Bunny fart .38 Special loads

[LSP972]

Getting old sucketh large. I need a very light load to practice with my lightweight J frames. Arthritis is creeping up on me, and even with the all-steel 640, regular-strength .38 loads start to wear on me in short order.

In the past, I made some satisfactory ones using Remington 110JHPs (got a bunch for cheap) and light charges of 231 and/or WST... but they were VERY dirty.

I hear this bulky "cowboy" powder -Trail Boss?- is the stuff to use for this purpose. I'll be using 125gr RNL cast bullets this go-around; but can also get heavier SWCs if necessary.

Any ideas? Not concerned with "best" accuracy; I practice at arm's reach, which is how my J's would be employed. They are secondary guns.

.

[ampleworks]

3.0 titegroup over a 158 was ridiculously soft...chrono was like 110PF.

[OkieZombies]

3.0 titegroup over a 158 was ridiculously soft...chrono was like 110PF.

Any loads that will get to 130 PF and still be relatively accurate?

Also any "soft" 357 loads? I'm thinking of trying to get a 158 gr 357 going 1050 out of a 6" barrel so I can make major.

Revolver is just about having fun for me, and I like big booms. I also have a lot of H110 laying around leftover from 30 carbine reloads.

[John Z Sr]

3.0 titegroup over a 158 was ridiculously soft...chrono was like 110PF.

Just my opinion, but I've found that Titegroup, a great powder, seems to burn very hot in all my revos. Not much of a problem in IDPA, usually only 12 rounds per stage, but a field course in USPSA with 32 rounds, the cylinder gets VERY hot

[John Z Sr]

I've had good results with 195 gr lrn bullets making minor and also making major in my 4" 686 for USPSA without excessive velocities for lead

[Merlin Orr]

I have Not tried Solo 1000 in .38 Special yet but it "seems" to work in my 9mm, 40 and .45 loads very similarly to TG - just a lot cooler.

Anyone tried Solo?

[Space Cowboy]

3.0 of Clays behind a 115g to 130g lead bullet is very soft in 38 Special. We used this load in Cowboy Action for many years with success. It burns clean and is easy on the wrists (shot it with a broken wrist for a while...). Just make sure you give it a strong roll crimp and it will burn consistantly for you. Looking back at my data, a 90g bullet with this powder charge had a Power Factor of 72.

Trail Boss is soft as well but was a little dirty and smokey. If you consider using Trail Boss, 3.2 g is a good starting load. This gave a power factor of 69 with a 115g bullet in our 5 1/2 inch single action pistols.

Titegroup has a sharper recoil than Clays and is dirty. 3.2g of Titegroup under a 130g bullet gave a power factor of 90 in our 5 1/2 inch single actions.

With all these light loads, a strong roll crimp is a must for consistancy. I did not have much success with taper crimps at these low velocities.

Maurice

[Space Cowboy]

Any loads that will get to 130 PF and still be relatively accurate?

Also any "soft" 357 loads?

In Cowboy Action we occasionally ran 357 Mag through our rifles. I don't have any data for pistols but 4.0g of Titegroup under a 125g lead bullet was going 1143 fps (PF 143) out of my 20 in barrel Winchester 73. This was my side match precision load and sillouette load. To make PF 130 out of a 6" revolver I would probably start with this (which probably will be a little short of PF 130) and work my way up.

Maurice

[MoNsTeR]

I have Not tried Solo 1000 in .38 Special yet but it "seems" to work in my 9mm, 40 and .45 loads very similarly to TG - just a lot cooler.

Anyone tried Solo?

3.7gr Solo 1000

MG 125JHP

Win .38 +P nickel brass

OAL set using cannelure in bullet

Test gun S&W 686-3 4"

Avg 740.1

ES 61.51

SD 20.88

(N=10)

[Macca]

Getting old sucketh large. I need a very light load to practice with my lightweight J frames. Arthritis is creeping up on me, and even with the all-steel 640, regular-strength .38 loads start to wear on me in short order.

In the past, I made some satisfactory ones using Remington 110JHPs (got a bunch for cheap) and light charges of 231 and/or WST... but they were VERY dirty.

I hear this bulky "cowboy" powder -Trail Boss?- is the stuff to use for this purpose. I'll be using 125gr RNL cast bullets this go-around; but can also get heavier SWCs if necessary.

Any ideas? Not concerned with "best" accuracy; I practice at arm's reach, which is how my J's would be employed. They are secondary guns.

.

You'd have to check the data but about 3.0 -3.5 grains of Trailboss should do the job.

[Modoc]

LSP972,

The wife and I are using 4.0gr of Unique with either a 125gr Flat point or a 158gr whatever bullet for Cowboy. This is not a reall powder puff load, but it shoots well and works in her Airlight "J" frame. Of course you get a bit less recoil from the lighter bullet.

[MTU_327PC]

I use 3.3-3.6 grn of Solo 1000 over a 158 grn SWC for practice at the range. I shoot these out of an N frame .357 and they're pretty weak, but shouldn't be bad in a steel J frame.

