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The older Speer Manuals (and maybe the new ones) have a section on this with the Speer shot cups. They listed 4.5 grains of Bullseye in the 38's, but also mentioned that lower power = better patterns. That has been my experience and I stick with 3 gr of Bullseye.
The estimated pattern spread was 1" per foot of distance. (20 feet gives a 20 inch spread) These aren't a long range proposition. jd
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I do also have some Herco that I might experiment with as well.
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I ended up using 357 cases so I could get some extra shot into them. I loaded up a few with 5.5 grains of Herco, about 80 grains of 7 1/2 shot with card stock wads. Roll crimped the cases to help hold the card stock in position.
I was impressed… very mild report with a good pattern. Barrel had fairly mild fouling.
In my opinion a very successful experiment!
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IMHO you don't need more than 3 grains of any of the fast shotshell powders in a pistol shotshell load.
Anymore is probably beginning to blow the pattern at further range.
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I agree with the "Less is more" when it comes to powder weight in these snake and rat loads. I use Remington 357 Mag cases, #9 shot, 3.0 grains of WW-231, and a couple gas checks sized at .355" in the Lyman 450. I may shift to the #12 shot for my next batch of 50, which has lasted for 10 years+. I don't hunt snakes, but when they hunt me I will install heavy metal. In my area, we are blessed with rattlers, sidewinders, and the occasional Mojave Green to keep the dull times minimized. With perfectly capable snakes like king snakes, rosy boas, garters, and gopher snakes for rat control, it makes you wonder what Our Creator was thinking about when He came up this "venomous snake" concept.
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I’ll cut back the powder and see how it works out.