.38 Short Colt Loads

[Revosrule]

A while back I acquired a bunch of .38 short colt brass with a 627 purchase. Along with it came about 1,000 loaded .38 short colts. I have shot most of them up and really like them. The ones that came with the gun are 130gr jackets over 3.5 WST.

I finally got around to getting dies to load this and should have my machine set up in a couple of days.

I am interested in other recipes for this and if anybody has done the work on the power factor that would be helpful also. I have bullets ranging from 125 to 150 grains in both lead and jackets and all of my loading experience is with WST, Titegroup, and HP 38.

I probaly should just stick with what I know works, but it is always good to have alternatives just in case.

[Perf40]

I use 2.7 gr. of Vit N310 with a 125 gr. rainer. It works great for stationary steel.

[Sixgun]

Try 4.0 grains of American Select under a 125 grain Rainier for a 125 powerfactor.

Ray

[DougCarden]

Try West Coast 147 RN sized .357,(yes they make them, ask for them)

3.1 gr VV310 or 3.1gr CLAYS, Fed primer

OAL 1.10

Most important! Crimp at .368 with taper crimp. I just use my 38/357 sizing die and my 9mm seater.crimp. Trust me, This load out of my 627 with Cmore does 2.25in at 25yds with circular pattern, VV310 is the best, with CLAYS a close second. My gun also has a custom barrel, but my stock 8 shot shoots them well also. DougC