Greetings gents,
Any of you have a proven 38 special load with 150-160 grain boolets and Unique or HS6?
Any comments welcome. Pistol is a Ruger LCR 3 inch. Rifle is a handi rifle.
Bluejay
Greetings gents,
Any of you have a proven 38 special load with 150-160 grain boolets and Unique or HS6?
Any comments welcome. Pistol is a Ruger LCR 3 inch. Rifle is a handi rifle.
Bluejay
You never know how you rank amongst men 'til you have seen what will break another man.
The original "Bluejay" US Army/ US Navy 1945-1970.
Neither of those are the best powder for the purpose.
4 grains TiteGroup
4.5 grains W231 or HP38
5 grains AutoComp
HS6 is going to leave unburned powder in a 3" .38 Special which can tie up the gun if you are not careful to raise the muzzle when you eject the brass, and carry a toothbrush to clean under the extractor when it does.
Unique tends to do the same thing in short barrels and its particle size isn't conducive to uniform metering of +P charges, so that you would have to weigh every one to be safe.
The ENEMY is listening.
HE wants to know what YOU know.
Keep it to yourself.
I use 5.0 grains of Unique, as my standard load in 38 Special for decades, with 158 grain bullets. Nowadays, it's considered a +P load.
Winelover
Is it worth it to get a 4 pound jug of 231?
You never know how you rank amongst men 'til you have seen what will break another man.
The original "Bluejay" US Army/ US Navy 1945-1970.
Share some good loads gents. Proven, go-to loads.
You never know how you rank amongst men 'til you have seen what will break another man.
The original "Bluejay" US Army/ US Navy 1945-1970.
Which powder has the least flash?
You never know how you rank amongst men 'til you have seen what will break another man.
The original "Bluejay" US Army/ US Navy 1945-1970.
Minute of bad guy, in my belly guns. I make it a point not to use 38 Special brass in anything other than 38's. Carbines get 357 brass..............downloaded, if required. Never found Unique to be excessively dirty. Mostly, use Unique or 2400 for all pistol cartridges. Can't even begin to count the number of 8# jugs I've gone through.
Winelover
A little off topic but I have been really happy with 5.5 grains of power pistol under a 158 rainier out of my rossi 92 and ruger 77/357. I haven't tried it with cast yet.
quando omni flunkus moritati
I use and have pressure tested 5.5 gr of Unique under the 358477, TL358-158 and the 358156 cast soft. They weight 155 - 162 gr. The pressure in a closed breach barrel with no cylinder throat (free bore) is just under or at the SAAMI MAP for +P 38 SPL.
Larry Gibson
“Deficient observation is merely a form of ignorance and responsible for the many morbid notions and foolish ideas prevailing.”
― Nikola Tesla
A couple of years ago, I did some extensive load development work on the FBI Load, which is basically what you want. Using my home cast 158gr hollowpoint bullets, the loads were as follows:
7.0gr HS-6
6.4gr AA#5
5.6gr Unique
Note: You should always use a magnum primer with HS-6. That is my favorite load and does 940fps coming out of my 2.5" Model 19, so it would be a real barn burner coming out of a carbine.
Don
NRA Certified Metallic Cartridge Reloading Instructor
NRA Life Member
5.2 grains of Unique , cast 150 to 160 grain boolits in +P-38 special or 357 magnum .
When shot out of a Ruger Blackhawk , 6 shot groups were about the diameter of a quarter .
If the charge was dropped to 5.0 or below...accuracy suffered. Unique likes +P loadings.
4.5 grains sucked rocks.....going to Bullseye solved the light target load accuracy problem.
Gary
Certified Cajun
Proud Member of The Basket of Deplorables
" Let's Go Brandon !"
160gr bayou RN
5grns Win231
mixed brass
CCI SP
Average 827fps
Spread 70
SD 24
This is our of my 3" 686+
How's that bullet feed in a lever action?
I’ve used 5.2 grs Unique and 158 gr lswchp to duplicate Remington/Winchester’s 38 Spl+P 158 gr lhp factory loadings. 5.6 grs Power Pistol also very good with same 158 gr bullet. All these loads are in accordance with current reloading manuals for 38 Spl +P.
Enjoy
About to hit the loading bench. My boolits are weighing in at 165. I have a box full of sized and primed (with small rifle primers) 38 special brass and am going to run 5.7 HS6, 6.0 HS6, 6.3 HS6 and 6.6 HS6. Will post results.
You never know how you rank amongst men 'til you have seen what will break another man.
The original "Bluejay" US Army/ US Navy 1945-1970.
Manstopper load for pistols. 148gr HBWC loaded upside down on top of 3gr Unique.Expands to over .70 caliber and will penetrate one side of a 40gallon steel drum at 100 yards.Use at own risk.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |