Gallery load for .38 special?

[NoZombies]

I'm looking for a gallery load for the .38 special.

I'd like to use 000 buckshot as the projectile, I've got some trailboss I thought might be useful for such a thing.

Any thoughts?

[lylejb]

ive been using 2.6gr of trail boss in a 357 case (because i have lots of 357 cases and almost no 38's) with a 158gr swc for a practice load for the wife and kids. It's about double the recoil of a 22lr, not any louder, but has a bigger / deeper sound. i think that's about 600 to 650 fps.

i tried 2.4gr, couldn't tell any differance in recoil / sound, but it seemed dirtier.

if i remember right, 2.7gr is the starting load in 38special, at 660fps.

i also remember reading that trail boss has a strange pressure curve, and you're not supposed to go under or over book loads. I did go a little bit under book load without anything bad happening, but it didn't help much either.

you would probably be better off with a grain or so of bullseye for an indoor / short range gallery. you know that works, and has for a very long time.

LB

[NoZombies]

Yeah, I guess I just need to pickup some bullseye, it's probably a better choice.

Thanks!

[lylejb]

Don't get me wrong, I like trail boss. I really like the way it fills cases. That 2.6gr load in a 357 case is almost half full. Makes it a ton easier to be sure which cases have been charged.

Before i started using trail boss, i was using Accurate #2, a ball powder with tiny grains. 2.6 of AA#2 in a 357 case required me to shine a flashlite in the case to see if anything was in there....or not.

I want to try bullseye, but didn't have any, and couldn't find any at local (Portland, OR) stores...for months. My local BI-Mart got in some trail boss and knowing that reduced "cowboy" lead loads was what it was made for, i jumped on it. I'm glad i did.

It works nice for what i'm doing with it, but i don't think it would work so well for what you want.

hope this helps, and hope you can find some bullseye in your neck of the woods.

LB

[Rocky Raab]

Other powders that will work as well as Bullseye are Clays, RedDot, 700X, Solo 1000, Nitro 100 or Norma R-1 (good luck finding THAT!)

Lube your Buckshot with LLA, seat to just barely past the equator and crimp very lightly. Try about 1.5 grains, and check the bore after each shot to be sure they are clearing the barrel.

[AlaskaMike]

There's always hot glue bullets too.

[Old Ironsights]

I've used 1.5-2gr of titegroup for my catsneeze loads.

Biggest problem is at those pressures almost anything you use will "dirty smoke" cases.

OTOH, one of my fav loads for outdoors is 5gr 777 under COW with a 180gr boolit. Makes NO noise out of a 20" barrel and will absolutely ROLL a 'coon at 25yds. :twisted:

[mtnbkr]

I used to use a 000buckshot pellet with about 1gr Bullseye. That was nearly silent out of a 2" snubnose, though the POI was rather low even at 20'.

IIRC, they would stick in a 6" barrel, or at least they did in my friend's Blackhawk.

This was before TB hit the market and I haven't revisited such loads since.

Chris