[seanr]

here is an intresting one (shoots like a .22 and is VERY accurate)

105grain lead SWC over 2.6 - 2.8 WST.

Seat the projectile so the tip of the procectile is about 1mm (.0040") BELOW the mouth of the case (so the projectile is totally inside the case)

I can group 1" at 25y free hand ALL day with these from my 686 L frame (3.5" barrel) AND very, very, soft

[AzShooter]

Solo 1000 is my go to powder for the .38. A nice load that makes minor is 3.8 grains behind a 158 grain LRN. If you want a real light load start with 3.5 grains. You should be very happy with it. Unlike other powders Solo will not leave unburned flakes in the cylinder with such a light load.

[LSP972]

here is an intresting one (shoots like a .22 and is VERY accurate)

105grain lead SWC over 2.6 - 2.8 WST.

Seat the projectile so the tip of the procectile is about 1mm (.0040") BELOW the mouth of the case (so the projectile is totally inside the case)

I can group 1" at 25y free hand ALL day with these from my 686 L frame (3.5" barrel) AND very, very, soft

I like it. Thanks, Sean. Any idea where to get those 105gr SWCs?

.

[Darrell]

148gr wadcutter, 2.7gr of Bullyseye, or 3.0gr of 231 standard target load for .38 and super soft.

[TMC]

We need input from Pinshooter here, at the Steel Challenge we could see his bullets going down range.

[EEH]

I must admit I did not read all the post BUT-what I did was to make some WAX bullets,,you can even fire them in the garage,,and almost no noise--worked for me,

[itchy]

We need input from Pinshooter here, at the Steel Challenge we could see his bullets going down range.

At Steel Nationals a few years ago, we handed him back his bullets, so he could reuse them.

Let's hope he put more powder in his loads for the World Action Pistol Championships this week!

Seiichi

[bill87123]

I had a guy reloading me some loads which ended up being what I called Poof-Poof loads for my revolver.

38 special

125 gr T/C Plated

3.1 gr Clays

624 ft/sec ave after I crono-ed a few.

[seanr]

here is an intresting one (shoots like a .22 and is VERY accurate)

105grain lead SWC over 2.6 - 2.8 WST.

Seat the projectile so the tip of the procectile is about 1mm (.0040") BELOW the mouth of the case (so the projectile is totally inside the case)

I can group 1" at 25y free hand ALL day with these from my 686 L frame (3.5" barrel) AND very, very, soft

I like it. Thanks, Sean. Any idea where to get those 105gr SWCs?

.

In Australia - yes "Topscore" and "Bullzi" make them and "HRBC" make a 100gr SWC...as for the States - no I have no idea. I would assume that there would be someone as Lee does make this mold (358-105-SWC) in both a double cavity and a 6 cavity mould. Part numbers are 90316 and 90315...

Perhaps someone here on the forum (well over there!) can help out?

Where to purchase 105gr SWC Lead projectiles?

(the load is really that good - try to track some down!)

[calishootr]

couple yrs ago i loaded some 38 wadcutters for a guy who had a very nice smith and wesson 52 target wadcutter gun, using remington 148gr hollow base wadcutters(so soft you can sink your fingernails in em) loaded flush and roll crimped over so it would feed in the auto, 2.7 grs of bullseye made for a load that would shoot 1 inch at 25 yrds from that gun all day long, and reallysoft shooting too...

[Flexmoney]

Online data from Hodgdon for 158g and Titegroup. http://www.hodgdon.c...al-inquiry.html

158 GR. CAST LSWC

Hodgdon Titegroup

.358"

OAL - 1.475"

3.2g, 815fps, 11,500 CUP

3.8g, 920fps 15,400 CUP

158 GR. HDY XTP

Hodgdon Titegroup

.357"

OAL - 1.455"

3.5g, 704fps, 12,400 CUP

3.9g, 798fps, 15,900 CUP

I am new to loading on the 38 Special (well...I haven't loaded any in about 2.5 decades, and Dad is no longer around to ask).

I got in some 158 JHP's from Zero, and I have TightGroup. I plan to try 3.5g of TG. (+ Federal SP primers and mixed brass)

It would be great if that worked nicely, as I run TG in 9mm, 40 and even 45...often at either 3.5g or 4.2g...depending on the desired load.

I'll be running these out of a Ruger GP100, blued, with a 6in barrel.

Any words of wisdom?

[Bill Nesbitt]

Kyle, I ran 4.3 of Titegroup behind a moly 160 grain Billy Bullet at Ohio last year. It went 138 power factor on Saturday afternoon and went 133 power factor early the next morning. That's from a 4 inch Model 10. 38 special brass. I sort my brass and use Win for important matches.

BTW, those are NOT bunny fart loads. Bunny fart loads are 3.0 of Bullseye behind a left over 130 grain 38 super bullet.

Edited October 29, 2010 by Bill Nesbitt

[TonyT]

For a mild load I use 2.7 to 3.0 gr. Trail Boss with a 158 gr. LRN. According to the Hodgdon manual 3.0 gr. Trail Boss with a 125 gr. lead bullet should get you ca 750 fps.

Edited November 6, 2010 by TonyT