Cleanest burning powder for the 38 Spec.

[Ben]

What is the cleanest burning powder ( in your experience ) for the 38 spec ?
I shoot a lot of 148 w/c's.

Ben

[felix]

Most any powder designed/formulated since 1995, unless otherwise known to be clean burning like for a number of single base powders that have not been changed since the 30's. New double base powders would include the likes of Clays (all flavors) . ... felix

[9.3X62AL]

I really like WW-231 for the 148 WC application in 38 Special. Most of the guys and gals on my agency who shoot the 38 in PPC venues and reload their own ammo use the Winchester fuel, and 3.0 grains of same lit off by Federal #100 primers. Most of these folks don't cast wadcutters, but buy Hornady HBWC's in mass quantities and process them on Dillon machines--this after burning up a couple thousand W-W factory wadcutter loads to get brass.

[Bucks Owin]

I really like WW-231 for the 148 WC application in 38 Special. Most of the guys and gals on my agency who shoot the 38 in PPC venues and reload their own ammo use the Winchester fuel, and 3.0 grains of same lit off by Federal #100 primers. Most of these folks don't cast wadcutters, but buy Hornady HBWC's in mass quantities and process them on Dillon machines--this after burning up a couple thousand W-W factory wadcutter loads to get brass.

I wonder if those Hornady HBWCs are leading their bores? I have had ZERO luck in shooting ANY of Hornady's "dry moly coated" lead boolits in .357/.38 SPL at any velocity. They ALWAYS lead my M19 Smith.....:(

FWIW,

Dennis

[StarMetal]

Dennis,

Wow, the exact opposite of my experiences with two revolvers, one a Model 19 with 4 inch barrel, that I still have, and other was a Model 14 now long gone. I can't tell you of the tons of Hornady and Speer HBWC's I shot throught both of those revolvers without one iota of leading, none, nil, zilch, zero. I prefered the Hornadys at that time because their dry lube wasn't as messy as Speers sticky lube. Guess it all has to do with your particular bore. I used mostly Bullseye powder.

Joe

[Bucks Owin]

Dennis,

Wow, the exact opposite of my experiences with two revolvers, one a Model 19 with 4 inch barrel, that I still have, and other was a Model 14 now long gone. I can't tell you of the tons of Hornady and Speer HBWC's I shot throught both of those revolvers without one iota of leading, none, nil, zilch, zero. I prefered the Hornadys at that time because their dry lube wasn't as messy as Speers sticky lube. Guess it all has to do with your particular bore. I used mostly Bullseye powder.

Joe

Actually, I meant to say Speer lead boolits...I got a box of the old Hornady 158 gr lead with the knurled sides in the bargain bin the other day and have Hornady on the brain I guess....

The bore of my 6" 19-4 has had around 2000 rds of mostly lead projectiles put through it as well as a couple sessions with JB paste. It "looks" like a mirror but maybe it needs more shootin'.....( :D)

The powders of choice (since I have a LOT of it on hand from trapshooting days) is 700X, PB and Green Dot....

Dennis

BTW, the knurled Hornadys lead too...:roll:

[StarMetal]

Dennis,

I shot the 158 gr swaged bullets too from both companies. Same results, good accuracy, no leading, and these were shot at higher velocities then the HBWC's. My barrels actually didn't have alot of smoothing before firing all these bullets either and the Model 19 really never saw any jacketed. The bore on the 19 is glass smooth now.

Joe

[Bucks Owin]

Dennis,

I shot the 158 gr swaged bullets too from both companies. Same results, good accuracy, no leading, and these were shot at higher velocities then the HBWC's. My barrels actually didn't have alot of smoothing before firing all these bullets either and the Model 19 really never saw any jacketed. The bore on the 19 is glass smooth now.

Joe

Huh!

Well, I guess that proves the old adage "Every gun is a law unto itself"....

Dennis

[grumpy one]

Most any powder designed/formulated since 1995, unless otherwise known to be clean burning like for a number of single base powders that have not been changed since the 30's. New double base powders would include the likes of Clays (all flavors) . ... felix

It's been a lot of years since I shot 38 Special but I always used Norma R1 (in a BRNO ZKR551, which was new at the time in 1966) and pretty much didn't have enough powder fouling to see. I've nothing against WW231 - it burns clean when I use it in squib loads for rifle - but it's quite a bit slower than R1. Target load of R1 for swaged 148 grain hollow base wadcutters was only 2.1 grains, and shot one hole groups at 25 metres from a rest. I don't know if the formulation has been changed, but I see it's still listed on the ADI comparison chart as the fastest powder there is.

