Want to hear your 38 special light bullet small game loads.

[cbriggs57]

The gun pictured, Ruger GP100, 3" 38 Special, model, is not intended for 357 or 38/44 equivalent loads. I've loaded a few, and they shoot, but I don't need them. What I'm looking for are lighter bullets and accurate loads for them. I want to carry it during firearms deer season for the occasional squirrel for the pot. A lighter than standard bullet, 110, 105, or even 90 grain flat pointed or wadcutter bullet, and a load for 750-900 fps would be perfect. If it will hold 2" or less at 50 feet, I would be a happy woods-walker. I humbly seek your experiences in making the venerable 38 Special into a 38 Short Colt or 380 ACP equivalent. Thanks.
188435

[Thomas Traddles]

The lightest bullet I have is a 140 gr double ended wadcutter. 3 -- 3.5 grains of Bullseye or Red Dot powder get the nod for me. 148 gr double ended wadcutters would work as well. These are accurate and mild shooting out of my .38/.357 NMBH

[farmerjim]

Lee TL356-95RF, Powder Coated, it will size .359.

[therealhitman]

I have thought about that 95grainer before but haven't bit on one yet. Same with their 160gr .452 button, if they were 6 cavs I'd have them.

I run the 358-125 in a light plate load with 3.2 grains of 700X in a 19 4" barrel at about 780 fps or so. Haven't blowed up any tiny critters with that load though. Farmerjim...what are you getting those light ones loaded down to? Thinking I may go to Titan and Midway to price check and order that mold and the 160 .452 finally.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

The old .38 Special PPC target load of 2..5-2.6 gr. of Bullseye and a 148 gr. hollow base or double end wadcutter should do very nicely. Exactly meets all the specifications you listed.

[skeettx]

As above but 3.1 grains of 231 and the 148 gr hollow base wadcutter

Mike

[telebasher]

I agree with the wadcutter cartel as I always keep several hundred ready to go for hunting or Grandkids. With the former shortage of 22's I wasn't worried as wadcutters kept us shooting and entertained. As a matter of fact I just cast up 2 one-pound coffee cans full so will be ready to load as soon as the BLL dries. The Lyman 358091 casts a hair over 358 so no resizing necessary, just lube, load and shoot, repeat as needed.

[Marcduper]

I run 4 grs of bullseye wit a 140 gr double end wadcutter. This works like a champ, the hares are really tough up here. Good luck.

Marc

[TCFAN]

I think any of these wad cutters would work for what you are wanting to do. The one on the far right Lyman 358425 weighs from my mold 114 grs cast out of ACWW and will shoot in side of 2 inches at 25 yards from my 686

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx200/TCintheOzarks/Cast%20Boolits/DSCN8264-wad-cutters.jpg (http://s755.photobucket.com/user/TCintheOzarks/media/Cast%20Boolits/DSCN8264-wad-cutters.jpg.html)

[Thumbcocker]

I am experimenting with the Lee 105 grn swc in a Ruger LCRX 3" with adjustable sights. Early results with 4.0 of red dot look promising. It is a very good little boolit.

[tazman]

Lee TL356-95RF, Powder Coated, it will size .359.

I have used this boolit in my 38 special with decent results. I never worked with it much other than to see if it worked decently in case I needed to conserve lead. It works great in my 9mm.
Mine drops at .358 from the mold.

[trapper9260]

I use this one from NOE 359-88-RF RG2 cavity PB for hollow point it drops about 80 grs.I also use it in my Taurus 905 9mm lite loads.Will use it for game like you stated.

[NoAngel]

For fun, I have forced a .375 round ball through a .360 push through sizer. Tumble lube and load over 2.5g of AANitro 100.
I think they're around 80g.
They make a funny looking slick sided round nose kinda thing. Might be a good candidate for powder coating.

[rintinglen]

358-345 over a disremembered charge of Unique worked OK for me when l tried it on Jackrabbits back in 80's.
IIRC, it is a 115 grain SWC. I have made some duplex loads for the 357 with this boolit over a 358-101, a 75 grain wadcutter.188499

[runfiverun]

I don't go super light I seem to have better luck with the 125 gr boolits.
a 125 on top of 4grs of 231 fly's straight enough to pop squirrels in the trees or rabbits with enough oomph to make sure they been hit.
3 grs of red-dot and bulls-eye seem to be about the same velocity and POI on paper.

