Buckshot in .38 special

[Dirtshooter]

Hi all, this may be wrong part of forum, but I was thinking of loading some 00 buckshot in either .38 special or .357 mag cases. I know 000 is correct size,but I don't have any and have a 00 mold. Any tips and such would be appreciated. Mac

[26Charlie]

As you mention you need a 000 mold. Lee makes them and I saw them on eBay. DO NOT load a ball hard down on smokeless powders. Find a way to crimp into the ball. Even a light load of two or three grains of Bullseye will generate too much pressure otherwise. I speak from experience.

[Michael J. Spangler]

Do you have any other 38 moulds and a gas check?
You can use the gas check inside the driving band section of the mould to partition off a small part of the mould and cast smaller wadcutters. Then you can stack a few of these or load a single one.
They have more bearing surface to them so you get better powder burn with a single vs. a single round ball

I’ve done this with a 45-70 mould to make some nice light plinkers. The pic below is with hot glue to show how it’s done.

293928

[dverna]

Do you have any other 38 moulds and a gas check?
You can use the gas check inside the driving band section of the mould to partition off a small part of the mould and cast smaller wadcutters. Then you can stack a few of these or load a single one.
They have more bearing surface to them so you get better powder burn with a single vs. a single round ball

I’ve done this with a 45-70 mould to make some nice light plinkers. The pic below is with hot glue to show how it’s done.

293928

Ingenious.

[Michael J. Spangler]

Ingenious.

I can’t take credit. I saw it somewhere on this forum.

[racepres]

Do you have any other 38 moulds and a gas check?
You can use the gas check inside the driving band section of the mould to partition off a small part of the mould and cast smaller wadcutters. Then you can stack a few of these or load a single one.
They have more bearing surface to them so you get better powder burn with a single vs. a single round ball

I’ve done this with a 45-70 mould to make some nice light plinkers. The pic below is with hot glue to show how it’s done.

293928
Interesting
How do the checks stay in place while Casting????
As I understand it...Most adhesives loose strength when heated..

[Michael J. Spangler]

They are just about the same size as the cuts for the driving bands. So they can’t move around at all.
Pop the bullets out. The check usually falls off depending if you put the cup right side up or upside down. Then re use the check again. They don’t stay on the bullet.

If someone were crafty they could make up a nice little copper disc that would fit perfectly into the groove

[racepres]

They are just about the same size as the cuts for the driving bands. So they can’t move around at all.
Pop the bullets out. The check usually falls off depending if you put the cup right side up or upside down. Then re use the check again. They don’t stay on the bullet.

If someone were crafty they could make up a nice little copper disc that would fit perfectly into the groove

Thanks... Slow but sure....

[Michael J. Spangler]

Thanks... Slow but sure....

It’s not that bad. Run a handful of check so you don’t have to handle the hot ones.

[DGV]

I tried 3 pellets of #1 buckshot in a speer shot capsule. it shot pretty good. At 10 yards pellets were about 7-8 inches apart

[trapper9260]

Do you have any other 38 moulds and a gas check?
You can use the gas check inside the driving band section of the mould to partition off a small part of the mould and cast smaller wadcutters. Then you can stack a few of these or load a single one.
They have more bearing surface to them so you get better powder burn with a single vs. a single round ball

I’ve done this with a 45-70 mould to make some nice light plinkers. The pic below is with hot glue to show how it’s done.

293928

This a good idea , thanks for shearing it . I have used some of what I found someone else had came up on here and other places and used it. repost some helps others that could use it and did not know someone came up with it.

[grayscale]

Its not .38 but I load .32 auto with 1 .310 buckshot over 1.5 gr Bullseye and 2 meat tray foam discs.
Very soft shooting and surprisingly accurate at 10 yards out of a Seecamp automatic. I'm sure similar load would work in .38 spc.

[ChuckJaxFL]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220916/7a52f5a0baccafdce4386385c363054a.jpg
I don’t know if you ever picked up a 000 mold or had a chance to follow through on this.

I run my 000 through a 358 size. It puts just enough of an equatorial ring around to crimp into and, presumably, grip some rifling. Loaded as pictured, they cycle through my Marlin 1894 just like any other cartridge. I use 357 brass and (I think, but I’m not 100% sure) 2.5 grains of Trailboss.

They are squirrel-head accurate out to around 25 yards, at which point accuracy turns to garbage pretty quickly. But, they work fine for plinking, only consume 70 grains of lead per shot, and at 18 rounds per cast, it doesn’t take much time at all to get many hundred rounds ready.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[beagle]

Look on castpics/articles at .38 Special 2 ball loads.
I bumped some in my sizer to .358". The lower had two flats and the upper had a flat on bottom and round on top. Loaded both 2 and 3 ball loads in the .38 Special and .357 respectively. For grouping, the .38 Special 2 ball load performed very well. Better than the 3 ball .357.
I used a .357 round ball and bumped it in my 450 sizer.
Make a fine in-house home defense load. Killed a couple of snakes outside with it./beagle

[barnetmill]

after sizing OOO buck, would coating help for heavier loads?

[MarkP]

306216

I was thinking the old Lyman mold was 77 gr. Before I bought the mold shown above I was thumb pressing in 0.361" RB's. I got the round ball idea from Turner Kirkland in the Dixie Gun Works Catalog. I used smokeless rather than black powder. When I was about 11 or 12 I read the Dixie book cover to cover.

[Char-Gar]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220916/7a52f5a0baccafdce4386385c363054a.jpg
I don’t know if you ever picked up a 000 mold or had a chance to follow through on this.

I run my 000 through a 358 size. It puts just enough of an equatorial ring around to crimp into and, presumably, grip some rifling. Loaded as pictured, they cycle through my Marlin 1894 just like any other cartridge. I use 357 brass and (I think, but I’m not 100% sure) 2.5 grains of Trailboss.

They are squirrel-head accurate out to around 25 yards, at which point accuracy turns to garbage pretty quickly. But, they work fine for plinking, only consume 70 grains of lead per shot, and at 18 rounds per cast, it doesn’t take much time at all to get many hundred rounds ready.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, that is the way it was done, back in the day. I never cast 000 buck, but bought a sack and it worked fine.

[Dave C.]

I had a tumbling issue if I did not size the round balls to 358 .

[crandall crank]

I've used the Lee TL-356-95-RF (380 acp) cast bullet that has been powder coated and NOT sized in very light 38 special loads. Very mild and fun in a single action revolver

[mdntranger50]

Interesting thread, never thought of doing this but gives me more food for thought. Thanks for all the replies and info. You guys are great.

[LAGS]

I use to load round ball buckshot loads for an old 1892 Colt New Army in .38 long colt.
They were fun and cheap to shoot.

[barnetmill]

for triple ought buck, there are 12 ga shotgun shells loaded with it that could be broken down to obtain the #000 pellets. I think they put 8 pellets of it in a standard load.

https://gunmagwarehouse.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/OO-Buckshot-12-Gauge-Photo-Aiming-Expert.jpg-Feature-Photo.jpg

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