how about the 38 special

[dmize]

Good Lord Guys.
Is it a flipping full moon or what? This has to be the worst most crossways thread I have seen since I quite going to Ruger Forum.
White Eagle...If you ever get a 38 Special you will more than likely try Bullseye. Since you are a rifle reloader I will "assume" that you are used to dumping and trickle charging 1 round at a time so loading a 38 1 at a time shouldnt be that big of deal.
Bullseye and that DEWC has killed more 38 specials than will ever be worn out. I am at work and dont have a load book handy but I know I tried more powders than just Bullseye and Unique so I know there are other options, So if you are only throwing 3-4 grains of much of anything in them,double check before seating a bullet.
Now in an attempt to cover my butt with the risk of offending ANYONE,I am not inferring anyone is careless or "stupid" . That particular load has probably won more Bullseye matches than any other,and THOSE guys have blown up guns. **** HAPPENS.

[MasS&W]

Good Lord Guys.
Is it a flipping full moon or what? This has to be the worst most crossways thread I have seen since I quite going to Ruger Forum.

Its all in good fun, we're all on the same side. I hope.

[TXGunNut]

anyone load and cast for this?
I am going to pick up a used Smith and wanted to know what to try
like boolit weights and powders to look @

I've probably loaded & fired just a bit over 200K rounds of .38 spl in PPC competition, generally a swaged lead HBWC (hollow based wadcutter) over 2.9 grs 231 (cleaner than the classic BE). Fired more than a few 158 gr cast in stock gun matches but don't recall the recipe, we generally had to fire factory ammo anyway.
38 Special is a wonderful round...as a few posters have pointed out. It uses very little powder or lead and range brass is still out there. Brass can be loaded at least 6 times, sometimes well over a dozen times. It's a sweetheart of a target round as well; capable of 1.5" @ 50 yds. Low recoil makes it a favorite of countless instructors and students as well.
For years I kept a S&W Model 60 close by for social equipment, had every confidence in it in that capacity as well.
Thanks to you, OP, I may just have to start casting for this wonderful cartridge. I haven't loaded for it since I retired from PPC shooting several years ago. Have hundreds of target rounds lying around but a 160 gr semi-wadcutter is starting to sound like a fun project.
Enjoy, it's a wonderful old round, even if some folks don't understand.

[MBTcustom]

I have found that negative comments in the beginning of a thread taint the whole thread. There was some misunderstanding in the beginning and it was going to die a miserable death, but it got lined out and we all learned something (I hope)
anyway, we should all try not to read negativity into a persons comments unless it is painfully obvious that they are trolling. I try to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. So far I've only had one run in with someone that I felt earned a good dressing down, but I dont go looking for a fight here. I think in this case MasS&W has it right, it was a simple matter of a comment being taken the wrong way. We got the thread back on course, but it seems that once a thread is tainted, the bad vibe tends to hang on.
Good to keep in mind in the future.

[TXGunNut]

That would be a shame, Tim. The .38 Spl is indeed a wonderful cartridge. We're all ignorant in some area, if the OP wants to know something about a cartridge that I am familiar with that's what I'm here for.
When I ask a question that "everyone" thinks is beneath them mebbe they'll just skip to the next thread.

[jabo52521]

Great caliber bullet. I cast a 150gr SWC by Lee with 3 grains of Bullseye. The 1917s (year not model) SW and Colt love them.

[FISH4BUGS]

I typically use a H&G 51 158 gr swc over 4 gr 231. I shoot a ton of 38's out of the Rossi 92 and it shoots like a house afire. Very accurate and easy recoil....like almost none.
I have Model 36 , 60, 640, 28 and the Rossi. Tons 'o 38's.
Great round,,,,,actually my favorite. My girlfriend shoots the 3" sb 36 with the standard loads, and then puts in 5 +p's to keep it in the bedside stand.
No....the 38 is alive and well.

[MasS&W]

anyway, we should all try not to read negativity into a persons comments unless it is painfully obvious that they are trolling. I try to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. So far I've only had one run in with someone that I felt earned a good dressing down, but I dont go looking for a fight here. I think in this case MasS&W has it right, it was a simple matter of a comment being taken the wrong way.

Well said, I had no animosity towards anyone.

[Kestrel4k]

3 grains of Bullseye and a 158 grain semi-wadcutter worked in 1900, and still works.

I recall being a poor college student and bumping my Bullseye load down to 2.5 grs to save on powder, lol.

BTW I've reloaded more .38's than all my other cartridges combined.

I know that there is a lot of love for the .38 BB/FB WC's here, but I confess that I've shot thousands of the inexpensive swaged HBWC's. Saves the casting time for the 30's & .358's (rifle).

[Stick_man]

Well, I used to load for the .38 special, but I don't anymore. Probably will again pretty soon though, once my stash gets back below about 5,000 rounds. At one point, I was going through about 5,000 a month. Now, I am lucky to be able to light off 1,000 rounds in a year. The time is quickly approaching when I will be able to get back to upwards of 1,000 per month though. I am already gearing up for it.

