RM0

I picked some up, reloaded the balance of my .38 SC cases, then my match was cancelled. I'll get out and try out the new loads with the Federal primers soon. Thanks!

I zeroed last night. My primary, the 627, was still only igniting about 50% of the primers, so I put it away until I can put in an extended firing pin. My backup, an old 686, fired 90% or better, but was giving me 2-2.5" groups at 15 yards in double action slow fire.

I worked up to 3.0gr of Clays and settled on a COAL of 1.126. It feels pretty good, shows no signs of pressure, and the 2.8-3.0gr test loads gave me a 2" or so group at 7 yards. The biggest problem was a lot of failures to fire. I think the headspace is excessive with the .38 Short Colt's rim since having the revolver cut for moon clips. It fired a bit better using the moon clips, but I may need to swap in a longer firing pin. My club's steel match is informal, so there are not power factor standards, yet. I need to go zero the sights today.

I've been doing a lot of reading here for a while before joining, but had a few more specific questions I hadn't found answers to, yet. My local club has a steel match coming up, which I have never shot. There are no power factors required. I bought a 627 a number of months back with the intention of participating in these quarterly matches; I expect to be the only revolver shooter present. My concerns are that being new to reloading, and trying to sort through the masses of data for taking an old cartridge and blending it with modern reloading data, it seems often from 9mm data, I may take on some risk I'm not knowledgeable enough to mitigate. Last night I loaded up Starline .38 Short Colt brass with CCI small pistol primers, 125gr LCN .358" bullets, and Clays from 1.8gr to 2.9gr, and OALs ranging from 1.124-1.130 (I was learning how to set up my seater). Were I to use 9mm data from Hodgdon, I would start at 2.9gr and work up to 3.3gr with an OAL of 1.125". I read on here of folks using up to 4.2gr of Clays at 1.1", but don't think I need to push that hard. I'd like to go to the range as soon as possible and test these for pressure signs and chronograph them. Should I take the variation in the OAL out and re-seat to a consistent 1.125" across the board? What else should I be asking or doing? Thanks. I have Clays, Titegroup, and Unique, already.