.38 Special load for Lee 358-125-RF

[Lead Freak]

I'm having trouble finding a good load for the Lee TL358-125-RF .38 Special. The "as loaded" weight of the boolit is 129 grains. Would 3.5 grains of Bullseye be a good starting load?

[SlowSmokeN]

I'm having trouble finding a good load for the Lee TL358-125-RF .38 Special. The "as loaded" weight of the boolit is 129 grains. Would 3.5 grains of Bullseye be a good starting load?


I was having an issue for the TL356-124 RN using Unique. I sent Unique and email and within 24 hours they sent me a word document with the load data I wanted. Powder companies are a great resource as they are trying to get you to use their powder.

Lyman has 120g RN, 1.450 OAL, Bullsye starting 2.8g-4.6g max

That's my 2 cents for what ever it is worth. hope it helps.

[Wally]

I use 4.0 grains of Bullseye or Red Dot using the Lee # 90574 .38 Cal 125 RF...in the .38 Special. Very accurate in all my pistols and a Marlin 1894C. IMHO 3.5 grains of Bullseye is a great starting load...but be wary/careful of double charging. Red Dot is 30% bulkier, so I use it most of the time, in lieu of Bullseye.

[crabo]

I'm having trouble finding a good load for the Lee TL358-125-RF .38 Special. The "as loaded" weight of the boolit is 129 grains. Would 3.5 grains of Bullseye be a good starting load?

That's my go to load. It shoots great!

[reloader28]

I would start with 3gr.
4gr Bullseye in mine shoots good.
It didnt shoot as good in my brothers gun. 3.5gr shot better. We're going to try 3gr as soon as we get a chance.

[DLCTEX]

3 gr is very accurate for me.

[Ohio Rusty]

My favorite load now is 3.1 grains of trailboss with that boolit lubed with 50/50 beeswax/JPW. It shoots like a dream and everyone I have given some of those to shoot want be to load them lots of them !! I love them as practice rounds for my snub ccw gun.
Ohio Rusty ><>

[williamwaco]

I would say 3.5 is perfect.

I predict that if you start with 3.5, you will never try another load.


,

[Love Life]

I use 5.0 gr of unique. Come to think of it I use 5 gr of unique for all my 38 special loads.

[9-toes]

Just got through working up a load with that bullet at about that weight. I settled on 3.5 grains of Bullseye as the most accurate. Trying Trailboss now as I like to see my powder a little higher in the case.

[thehouseproduct]

4.6grs of Winchester Super Target. Works for 38 special, 9mm, and my 45acp load. I like keeping my powder measure set at one measurement.

[Bardo]

I Use 3.5 grains of bullseye in 38 special with any boolit from 75 grains to 170 grains. But I have shoot thousands of this load with the lee 105 SWC and thousands with several different 158 grain boolits. Always has been accurate. This is out of several different revolvers, my lever action dosent like it. But I think that is more to do with it likes 357 cases.

Bardo

[Mlcompound]

My model 60-4 3 in bbl likes 4g of bullseye with that same boolit.

Sent with my Evo 4g from Tapatalk.

[thegreatdane]

My model 60-4 3 in bbl likes 4g of bullseye with that same boolit.

Sent with my Evo 4g from Tapatalk.

Same here for my S&W bodyguard snubby.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Newtire]

I'm having trouble finding a good load for the Lee TL358-125-RF .38 Special. The "as loaded" weight of the boolit is 129 grains. Would 3.5 grains of Bullseye be a good starting load?
Thinking about getting that mould too Dana. Is it working out for you?

[tazman]

Every revolver has it's own likes and dislikes. Like we say so often every gun makes it's own rules. Find out what your gun prefers by testing.
A load that works well in another gun is always a good place to start. It may work well enough that you won't need another load.
Having one load that works well in all your guns is a great convenience. 3.5 grains of Bullseye is a good load in many if not most revolvers with a lot of boolit weights.

[trapper9260]

Every revolver has it's own likes and dislikes. Like we say so often every gun makes it's own rules. Find out what your gun prefers by testing.
A load that works well in another gun is always a good place to start. It may work well enough that you won't need another load.
Having one load that works well in all your guns is a great convenience. 3.5 grains of Bullseye is a good load in many if not most revolvers with a lot of boolit weights.

This sums it up . Just to state this is a post from 2012 . Do not know if the OP is still looking for data.

[Newtire]

May be an old posting but helped me. Now to get ahold of some Bullseye.

[GhostHawk]

I'm using 3 grains of Red Dot but I like my loads on the milder side.

I have loaded them up as far as 4.5 grains with no issues, good accuracy in carbines and a handi rifle stubb barrel I have.

[Landshark9025]

Two S&W Mod. 66 love 3.6g of Bullseye with the traditional lube groove 358-125 RF.

[Conditor22]

something to work from
https://i.imgur.com/Ap3Uz75.jpg

[fecmech]

I use 4.2 BE in my 38 spl for Hunters Pistol silhouette due to it's excellent accuracy on everything but the rams(not enough weight to knock them over). In my Rossi rifles I use 4.5BE (1200 fps) for consistent 3 moa hundred yd. groups. That Lee bullet is a real winner IMO.

[greenwart]

4.0g of Red Dot. I bought 8lbs when it looked like powder supplies were going to get tight and wondered what I would use it for. I have since found out that it is one of my favorite powders. 3.8-4.0g of BE would be a good second choice.

[John Boy]

https://stevespages.com/357p_7_130.html

[Rick Hodges]

I use that boolit (128 gr. in my alloy) powder coated over 6.1gr. of Power Pistol for an equivalent practice load for factory WW 130r. HP load. Same point of impact and similar recoil. It is a max standard 38 special load while the WW is +P.