[handyman25]

The 38 special is great. My first loaded round was the 38 special and my first cast bullet was for my 38 special. In 1960 I could get all the 38 special brass I wanted for free and all the wheel weights also for free. Why didn't I save up a couple of 100 tons. I wore out a ruger single action and a smith double. Before I went to Viet Nam (1966) I had a choice my 1911/45 acp or my smith?38 special with my HOT reloads. I was going to take my smith but my sargent made me see the light. "The army will give you a weapon and all the ammo you want for free". If they catch you taking in a firearm you will wind up in kansas not Viet Nam. Iam going over there to kill people and they are worried that I will take in a firearm, go figure.

[Cowboy T]

The .38 Special is by far the round I reload for the most. Got a nice little powder-puff load with Lee's 358-105-SWC boolit and a light charge of Bullseye that makes even a J-frame Airweight fun to shoot. It was designed with my cameralady in mind, and she loves to shoot this round. Out of a service-sized revolver like a S&W K-frame (e. g. Model 10, 64), it's a cream-puff and makes a terrific marksmanship practice round.

I've got another, stronger load that uses a 158gr LRNFP (358-158-RF) and a good 'n' healthy charge of 2400. This is a lot of fun to shoot and was developed back when .357M cases were a little tougher to come by than they are now. Basically, the goal was to replicate my actual .357M load, and that was accomplished. Now, of course, I just use .357M cases for this.

Gosh...the .38 Special round is 112 years old this year and is still goin' strong. Brass is everywhere; 0.357" caliber bullets (and boolits) are super-widely-available; it's extremely flexible in that you can load it from mild to wild; it has, does, and will continue to put venison and other game on the dinner table; firearms for it have been around since 1900 and continue to be popular....

What's not to love about the cartridge?

I will continue to reload it, shoot it, and enjoy it. Terrific cartridge for the handloader. Not saying it's "better" than other cartridges, but likewise, it's hard to beat with any other cartridge for general flexibility and utility.

Damned right I reload it!!

[Sasquatch-1]

I don't know who did it, but yesterday someone donated 88 more pieces of .38 brass to my stash. Found them on the ground and in a brass bin at the range with the help of "ODFAIRFAX". Along with a mess of 9MM and 4 S&W40's.

[EdS]

Sas: Something makes me pick up perfectly good brass left behind at the range. A couple of weeks ago, I arrived at my local pistol range, with no one else there. Walking up to post my target, I saw a sprinkling of clean, nickel plated RP .38 special beass on the ground. There were around 40 cases in all. They were spread around just 3 feet in front of the target backer. They must have been dropped by someone practicing his "training" routine. LOL. I picked them all up and added them to my coffee can. -Ed

[FergusonTO35]

Other than .22 LR I would say I've put more .38 Specials downrange than all the others combined. My first .38 was actually a .357, a gently used Marlin 1894c that I bought when I was 19 and still have it. I quickly discovered that .38's out of this little carbine were as easy shooting as .22's but packed alot more wallop from the business end. It still primarily eats .38 handloads and wears a Williams receiver sight with a homemade partridge style front.

Other .38's have followed in its footsteps: S&W 10-5, Charter Police Undercover, Ruger Service Six, Charter Undercover, and Ruger GP-100. They all shoot great with my pet load of 5.7 grains Accurate #5 under a 158 grain flat point, which produces 860 fps out of a 4" tube, 770 out of a snub. It shoots easy out of a six shot 4" gun but is a hard to hold on to out of a snubby.

Awhile back I talked to a guy who has a bullet casting business and is a retired police officer. He said the best defensive handgun round he ever saw was the old .38 Special +P 158 grain lead hollow point. He stated he had watched a few autopsies of perps who had their caeers cut short by these rounds and found they were pretty devastating. His conclusion was that if there ever was a handgun round with the highest possibility of producing a one shot stop it was this one out of a 4-6" barrel, in his words "you only need one per customer".

I'm planning to make a snubby specific load for the Lee .358 125 grain flat point. I'm trying for 800-850 fps with manageable recoil out of a snub. Any suggestions out there?

[revolvergeek]

I recently tried the Lee 125 RNFP in a couple pistols for some low recoil practice ammo. The "hottest" that I tried was 4.2 grains of Red Dot and ran avg 816 out of a 2.1 inch barrel.

[FergusonTO35]

Sounds good, I may just give that a try.

[jlchucker]

I would venture to say that if you did a poll of the members here that a good 50 to 60% would say they own a .38 spl and load for it. You might even have quite a few more who load .38 for their .357's.

I load a 158 grn SWC with about 4.5 grns of Unique right now.

Yup. My 158 gr SWC gets pushed by 3.8 gr of Titegroup and goes out of my two Smiths and Rossi 357 92 carbine. Next time I load up I'll try some Unique.

[jim4065]

I've still got an old Smith which has had a fine action job done on it. Looks like the *** end of hard times, but there's a certain satisfaction in shooting that old .38 that I just can't get from an auto.

[chuckdog]

22
38
30-06
12 gauge

what more could you ask for