Latest aquisition

[taco650]

S&W 64-3 4". Traded something I was bored with. Don't have anything in this caliber so it will be a good excuse to buy more dies, molds etc.

[Petrol & Powder]

Great guns! basically a stainless model 10 with a heavy barrel. Don't let those fixed sights fool you, those 64's can shoot!
A basic 158ish grain Keith style SWC driven at moderate velocity will handle most of what a 38 Special is called upon to do. No need to push those bullets to extreme speeds.
38 Special is one of my favorite calibers and stainless steel fixed sighted revolvers make up the bulk of my revolver collection. The 4" models are extremely useful and are just about the perfect balance.

Enjoy your new acquisition

[pworley1]

Very nice, but you did it backwards. First buy the dies and then something to load for.

[taco650]

Great guns! basically a stainless model 10 with a heavy barrel. Don't let those fixed sights fool you, those 64's can shoot!
A basic 158ish grain Keith style SWC driven at moderate velocity will handle most of what a 38 Special is called upon to do. No need to push those bullets to extreme speeds.
38 Special is one of my favorite calibers and stainless steel fixed sighted revolvers make up the bulk of my revolver collection. The 4" models are extremely useful and are just about the perfect balance.

Enjoy your new acquisition

Definitely! I've had a couple 357's over the years but its been a long time since they went away so it was time. The 38 will do everything I need and I'm hoping I can get my wife to shoot it by loading down.


Very nice, but you did it backwards. First buy the dies and then something to load for.

LOL! I see a big Midway order in my future!

[Petrol & Powder]

145811Got to love those model 64's
here's my dash 3.

When you're thinking about your upcoming Midway purchases, consider a 158gr SWC mold. I really like the bullet my RCBS 38-150 mold produces but RCBS only comes in a 2 cavity. That 155-160 grain SWC works well in a 38 Special and is really the only bullet you need for 38 Spl.

When it comes to 38 Special vs. .357 Magnum, I shoot WAYYYYYY more 38 Special loads. I can shoot the magnums just fine but most of my 35 caliber revolvers are chambered in 38 Special and I find that cartridge to be lot more fun to play with than the .357's. (not to mention it uses less powder!)

I don't know what powders you have on hand but I've burned a lot of ww231 in the 38 Special over the years and had very good results. I did find that with my model 64 I needed to keep the charge weights in the upper range of the standard pressure loads (non +P but near max for standard 38 Spl) in order to get it to shoot P.O.A. with a 158gr bullets. Most of my other 38 Special fixed sighted revolvers aren't as picky with 158gr bullets, YMMV.
When powder was hard to find I switched to CFE Pistol and was pleased with that as well. Tazman offered some good advice on that powder. There are the classic Bullseye loads and countless others. The 38 Special is a remarkable cartridge.

By the way, I noticed you have a Safariland speedloader with that mdl 64. Another good choice. I've gone through just about every make of speedloader out there and settled on the Safariland models years ago. The HKS models are a bit more common and often a little less money but the Safariland loaders are much easier to use and have proven to be as durable as the HKS.

[taco650]

Petrol & Powder,

Thanks for the tips. I've loaded 38/357 before but its been ~20years so don't even have dies anymore. The speed loader came with the revolver. I got to test fire it before going forward with the acquisition and it shot point-of-aim with factory 158 gr +P loads and I didn't think recoil was bad at all.

My powder selection is limited but I do have a couple cans of Trap 100 which is about the same speed as Bullseye. Also have some Unique, Longshot and a tiny bit of 296. Will NOT be using 296 in this! Longshot might be too slow too but we'll see.

I'll probably get a Lee mold of some sort because they're sufficient for my needs as a caster. I'll also look at commercial cast boolits for time savings. One thing is sure, more fun in my future!!

[Petrol & Powder]

I shot commercial cast bullets in the past and I really don't want to go down that road again. Some of them are OK and some are horrible; depends a lot on the company.

Lee makes a 158gr tumble lube SWC mold; I never used it but others report good things about it. I prefer to use traditional grease grooves and a lubri-sizer. Lee also makes a couple of wadcutter molds (one tumble lube and one conventional) Lot of folks use those with good results. I shoot both WC's and SWC's and they both have their place but if I could only have one mold for a 38 Special it would be the SWC without hesitation. Full wadcutters can be a lot of fun! Low recoil, easy on lead & powder, very accurate and nice clean holes in paper but the SWC is much more of an all-around, do everything bullet. It is a bit more speedloader friendly and they are stable at longer ranges where full WC's sometimes suffer.
I'm not familiar with Trap 100 but Unique will certainly work with 38 Special. Unique will work in a powder measure but there are other powders that are much more compatible with powder measures such as the small flake powders like Bullseye and most of the ball powders.
GOOD LUCK !!

[Spruce]

38 Special are special and Mod.64 are very nice firearms. Titegroup and Bullseye are hard to beat. Titegroup is working for me in several calibers, and is more available for me to find.

[Gofaaast]

I am with Spruce. Titegroup is my go to powder these days as well. I put 3.5 grains under a H&G 50 sized .358 and my 64 groups real well. I used to shoot only 3.2 grains, but did not always get a good case seal with starline brass. The 3.5 load seals well and shoots excellent.

[sailsguy]

I love my model 10 K frame. That 64 is a very nice looking Smith.

[TXGunNut]

Classy little gun & cartridge, congrats.

[Scharfschuetze]

That's a great addition to the armory for you!

I used this Model 65 (same as yours, but .357 calibre) as an LEO. It gets to go to the range now and then just for the memories. I bought it in 1977 as a service revolver and it's still just as tight and accurate as when new.

[FergusonTO35]

Sweet! I have a 10-5 and 10-10, the same gun in blue. Try 3.4 grains Bullseye under any 150 grain and up boolit. I bet your revolver will love it. Hint: the Lee C358-158-SWC works great without a gas check in .38 Special.

[GrantA]

I haven't found a 38 (or 357) that doesn't like a 158 swc over trail boss, nice find

[taco650]

I haven't found a 38 (or 357) that doesn't like a 158 swc over trail boss, nice find

Now if I could only find some Trailboss LOL!

[Scharfschuetze]

Bullseye, Tightgroup or Winchester 231 are great powders to use with 158 grain boolits if you can't find Trailboss. To be honest, I've never tried TrailBoss so I can't comment on its efficacy. I'm probably behind the power curve as I've only used the above three powders routinely in non +P 38 Special loads.

[taco650]

The thing that appeals to me about the 38 Special is its ability to be a mild mannered yet very accurate target round up to a decent man-stopper at +P levels. No, its not as powerful as a 357 mag but its much easier to load down. I'm 52 and though I still shoot hot loads from my 44mag, I find its more fun to shoot all afternoon with lighter loads.

[Petrol & Powder]

Don't underestimate the effectiveness of the 38 Special. There are cemeteries full of people that did.