.38 Special round ball load

[BrianB]

I have looked all through my search results and cannot find this, so if it has been covered before, at least I tried.

I'm looking for a .38 Special load using Unique or Clays and a single .360 round ball.

Anyone got a recipe?

Thanks, BAB

[NickSS]

I have never tried a RB in a 38 but I have used them in a 45 colt. All I did was load 5 gr of Unique and seated the ball in the mouth of the case a little past half way and role crimping it in place. So I imagine that if you load like 3 to 4 gr of Unique and a 360 ball it will work fine. I lube the balls with LLA.

[Shiloh]

Why not just use a wadcutter??

Shiloh

[woody1]

Not Clays or Unique, but I use 3.1 gr. B'eye. Works for me. Regards, Woody

[.357]

I once got a PM i requested about this topic from
45-70 Chevroner


It has been quite a while since I used the RB load. I used a 36 cal RB over, I think the load was 3 or 4 grs. of Bullseye. You can't push them to fast as they will not stablize, not enough berring surface. You can use two RBs for in house self protection. At 10 to 15 feet they will print about 2 to 3" apart. I never tryed them at much over 25'. I seated the ball flush and used a little lube over the end. Crisco works ok but it is messy and you need to shoot them soon after loading or they will get dirty pretty easely. I would not be suprised if you could get them to shoot well out to 25yrds with a little load tweeking. They should shoot as well as a cap and ball pistol. Both of my 44 cap and ball pistols will shoot inside 4" at 25 yrds.



i have not tried these but would love to, gotta experiment with this.

[mooman76]

I tried some RB loads but they tumbled allot!

[Hardcast416taylor]

There`s just nothing more dis- heartening than to have your RB`s tumble!Robert

[Beerd]

I have run .375 round balls thu a .358 sizer and load on top of 3.0 grains of WW231. You could probably do the same with Clays.
Not real accurate but there's not much recoil either.
..

[Echo]

I really haven't laughed as much when shooting my reloads as I did Saturday. I had loaded some .38 Special RB loads with 2.0 grs of 231. Aiming at the middle of the 60-yard berm, the ball would hit about 20 ft in front of the berm, ricocheting up to hit near where I was aiming. If I took it to the 100 yard line, it might make it, but it would be rolling, not flying. I guess I need a little more oomph...

[Multigunner]

I made up some rat killer/cat sneeze loads using aprox 1 gr of bulleye under a round ball I'd squeesed down to .359 by pounding a .375 round ball through a hole in a steel slab. Pounding the RB through the hole left of flattened on the base with a good bearing surface and rounded nose.

I was trying for velocities about that of a wrist rocket sling shot, and low noise level of course.

I found that I could hang a hankerchef on a cross wire and the bullets would flip the cloth up without penetrating.

I had only one bullet that failed to exit the muzzle, it in fact didn't fully exit the chamber mouth. I could hear the gases expelled around the bullet in a sizzling hiss.

This was using a snubbie Model 37, so its likely the balls wouldn't exit the bore reliably if the barrel was longer.

I seated the short slug below the case mouth, to reduce free space to promote full ignition of the tiny charge, and smeared door ease silicone grease around the inside of the case mouth as a lube.

[Beerd]

re: 2 grains of 231 & a 38 RB

I really haven't laughed as much when shooting my reloads as I did Saturday.

the main idea behind my reloading and shooting is fun and games anyway

If I took it to the 100 yard line, it might make it, but it would be rolling, not flying. I guess I need a little more oomph...

I'd call this a half fast load
Probably doesn't require much hearing protection either.
..

[Oyeboten]

I am thinking to squeeze two .360 Balls into a .358 resizing Die, on the Anvil, and with a flat Punch of about the same diameter, give them a few wacks to flatten them a little for more side grip in the Rifling...and see how much 3f BP I can fit into the .38 Special Case then, for the top Ball to get crimped...should shoot pretty nice.


I was looking at some .358 90 Grain Wad Cutters the other day, thinking of double-shot Loadings with those, but, that'd be over Smokeless.

[82nd airborne]

Rufracer and i have contemplated loading 3 stacked discs in a .357 mag, with the top one being somewhat conical. as soon as it makes it to the top of the rediculous project list ill post results.

