38 Super

[crabo]

What boolits and powders are you using in your 38 Supers?

I tried the Lee 125 CB boolit tonight with 5 grains of Titegroup and it showed promise. I didn't have any problem with it feeding. I think it should make a pretty good small game/steel plate boolit.

[oso]

Wife and I like heavy boolits in our Supers: the old Lee358-153-2R and the Lyman 356637 (also at 153 gr.) We differ on powder choice, SWMBO likes the surplus Scot 453 (about the W231 speed,) and I get the surplus W540 or WC820.

[Cherokee]

I use CB's from my NEI mould 124 gr and Blue Dot and Lyman 356402 with 231 for medium loads and Blue Dot for max loads.

[ryan richards]

Hi guys,

Some questions about the 38 Super bullet:

What is the acceptable weight range from lightest to the heaviest.
What is the ideal weight?
What is the ideal shape?

Or just try them all and see what your pistol likes.

[MtGun44]

I loaded & shot > 70,000 rds .38 Super in the late 80s thru mid 90s. I used
various 158-160 gr .357" diam long nosed SWC commercial boolits. I was
making major caliber with the Super and loaded 7.2 W571/HS7 in any brass
.38 Super +P EXCEPT Winchester brass, which would fail at these max
pressure loads. This load was approved and listed in one of Hodgdon's
manuals as max, but safe. Never shot lower power or lighter boolits
as I needed to make major and help the comp to work. Load was
accurate, near zero leading at ~1225 fps and brass lasted forever. this
load made >190,000 power factor and you needed 185000 for major, so
I had a bit of margin. Consider that load an upper limit of what you can
safely do with the 38 Super 1911 with an unsupported chamber.

I also had a j-bullet load 124gr XTP at 1400 fps, but no light cast boolit
loads.

Bill