38 Special kiddie load (Lee 358-105-SWC)

[Revolver]

My 11 year old daughter has been shooting the 22LR revolver for awhile, she's ready for a 38 special but is nervous about recoil having only shot a 22 before. I would like to make a light low recoil 38 special load to get her started and thought this 105 grain boolit would be a good start. I picked up some red dot because I read somewhere on here that it would be appropriate for a light load. Does anyone have any experience or suggestions for a very light 38 special target load? I would like to try some out myself to find a good starter combo for her.

We really enjoy shooting together, I wish my son was a little more responsible so that he could join us but he is just not there yet in my opinion.

[GRUMPA]

I use 2.5gr of Bullseye with a 110gr Ideal WC, wife loves it. I have safely taken it down to 2gr with the same boolit without an issue.

[dodgyrog]

I use 2.5gr of Bullseye with a 110gr Ideal WC, wife loves it. I have safely taken it down to 2gr with the same boolit without an issue.

105gr Lee SWC with 2.5gr Bullseye is very accurate and is very light on recoil

[Bill*]

When I saw the title of this thread, my first thought was probably most any load would stop a kiddie.

[steg]

I've used Red Dot in basic cat sneeze loads and find it very forgiving, I'm sure at times I went even lower than 2 Grains with 141grWC and 158grSWC.............

[gwpercle]

I also like Bullseye , 2.5 to 2.7 grains is proven accurate. I just bought some Red Dot and will be trying it out in 38 special with cast wadcutters . Hear it works well in this application . Will browse around the site and see what others have experienced with it.

That's great you're teaching your children to shoot ,especially the girls. Don't worry about your son , once he hears how much fun your having, and he gets a little older, he will join in. Shooting is a displined sport and is a good way to teach the kids to be responsible. Can't be careless on the shooting line. I got a booklet on gun safety from the NRA when my kids started and we went over all the rules even before they touched a loaded gun . Must have worked because both of mine are now so safety concious they remind me if I'm getting lax at the range.

[leadshooter5]

To get her started handling the gun safely, maybe the old gallery load? Melt 1/2" of common parafin wax in a pan, stand the primed cases in it mouth down until it hardens, and that's it. We have 7-yard targets at our range, and it should work great. Be aware that some revolvers with excessive cylinder gaps don't handle light loads well... they might vent enough pressure out the gap to leave the bullet stuck in the barrel.

[jarex]

Standard Field Load here is 3.3 grains of N310 and seat the bullet to the crimp grove and just crimp a little bit, this load is very mild and used for competition shooting here.

[DrCaveman]

Try Trail boss. 3 gr behind that boolit is a nice little plinker, I shoot by the bucket full. Also, surprisingly accurate! And the loaded rounds look like little crayons.

[runfiverun]

k.
he has red dot a bunch of loads with everything from bullseye to blue dot won't help much.
2.7 grs of red dot will be fine, work from there.

[bobthenailer]

Try 1.5 gr of BE with a 158 gr swc { seated upside down} in a 38 case, sort of a WC , the girls used to shoot alot of them and you almost dont need hearing protection . and there accurate. Im sure the 105 gr bullet will work but because it takes up less powder space you will have to use more powder than my load so it will be louder, if thats a consern with you ?
Happy shooting

[ghh3rd]

I load my 148 gr wadcutters over 2.7 of Bullseye, and they are very accurate at 10 yds. I have had folks ask me what I'm shooting out of my snub because there was so little recoil.

[KaliforniaRebel]

You can always drill out the tips as a hollowpoint to make them lighter if needed.

Be careful going too light on BE in such a large case. I remember 2.0 gr of BE behind a 105 gr bullet was really tame for my 9x18 loads.

[whisler]

I loaded the 105 SWC over 3.3 gr of Red Dot for the wife's LCR. She is quite recoil sensitive and that revolver is very light. She shot 10 rounds and she said "no problem, load up some more".

[GP100man]

I load 2gr. of RD under a RB & it makes it out the muzzle fast enuff to kill Coke cans !

[jmsj]

Revolver,
I have a 12 yr. old daughter and she started shooting my 4" 686 a little last year. Our plinking load is 2.8 - 3.0 gr. of Bullseye and the Lee 358-105-SWC. She seemed to do fine with it and said that recoil is not oblectionable. She is fairly tall and strong for her age and has been shooting since she was 5. This is also the load my wife practices with for CCW.
This has been a great load for us.
Good luck, jmsj

[Revolver]

I appreciate everyone's responses and suggestions. I do have bullseye on hand too so I may try that.

I have a 681 (686 w/fixed sights) but was thinking it might be too heavy so I was going to start her with the model 66.

My youngest daughter is 4. She loves to come out shooting with me although she just watches, helps set up targets, and tells me when to shoot. (She yells "Launch!"). She even knows all the steps for reloading as she used to watch me and help pull the handle on the press before I learned it was too risky to have her around that stuff.

Revolver,
I have a 12 yr. old daughter and she started shooting my 4" 686 a little last year. Our plinking load is 2.8 - 3.0 gr. of Bullseye and the Lee 358-105-SWC. She seemed to do fine with it and said that recoil is not oblectionable. She is fairly tall and strong for her age and has been shooting since she was 5. This is also the load my wife practices with for CCW.
This has been a great load for us.
Good luck, jmsj

[Revolver]

RANGE REPORT:

Well, I went with the Lee 105 grain boolit and 3.5 grains of Red Dot. It doesn't seem much lighter than my normal 38 special load. Maybe the light boolit and light powder isn't the right combo? Would light powder and a heavy boolit have less recoil?

Regardless, today my daughter graduated from the 22 pistol and shot these 38 specials with good success. She opted for the biggest gun (S&W 681) and shot double action. After her first 12 shots she loosened up a bit and her accuracy got steadily better. She fired about 40 out of 50 rounds and then complained her trigger finger hurt. I was pleased, she seemed to enjoy it and asked if I would load up more for next time.

[Thompsoncustom]

I find that lighter boolits tend to have more of a snap and heavier boolits more of a push. I have never reloaded for a revolver but if you could fit something in the 180gr-200gr 357 bullet in the .38 and put a grain or two of unique behind it I think it would be very soft. I only reload 9mm but a 173gr 9mm with 2.4gr of unique makes minor and has no recoil to speak of.

[revolvergeek]

I have been playing around with working up this sort of load a lot lately. I had problems with the 105 Lee LSW and very light loads with poor powder burn and low POI. Upping the charge towards 4 grns of Red Dot made them shoot much better, but got the noise and recoil back up a little.

I have had very good accuracy with the 195 gr. bullet #358430 over light charges of 231 and Unique, but POI tends to be very high so they work best in something with adjustable sights. Recoil is more of a shove than a snap and blast is pretty mild.

The two loads that had the most positive feedback were a Bayou Bullets 135 LRN over 3.1 grn Red Dot (I was told that these "Shoot pretty") and a Lee 125 LRN-TL over 3.5. Both shot to point of aim at about 20 feet and produced very little recoil, even when fired out of a couple airweight snubbies.