Are my gallery loads really only 350 fps?!?

[Low Budget Shooter]

A while back you all helped me know what I had in an old chromed 5" S&W revolver I bought cheap. One daughter and I have been having fun working up a .38 Special gallery load for it. The best load we have so far is a 95-grain bullet (NOE 358242) over 2.2 grains Bullseye. We're trying to adjust the load and file the front sight to get us the best trajectory we can get for shooting between 5 and 25 yards. Last evening we were hitting 1" high at 7 yards, then about 3" low at 25 yards. Online trajectory calculator tells me that to get that, velocity would be about 350 fps. Can my bullet really be going that slow? Of course it would be nice to run this over a chronograph, but I don't have one, and neither do my shooting buddies. Can any of you confirm that the lightest .38 Special load that will exit the barrel is all the way down below 400 fps?

Thanks!

LBS

[MarkP]

I would think you are in the 600 fps range, a similar charge with the Lyman 77 gr WC is 700 fps in my 4". It would difficult to determine velocity from trajectory, especially considering the short distance involved. Becareful I stuck a few when I went below 2.0 grs (2" M 64, 8-3/8" M 14)

[Tatume]

Like MarkP said, you can't reliably determine speed from trajectory. In my experience, anything below 600 fps will stick in the barrel of a 38 Special revolver. You're probably very close to that.

You should bring a brass rod and a heavy hammer with you when you go to the range. Do not try to use sharp raps with a light hammer to move bullets in the barrel, as this can make them stick even harder. A light blow with a heavy hammer will move the bullet.

[upnorthwis]

Years ago I set up my chrono before loading several hundred .38 Spl for cowboy. Wanted 650 fps. It was a 90 degree day. Got the fps I needed and proceeded to load them. Later in the year I was at a match in Oct. and it was 20 degrees. Other shooters said they could see the boolits leaving the barrel they were so slow. Got home, set up chrono. At 20 degrees they were going 350 fps. Was using 3.2 gr. WW231 with 125 gr. boolit. Shot the whole match without sticking any in barrel.

[Low Budget Shooter]

Thanks for that data. I was born in Wisconsin, but have lived in Texas for years. I chuckled at you saying it was 90 degrees in the summer, then 20 degrees in October. Here it is 90 degrees in October and occasionally down to 20 in January! :) So, if I work up a load that seems to be minimum, I guess I'd better test it at 20 degrees before loading up a bunch.

[JSnover]

On three separate occasions I removed stuck 125gr jhp bullets from a six inch .357, using an empty case with a magnum primer. My notes are long gone, all I remember is they were right at the starting charge weight. I don't load light anymore.

[wbranger]

This comment is regarding that bullet and it's lack of accuracy. It has very little bearing surface and therefore a very poor grip in the rifling. I have tried several uses for that bullet: 9mm, 380 & .38 - all with poor results. Very inconsistent grouping. Find a bullet with more bearing surface.

[Low Budget Shooter]

wbranger, I don't at all doubt your experience with this bullet. But when I tested several bullets over different charges of different powders in three 9mm guns, that bullet over a certain load of Bullseye produced the best groups in each pistol. And now, with this gallery load I'm trying to work up, again this bullet grouped very nicely, at least as well as three other bullets I tried. Go figure!

[slughammer]

?.......... The best load we have so far is a 95-grain bullet (NOE 358242) over 2.2 grains Bullseye. We're trying to adjust the load and file the front sight.....


Not a bad boolit, I have the lyman version and have shot some decent groups with it at much higher velocities. I gotta ask, why are you trying to regulate the sights to a load that is so far to one side of the spectrum?

[NavyVet1959]

When you start getting really low powder charges, you have a chance for inconsistent powder burns which would affect your trajectory. Also, if your powder measure varies by 0.1 gr per charge, that is going to have a greater percentage of effect when you are at 2 gr than when you are at 6 gr.

[Low Budget Shooter]

Slughammer, here's why: I have other guns for other kinds of shooting, but I intend this one to be for orientation and fun for children and ladies. For the good of the old gun and the new/small shooters, I would like recoil and noise to be the minimum possible. Also, powder and lead being much harder to come by now than in the past, I'm trying to use the least possible of both. I would not file on most guns. But I bought this gun very cheap. It is a 100-year-old S&W, but collector value has been ruined by rust and an after-market chrome job. Gun is somewhat loose, seems to be from lots of shooting. Action is very smooth, and gun seems accurate.

NavyVet, yes, I need to try to minimize that. There's an old article by Nonte where he used only 1.1 grain Bullseye, but put a very small wad of toilet paper in to hold the powder to the rear of the case. He said it worked well, and I'm thinking of trying it.

[NavyVet1959]

Have you tried .360 round ball (000-buck)?

[Low Budget Shooter]

I would like to, but I don't have a .360 mold yet.

[NavyVet1959]

Some people make hot melt glue stick bullets for indoor use. Doing a quick Google search, I see that hot melt glue sticks have a density of anywhere from .95 to 1.3 grams/cu-cm, so that would make them about 1/10th of what a lead bullet would weigh for a particular mold. On the other hand, lead can be acquired for around $1 per pound and glue sticks are around $3-4 per pound in large quantities. That would seem to put the advantage on glue sticks, but if you have a bullet trap, the lead can be recovered.

[NavyVet1959]

I would like to, but I don't have a .360 mold yet.

http://buckshotmold.com

Or the Lee 2-cavity .360 round ball mold if you are wanting something a bit cheaper.

One of the things about the low velocity loads like this in a revolver is that you really don't even need to resize the brass afterwards.

[Low Budget Shooter]

Navy, I appreciate your interest in this project. Yes, trapping the lead is one of my goals. Bullets shot at steel targets at normal velocities often splatter. When shot at very low velocity, they normally flatten and drop right down at the base of the target for easy collection and recycling!