Geoff

[Bodydoc447]

I still shoot the .38 special some. Way down from a few years ago but still 3 or 4 K a year. I used Unique for a over decade almost to the exclusion of other powders just because it performed so consistently in my applications. I currently use Vitavhouri (spelling is probably wrong) N320. It is very clean burning. Certainly as compared to the old Unique. I have not shot much Bullseye or W231 out of the .38. My dad still shoots his .38s quite a bit. He uses Hodgdon Titegroup. I will give that a try when my last two kegs of VV N320 run out.

Doc

[Ben]

Thanks Fellows for those comments, Looks like I've got several powders to try now.

Thanks,

Ben

[Glen]

Try American Select. You'll be surprised how clean (and accurate) it is.

[Bad Flynch]

PB shoots very well for this application and is reasonbly clean.

[Bass Ackward]

Just add some Carnuba wax to your lube and watch everything burn cleaner. If it doesn't, then there are humteen bazzilion cleaners set up solve the problem. I used to watch guys shoot guns until they were so hot that they submersed them in a water barrel and then loaded up again. Their hands were black after shooting and the guns were covered in soot.

They cried when they had to clean their guns. Some had masking tape or electrical tape rapped around the grips that would be black from powder.

Anyway, try Carnuba and shoot what works.

[rbstern]

For 38 special, I've loaded HP38, HS6, Red Dot, Power Pistol, SR4756 and Clays.

I settled on Clays because, by far, it left my revolvers cleaner than the other powders and I could go much longer between full breakdown cleanings.

For cast bullets, from 105 to 158 grains, I generally shoot .53cc of Clays (3.5 grains). For the light bullets, it's an easy firing, accurate target load. For the heavier bullets, it's a fairly potent 38 special cast load.

The heavier bullets, like a 148 grain WC, can be shot with 2.5 to 3.0 grains, but the lighter bullets don't develop enough pressure at that charge weight.

I shot thousands of these loads through a S&W model 66, and I clean it far less than I used to.

[slughammer]

I settled on Clays because, by far, it left my revolvers cleaner than the other powders and I could go much longer between full breakdown cleanings.

I shot thousands of these loads through a S&W model 66, and I clean it far less than I used to.

I need to concur with Mr stern. I shot bullseye to the point that I got tired of taking the black out of the cylinder recesses until I finally stopped trying and just left it there. Switching to Clays and the gun nearly cleaned itself compared to the previous situation. 4.0-4.3 was my load for 125gr boolits.

For the 150's I use WST, not quite as clean, but able to make 840 fps with less pressure.

[Joey]

I shoot cast 173gr. Keith, 190gr LFP, and 200gr. LFPGC in my SW Md. 10 with 4" bbl. I found that Bullseye and 2400 were the dirtist. I mainly use Unique and Red Dot.

All my shooting is at 100yds. with my loads.

[Buckshot]

.............I like W231.

..............Buckshot

[Shepherd2]

Last week I loaded some .38 Specials using IMR Trail Boss powder mainly because the Dillon 550 was set up for .38 Spl and the can of Trail Boss was sitting on the bench. I took 25 or 30 outback to my range and fired them. I noticed that my revolver was still remarkably clean. I took along a box of .38s loaded with 231 and about half way thru them my S&W was filthy and so were my hands.

I wasn't really looking for it but I don't recall much smoke from the Trail Boss either. I plan on working some more with the Trail Boss. It could be a welcome change from the dirt I've been getting from Bullseye, Unique and 231 all these years. Accuracy was pretty decent too.

[GP100man]

I like clays clean, meters well & when I use LARS45 carnauba red a little EDS RED 3 patches &my GP100s are clean till tomorrow.& a pound goes a longways.3.5gr. in a 357 case a158gr. Lee RNFP generuos crimp standard primer 7000gr. per lb.=2,000 rounds in.38 2.5gr.=2,800 not a hard decesion! saving $$ So I tell the accountant/wife he he