[marlin39a]

Ideal 358425, 112 gr wadcutter, over a light charge of bullseye. Out of my S&W 60-4, 3", it shoots like a .22.

[farmerjim]

I have not used any of the Lee TL356-95RF in my 38's yet. I am sizing to .357 and using them in my 380. it works good in about half of the range pickup brass. the rest is too thick and I load them with .355 plated stuff. When I get some spare time (which disappeared from my life when I retired) , I will try it in the 9mm and 38. For now, most of my 38's use the Lee 358-125-RF. I have 2 of these molds and use them both at the same time for speed. It does work great in the 9 and 38.

[Ed_Shot]

The Lyman 358242 (120 gr) over Red Dot/Promo 4.2 gr in a 38 Spl case is a winner for me in both pistol and rifle.

[ShooterAZ]

I like to shoot the LEE 105 SWC over 3.0 grains of Clays. It's an accurate light load, but will easily take rabbits and squirrels.

[Larry Gibson]

Many years ago I read an article by Jordan, Asksins or Skeeter on carrying a S&W M36 loaded with target WC loads for small game potting. When I got my own M36 (RB with 1 7/8" barrel) I found the sights were dead on ay 25 yards with the department issue practice 38 SPL WC load. Those were 148 gr Swaged WCs over 2.7 gr Bullseye. I shot many a squirrel, a few rock chucks and sundry other small vermin with that revolver and load. The WCs, even at the low velocity, were as deadly as any other 38 SPL load. For the pot many a grouse and snowshoe hare fell to that ubiquitous M36 and target WCs. I recommend a swaged WC over 2.7 gr Bullseye.

Also to be recommended is the Lee 358-105-SWC as a small game load in the 38 SPL. My mould drops them right at .359 with a very soft alloy of 40-1 or 30-1. I give them a light coat of LLA and then size at .358. Loaded over 3.5 gr Bullseye they also are an easy to shoot, accurate and effective small game load.

Larry Gibson

[Mytmousemalibu]

For fun, I have forced a .375 round ball through a .360 push through sizer. Tumble lube and load over 2.5g of AANitro 100.
I think they're around 80g.
They make a funny looking slick sided round nose kinda thing. Might be a good candidate for powder coating.


I have done more or less the same. A Lee .360 RB ran through a .356 push-through sizer to be shot for plinker loads intended for .380 & 9mm. The goal was to push it hard enough to just cycle the slide on my S&W Bodyguard 380 which is a locked breech gun. With the ball seated will the flat ring created by sizing, seated just below the case mouth and a taper crimp over ball radi. I used a light charge of Titewad and with 45/45/10 tumble lube I ran into leading but powder coated balls shot clean. I did get it to cycle the slide just fine and it feeds th stumpy little rounds without issue.

[Sur-shot]

Interesting load if you want to try it, 231 at 5.1 gr with 38 Spl or 357 brass, it does not care, use 110 or 125 gr bullets, it shoots both with the same accuracy. I ran across this load while shooting Field Pistol competition and was astounded that the two cases shot the same point of impact in my 357 BF single shot with a scope. It does not make much sense to me, but it works.
Ed

[Shooter6br]

Wadcutters 148 H&G with a max charge for me. (See Ed Harris article)

http://www.grantcunningham.com/2011/11/ed-harris-revisiting-the-full-charge-wadcutter/

[DanishM1Garand]

Lyman 357665 over 4 grains of unique is a pleasant load with slight recoil.

[Dale53]

I have shot a LOT of home cast wadcutters in the .38 Special in competition and for small game. My S&W 60-4 turned out to be an excellent trail gun in spite of it's short barrel.

My most used wadcutter bullet is from an original four cavity H&G #50 BB 148 gr. Button nosed sized .358", cast of WW's + 2% tin ahead of 3.5 grs. Of Bullseye or equivalent. See the Ed Harris article above (Grant Cunningham link). You cannot do better for the purposes mentioned by the O.P.

Dale53

[Multigunner]

.375 round ball tapped through a 23/64" hole drilled in a steel slab about 15/8 thick.

Charge of 1 gr of Bulls Eye.

Seat the ball well below the case mouth and smear lube around the rim.
At 1 gr the velocity is about the same as from a wrist rocket sling shot.

