I use a RCBS 38-150 KT, it drops at 151grs, behind 4 grs. of Red Dot. This works great for my needs. Someone in the past told me it was Elmers Kieth's load!
Hello to, MT Gianni, 9.3X62AL and Matt_G.
I use a RCBS 38-150 KT, it drops at 151grs, behind 4 grs. of Red Dot. This works great for my needs. Someone in the past told me it was Elmers Kieth's load!
Hello to, MT Gianni, 9.3X62AL and Matt_G.
Have a TON of FUN, Mac ....................Born to ENABLE ................ "BEATING GRAVITY EVERYDAY"
5.7 gr. of 800X behind a 158 gr. swc works very well in my Model 14 Smiths. I got this load from a DuPont paper loadbook a few years ago. Plenty accurate & plenty stout!
Last edited by davwingman; 09-27-2011 at 10:11 AM.
RCBS 150 KT over 4.2 Win. 231. My wife favors the Lee 125 RN over 3 gr. Bulls Eye. Very accurate.
My 1948 vintage M&P has proven most accurate with 4.3gr of HP-38 behind either the Lee 140-SWC or the Lee 158 RNFP
Yields 859 fps with the former and 781 with the latter.
Summary of much of the above:
Look at the first 25 (fastest) powders on the burn rate chart of your choice.
Pick one.
Load 3.0 grains under a 158-gr cast bullet.
Enjoy.
158 gr lee SWC with 3.2 of red dot for mild loads, 2.8 of red dot for mousy loads (good for odd timer 38s).
My load for Distinguished Revolver is a 358311 and 2.8 grains of Bullseye.
+1 for Rocky Raab's suggestion.
What this Country needs is more unemployed politicians
Mines pretty boring. All it does is hit steel plates with boring regularity.
158 grain cast bullet over 3.5 grains of Trail Boss.
"Investment" is the new "Throw money at it!"
Detectives, and Cobras, and Agents!
Oh my!
2.9 gr Bullseye under a 148 gr HBWC. Same load my father in law used shooting PPC 40 years ago. Still works great.
3.5 of Bullseye pushing the Lee 125rnfp.
Crabo
Do not argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
My favorite .38 by FAR (and the only .38 I bother with) is the classic Elmer 38-44 loading, for LARGE frame .38's and .357 guns ONLY!! 13.5gr. 2400, under a LLA+JPW lubed, 173gr. 358429 @ 1300fps+.
Amazing what a little pressure boost can do for the lowly .38 spl. cartridge
The .357 Magnum......
1935
Major Douglas Wesson, using factory loads, which were a 158 gr. soft lead bullet, traveling 1515 fps, from an 8 3/4" barreled S&W, producing 812 ft. lbs of muzzle energy.
Antelope - 200 yards (2 shots)
Elk - 130 yards (1 shot)
Moose - 100 yards (1 shot)
Grizzly Bear - 135 yards (1 shot).
It kind of makes one wonder, why today, it will bounce off anything bigger than a rabbit
3.6 Bullseye/158 semi-wadcutter. It is extremely accurate in my 38's and 357's. Barrel lengths from 2" to 6".
" The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him neither harm nor favor"
I guess my favorite for drilling holes in anything the thirty-eight special would be appropriate for would be this . A LBT hundred eighty-five grain flat nose with four point seven grains of Universal Clays and using a Winchester small pistol primer . My mold is a gas check design but for this load it doesn't use a gas check . Bullets get rolled in a little Johnsons paste wax , dried then sized .359" in a Star lube-sizer . This ammo feeds through a lever gun like corn through a goose , the rifle and my 686 group with it very well .
Now I have molds for 358311 and an old Ideal 358477 that I need to find good loads for . The round nose I haven't used much at all but I have used five point four grains of Unique with the 358477 mold . It shot well in the revolver but not so well in the lever gun .
Thanks guys for posting your loads , some of them I'll be trying when I get to working with these bullets .
Oh , and by the way I have a 358439 that I cast soft ( 40:1 I think ) in the thirty-eight case I ended up with three point seven grains of Bullseye , Winchester primer and a mild crimp . It didn't feed very well at all in the lever-action but from a four inch 686 I was impressed with it's group . On woodchucks , it should absolutely ruin their day .
Jack
158 gr. SWC of your choice with 3.5 gr. Hodgon Tight Goup (HTG)
3.0grains of Win 231 topped with just about any of the 38 boolits, light and fun. I've shot skillions of wadcutters and simiwads but lately have grown real fond of the Lee 158 FN. Sometimes I bump it up a grain or so. I stopped using Bullseye long ago, 231 burns cleaner for me.
Experience is the source of all knowledge.
Lee 148gn wadcutter over 3.3gn Titegroup. Fantastic accuracy. I just loaded 400 of 'm this evening.
scrap, smelt, cast, lube, load, shoot. repeat.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |