Sm pistol primers standard vs mag

[dakotashooter2]

I decided to do some initial testing in 38 special load. I don't have a chrony so I was just looking for signs of excess pressure and have not done an accuracy test yet. It's not exactly scientific because I normally use winchester primers and the mags I have are CCI. Loads were initially shot from a Ruger BH then a taurus 85. target was a 6x6 steel plate at 30 yards.

The current load I am using with regular primers is 3.8 gr of titegroup under a 158 gr KT cast bullet, no gc and a light crimp. While this is listed at max in the Lee manual there are vistually no signs of pressure and recoil is very low. Book shows 15,400 cup fo 920FPS

I loaded 3.2 gr (starting), 3.4 gr and 3.8 gr. The 3.2 were really light and maybe too light. Some of the case necks were getting smoked, a sign of not enough pressure. The 3.4 were still light but with no underpressure of overpressure signs. The 3.8s were starting to produce some moderate recoil but the primers still had nice rounded edges and the cases easily dropped out of the cylinder. The lighter loads were easily on the plate with both guns but not with the 3.8 gr load. Though it appeared it was more an issue of shooting high than bad groupings.

Like I said not real scientific but given the results the mag primers didn't seem to make a difference and don't give me any concerns as I plan to stay within the book max anyway.

I did try them with unique but I was getting too much variation in my metering and got a couple squibs so I'll stick with the titegroup.

[Treeman]

Dakotashooter, With no offense whatsoever intended , watching for subjective pressure signs in .38 Special is pretty uninformative unless you are already off the reservation with your loads. Miking case body expansion can give some useful info on RELATIVE pressures ( it isn't PSI or CUPreadings but you can tell something about whether one load is higher or lower than another). A chronograph is also useful in comparing loads. I wouldn't expext Magnum primers to do anything extremely radical to .38 Spl pressures with fast powders At the differences that you should get, looking at primers isn't definitive at all.

[S.R.Custom]

Dakotashooter, With no offense whatsoever intended , watching for subjective pressure signs in .38 Special is pretty uninformative unless you are already off the reservation with your loads.

Indeed. Primers don't flatten to any alarming degree until pressures head north of 40-45kpsi. Small arms cartridge brass doesn't show signs of pressure yield (measurable head expansion/sticky extraction) until pressures hit 60kpsi. While the loads you cite don't seem to be too far out of line in the .38, you're staring death in the face if you load until you see pressure signs.

[dakotashooter2]

Points taken and understood.