Used these only in a snubbie, not sure if they would leave the muzzle of a longer barrel.

[Kilroy08]

I did up a bunch of the Lee 105 grain semi wadcutters with either 5.5 grains of Unique or 4.0 grains of Red Dot. In my 6 inch GP-100, they recoiled like a .22 and were fairly accurate.

[bedbugbilly]

I have a 3" Smith Model 36. While not a 38 special load, I like loading 38 Colt Short brass with the Lee 105 SWC - tumble lubed in alox and paste wax over 2.0 Grains of Red Dot or 1.8 Grains of Bulls Eye. They shoot well out of the 3", cheap to load and pretty accurate for little critters. I also use the 120ish grain Lyman/Ideal 358-242 and they shoot well out of the 3" in 38 Colt Short. I would imagine you could work up a light load for a 38 Spl. casings using the same weight boolit and end up with a good little critter load. As you work up your light load for you revolver though, just keep an eye out for squibs until you get your powder charge figured out.

[Paul D. Heppner]

I'm using the Lee 125 RNFP, 6.0 CFE Pistol, and a Winchester SPP out of my 6 3/8 S&W model 14 for 950 fps. It will put all 6 under an inch at 50 feet off bags. It's my favorite small game thumper.

[psweigle]

I'm using the Lee 125gr lead round nose tumble lubed and loaded with 2.8 gr of either red dot or bullseye. Either load will keep more than enough accuracy to pot small game out to 30 yards, that's as far as I've ever tried. Not much damage to the meat. I soot them from a ruger security six, blackhawk, and 77 357.

[cbriggs57]

Wow! I'm really impressed with the responses! The 148 gr wadcutters have proven to be accurate, but I feel a bit wasteful shooting so much lead at such small, relatively fragile targets. I have tried a very light 73 grain semi-wadcutter a friend cast for me, loaded with both bullseye and trailboss, but had almost no bullet pull. Could have seated them with my fingers. Found out trailboss produces squibs when loaded that way. Finally figured I might be reinventing the 38 short Colt wheel and realized I should ask y'all for advice. Lots of good loads here. Got to try as many as I can. Thanks, everyone. If you think of more loads, or someone has a new suggestion, I'm all ears. Really. I have to grow my hair long and wear a big hat to hide 'em. :groner:

[RMII]

My favorite .38spl load is an ultra low recoil. Very accurate out of my S&W 686 6" and will hold a 1/2" - 3/4" group off a a rest. More than 1 tree rat has fallen to it.

Recipe - Lee 148gr TLWC, lubed in 45/45/10, 2gr 700x (or Titegroup).

[Jcduff936]

I don't have my load data handy but I loaded Sierra 110 JHP in a 38 snubnose and pushed it with a light load of Bullseye. It expanded beautifully even at the low velocity. I also used a Speer 158 gr SWC HP with both Trailboss and Bullseye. Both were accurate but the Trailboss didn't have enough power for expansion. The Bullseye did. I didn't chrono these but recoil out of a super light snubnose was light. Especially compared to some of the factory rounds that we tried.

On a different route, 3 #1 buckshot inside of Speer shot cups had a spread of about 4" at 25yrds with Bullseye and fired from the short barrel. It made me rethink shotshell load usefulness out of a rifled barrels.

[Boolseye]

You can seat 2 of those Lee .360 round balls, I lube them with 45-45-10, in a .38 special case. Over 3.3 grains of BE it produced about 850 fps and is very accurate. Load so top ball is about 1/2 in the case.

[Jcduff936]

This sounds interesting to me. If I ever buy a 38 with a 4-6" barrel, that would be a good round to carry for the pesky raccoons we have at our deer feeders. The#1 buckshot loads work well but the 38 we have is DAO and has a very heavy trigger. As in, most of the women who have shot it struggled with two fingers. I got pretty decent with it, but it was a challenge for sure.

[CASTER OF LEAD]

I am experimenting with the Lee 105 grn swc in a Ruger LCRX 3" with adjustable sights. Early results with 4.0 of red dot look promising. It is a very good little boolit.

This is the exact load I shoot out of my 4" taurus 65. Extremely accurate. Nice and soft shooting load too.- CASTER

[Bzcraig]

I agree with those who have mentioned the Lee 105 swc except I used 3-4grs of Trail Boss.