just picked up a Lb of Clays to try, I've heard good things about the clean burning of this powder....158 Gr. LRNFN?? I not sure what that one is. Can you elaborate?

Retrogun

Clays is a very good clean powder, just be careful with it, It will spike the pressure way up, with very little change in charge weight.

 

[SlamFire]

A 148 grain bullet will not shot anywere near point of aim in my fixed sight M10. The sights are regulated for 158 grain bullets.

I don't have any 148 LWC data with my M10-5. Velocities in a M66 with the 158 grain load were about the same as in the M10-5, so I consider the data representative.

Maybe the +P data might be worth comparing.

4" M66-2


148gr LBBWC 2.7 grs Bullseye CCI 500 primers
17-Oct-93 T = 65-70°F

Ave Vel =704 fps
Std Dev =18
ES = 57
High = 742
Low = 685
N = 6




Zero Factory 158gr LSWC-HP + P
16-Aug-92 T = 75°F

Ave Vel =877 fps
Std Dev =23
ES 77
High 923
Low 846
N = 6

158gr LSWC 3.5 grs Bullseye CCI 500 primers,
Oct-93 T = 65-70°F

Ave Vel =764 fps
Std Dev =13
ES 40
High 776
Low 736
N = 6

 

[retrogun]

Slamfire,
Thanks for all the data, I'm waiting for a powder scale and case trimmer to arrive in order to start reloading. I have several different formulas to try in two different revolvers with 3 different bullets and 3 different powders.....should be interesting.

Have you made any mods to your 10-5 to help accuracy? what barrel length?


Retrogun

 

[Emerson]

Another vote for 2.7 gr of Bullseye behind a 148 grain wadcutter.

 

[cmort666]

Originally posted by smith crazy:

2.7gr bullseye and 148gr DEWC

Be careful what you shoot these loads out of. They will not exit some longer barrels. If it is the HBWC it's a different story. The DEWC needs a little more to get going, like Dale's load above.

I don't know what I could shoot that out of that it wouldn't exit the barrel, a rifle maybe.

I've been shooting that load out of my 6" Model 14 for ten years without even a hint of a problem.

 

[Skip Sackett]

I don't know what I could shoot that out of that it wouldn't exit the barrel, a rifle maybe.

Well, that would certainly be one firearm to be concerned with!

What about a revolver that had large cylinder throats and a tight bore with an 8 3/8" barrel? How about bullets that are in the 20BHN range and are .358" and your barrel slugs at .357"?

What I was trying to say was this: "A DEWC, in most cases, needs a little more oomph to get going than a HBWC."

The logical end of that statement is this, if there isn't enough oomph, your bullet may get stuck in the barrel.

Just so you know, I know that you can get a DEWC stuck in the barrel of a M686 6" using loads listed here. Don't ask.

 

[cmort666]

Originally posted by smith crazy:

I don't know what I could shoot that out of that it wouldn't exit the barrel, a rifle maybe.

Well, that would certainly be one firearm to be concerned with!

What about a revolver that had large cylinder throats and a tight bore with an 8 3/8" barrel? How about bullets that are in the 20BHN range and are .358" and your barrel slugs at .357"?

What I was trying to say was this: "A DEWC, in most cases, needs a little more oomph to get going than a HBWC."

The logical end of that statement is this, if there isn't enough oomph, your bullet may get stuck in the barrel.

Just so you know, I know that you can get a DEWC stuck in the barrel of a M686 6" using loads listed here. Don't ask.

If you got a bullet stuck with 2.7gr. of Bullseye and a 148gr. DEWC, that would indicate to me a problem not with the charge weight, but with either the powder itself or the primer, or alternately, with whatever mechanism you're using to throw the powder.

1. Just because the powder measure threw 2.7gr. one time, doesn't mean that it will the next. That's why every time I load, I first run three charges through the measure without even weighing them. I just dump each back into the hopper. I then start throwing for weight, until either the measure throws (within its tolerances) what it's supposed to be set at, or I make appropriate adjustments. I loaded 100 158gr. LSWCs with Unique last night. I probably ran ten test charges until I was confident that it was going to throw within 1/10gr.

2. If you get a stuck bullet with a particular charge that otherwise works fine, you don't know if it really was THAT charge that was thrown. It's not like you can go back in time and re-weigh it. Once that primer goes off, there's no way to know WHAT charge was in the case, unless it was a squib with NO powder and there's no evidence of ANY powder combustion, OR you blow out a case and there's evidence there was TOO much. But again, absent other evidence, you won't know HOW much or little there was.

In the past, I've caught errors on my part where I ended up weighing a bunch of loaded rounds to find ones with way too little powder. It's not perfect, but at least you can corral the obvious problem rounds to pull and identify a suspected error.