Titegroup vs ??? for 38 special?

[Model19man]

HP38 / W231 (same) is the one I would have got. I have a pound of Titegroup, it burns too hot for my liking.

 

[Chuck Edwards]

Titegroup works in .38 Special. I went through a bunch of it when I was shooting IDPA. That said, I’m also in the “no TG in revolvers anymore” group due to how hot it burns. It really shines in autoloaders with JHPs though.

 

[rwsmith]

I only use it for light loads....

If we somehow got EVERY handloader that regularly loads .38 Special to respond, there one be -one- guy that nominates himself as the President of the NEVER TITEGROUP in .38 Special club. That one man would be me.

Titegroup has good points and bad points and I could expound but I will stick to the task at hand. There is one big reason that I will suggest you avoid Titegroup for this job:

Titegroup is maybe the highest nitro powder on the market and it burns HOT. In my experience, hotter than anything I have ever used, noticeably so. I find that this heat just makes all my K-frames blazing hot after even just 2-3 cylinders. I was taught revolver handling by PPC shooters back in the 80’s and I wrap the fingers of my left hand around the cylinder and eject with my left thumb — the scorching cylinder from Titegroup is bad enough that at my bench, Titegroup has earned a lifetime ban in .38 Special.

I load and shoot thousands of .38 Special each year and my absolute go-to powder is Bullseye. If I could not get Bullseye, I would probably use W232/HP-38. If I could not find that, I would poke around elsewhere, possibly Accurate#2.

I would try a dozen new powders for .38 Special before I would use Titegroup ever again in .38 Special.

I just don't use it for anything but light target loads and I usually don't shoot more than 50 in a range session nor do I do a lot of rapid fire. To me it is very similar to Bullseye. I think I'll try what you are doing with Titegroup and another powder and see what the difference is.

 

[mattri]

Thanks for all the great replies, will try to get my hands on some 231/HP38 if possible.

I believe what was said about Unique, BE etc being off the market, haven't seen any in years.

 

[jimmyj]

For Information:

All the Bullseye and Unique Powders are locked in a bank safe in Beverly Hills, California.

 

[rockquarry]

Powder Valley often has Bullseye. They have it now.

 

[gwpercle]

The Feb. 2024 issue of Shooting Times had an article ...
New Powders for 38 Special Wadcutters ... adressing the problem of powder shortages ... New Powders to use ...I saved the issue .

I have not tried many Winchester Powders but the test results showed that WST , W244 , AutoComp and Sport Pistol ... are all woth taking a look at .
I wrote these down and will look for them ... the test showed W244 beat out Bullseye in a 25 yard accuracy test W244 - 1.01" and Bullseye - 1.57" the test and chart are impressive enough for me to go look for Winchester powders WST and W244 - target loads ...
And AutoComp and Sport Pistol as maybe a Unique fill in .
The test results were very interesting ... and opened my eyes to some other powders !
Gary

 

[Dvus]

My go to is WW231, it burns clean in midrange loads and up, recoil is mild and it's as accurate as I need it to be. Plus it is readily available in my area. I also like WW244, it burns even a little cleaner, but usually only find it in 1 lb. cans around here. Autocomp seems to also be readily available, but my experience with it is that it is extremely dirty with less than Max. loads. It was designed for compensated tourney guns and those need lots and lots of gas volume to work as intended, so max loads are the norm.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

I will admit I have never used Titegroup: I'll add yet another powder to this list, though...

CFE Pistol has proven (at least to me) to be an incredibly versatile powder that works for almost all pistol & revolver calibers. Maybe not to the most extreme loads, but certainly for normal reloading for range and most defensive applications.

And two big pluses: reasonably priced and AVAILABLE!

Cheers!

 

[max503]

You might want to look at shotgun powders. For years I used
700X and Red-Dot and Herco.

I still use Herco. (For about all my midrange handgun stuff)

I've always liked 700X. Wish I'd bought a keg....
Anymore I'm not too picky. I make do with what I can get. I couldn't find any Bullseye or Unique so I snatched up some BE 86 and Power Pistol.

 

[taz666]

Titegroup is a good target powder for .38 special.
3.4gr under one of these:
38-158 TFP HT - Slippery Bullets- Premium Coated Bullets

 

[Huskerguy]

Titegroup and HP-38/W231 are my staple powders. I shoot 9 and 38 special in my clubs league. When working up loads for new firearms I use both and compare. For instance, my Prodigy and Ruger PCC in 9 both like TG and a 125 grain bullet I cast. I just finished testing a MP HP mold my 627 liked the HP-38 just slightly better but it was so close, it was a tough call so I had my wife break the tie after looking at the targets.

In my opinion, either work well. The talk about small amounts and fast powders covers many powders including Bullseye and others. Just be careful and pay attention.

 

[Green Frog]

I used to shoot in a casual PPC league with a full house “short cylinder” gun from Fred Schmidt and a slicked up Model 66 ND w/6” barrel in the former I shot 148 gr HBWCs almost exclusively. The 66 got mostly 158 gr SWCs. Powder charges, in no particular order of preference, were Bullseye, HP38, 700X, and Green Dot. Accuracy was about equal for all, but BE was definitely more sooty. A friend called it “flaming dirt”!

Final advice, if you have/can get any of these (remember HP38=w231j it will probably do guide well for you. I must admit I’ve never even tried TiteGroup... never had a need to.

Froggie

 

[venomballistics]

the real flaming dirt is unique, though the name fits most of these good old powders.
I've never warmed up to titegroup .... though CFE pistol seems like a sort of extra spicy unique of sorts.

 

[AJ]

I have a S&W Model 52-1 and a PPC Revolver (I think a Model 14 that Behlert customized). Both get exclusively 148 grain HBWC's with 2.8 grains of Bullseye.

 

[cowboy4evr]

I used to be a tite group hater . But found I just didn't give it a fair chance . When looking for data for the 44 magnum , 240 gr bullet the current load data was 5-10 grs . After several tries I settled on 8.0 grs.
Next going to the 41 magnum 210 gr bullet data was 6.5-7.5 grs , I settled on 7.0 grs . I have found both above loads accurate / clean and I don't notice an overly hot barrel when shooting . When I reloaded 9mm , I used titegroup with complete satisfaction .

 

[Texasref]

I've found that slower powders work better in 38 Spcl.
Accurate #5 is what I load under a 158 LSWC.
This is shooting revolvers only. The impulse of faster powders is a little hard on the hand.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Never used TG but use a similar powder for 38 spl and 45 acp. Alliant American Select, Bullseye and Titegroup all are about the same fast burn rate. AS is clean burning but not typically available these days.

I wouldn't be too picky about my powder these days. Lots of people use TG and are careful with their powder charges. I don't use a progressive press and visually check every powder charge in the block with a flashlight.

 

[gwpercle]

the real flaming dirt is unique, though the name fits most of these good old powders.
I've never warmed up to titegroup .... though CFE pistol seems like a sort of extra spicy unique of sorts.

I have always heard Unique called "Flaming Dirt" also .
Bullseye Unique & 2400 ... for 40 years ... Now ,
I'm warming up to all kinds of powders I would have never tried simply because they are all I can get ...
I have a new bottle of TightGroup sitting here looking at me ...
"Because it was Available" ... I wish you would have said ...
... it's great stuff ! At least I can find load data for it .
I don't like new powders ... give me old and reliable !
Gary

 

[mtgianni]

Add AA2 and AA5 to the list of powders that work just fine in 38's.