[WARD O]

One of the older Speer reloading manuals had this data included. I seem to remember it being in the manual that was mostly black, grey and white for the cover.

[sheepdog]

Why not just use a wadcutter??

Shiloh

Why ask why? If it can be done why not try just to see what happens?

Been wondering about something like that myself.

[Oyeboten]

The only thing I can think of to take care about, is if loading Double-Ball rounds over a fast smokeless like say Bullseye, is if the lower Ball is undersized and drops down onto the Powder, it may cause a nasty pressure spike for having then too little Air Space the Powder's conflagration Gases to expand into.


I think when I get onto loading these, I will size the Cases, and elect chubby enough Balls to prevent that possibility...but then too, I was thinking of sizing slightly oversize Balls by squishing them in a die, to have just a little more bearing for them to engauge the Rifleing.

[Echo]

I had an idea for a New Match! 38 Special RB ammo w/2 gr 231 (as my previous post), target on berm @ 60 yards, ball MUST strike ground prior to striking target. Winner is the guy that gets the most hits on the target out of 10 shots.

[Chainsaw76]

Due to the perpetual shortage of .22LR, I'm considering RB loads for cheap revolver practice. Maybe slug the bore and use an oversize RB that won't bulge the case? Use 3.0 gr of Unique or Bullseye, and a lubed ball to hold down on leading. It doesn't need to be fast, just reasonably accurate. Any suggestions?

jim

[Walkingwolf]

I simply use 105 grain soft cast TC for plinking. Cost is probably not much more than RB when casting, and probably less if buying cast bullets over RB. I bought mine from Cowboy bullets at 8 dollars for 100 just to try them out. Five hundred would be less.

Hunters sells RB sized for 38 spl, IIRC they are more than 8 dollars per hundred.

[williamwaco]

Can anyone spell triple naught buck shot?

Diameter = .360

I used to buy it in 5 pound bags.

Used it in .38 and .357.

Size	Type	Weight	Diameter
#TriBall 12	Buck	20.41 g (315 gr.)	15.24 mm (0.60")
#0000	Buck	5.51 g (85 gr.)	9.40 mm (0.380")
#000	Buck	4.54 g (70 gr.)	9.14 mm (0.360")
#00	Buck	3.49 g (53.8 gr.)	8.38 mm (0.330")
#0	Buck	3.18 g (49 gr.)	8.13 mm (0.320")
#1	Buck	2.62 g (40.5 gr.)	7.62 mm (0.300")
#2	Buck	1.91 g (29.4 gr.)	6.86 mm (0.270")
#3	Buck	1.52 g (23.4 gr.)	6.35 mm (0.250")
#4	Buck	1.34 g (20.7 gr.)	6.09 mm (0.240")
#FF	waterfowl	1.18 g (18.2 gr.)	5.84 mm (0.230")
#F (#TTT)	waterfowl	1.04 g (16.0 gr.)	5.59 mm (0.220")
#TT	waterfowl	0.899 g (13.9 gr.)	5.33 mm (0.210")
#T	waterfowl	0.778 g (12.0 gr.)	5.08 mm (0.200")
#BBB	Bird	0.66 g (10.2 gr.)	4.82 mm (0.190")
#BB	Bird	0.57 g (8.8 gr.)	4.57 mm (0.180")
#B	Bird	0.48 g (7.4 gr.)	4.32 mm (0.170")
#2	Bird	(4.4 gr.)	3.76 mm (0.148")
#4	Bird	(3.1 gr.)	3.28 mm (0.129")
#5	Bird	(2.6 gr.)	3.05 mm (0.120")
#6	Bird	(2.0 gr.)	2.77 mm (0.109")
#7½	Bird	(1.5 gr.)	2.39 mm (0.094")
#8	Bird	(1.3 gr.)	2.26 mm (0.089")
#8½	Bird	(0.97 gr.)	2.16 mm (0.085")
#9	Bird	(0.75 gr.)	2.01 mm (0.079")
#12	rat/snake		1.3 mm (0.05")

One bag is a lifetime supply.

Don't know if it is still available.