I'm trying to find a really light load for .38 special for a female shooter

[gtgeorge]

I too am a trail boss fan for light loads. In that snub nose 2.4grs will have you down under 500fps with very light recoil using 158gr lead bullet.

[cbrick]

Also make sure the grips fit her hand and she is using a proper grip with the web of the hand high on the back strap. Most often hurtful recoil is a function of ill fitting grips and/or a poor grip, particularly if the grip is too large. Larry Gibson

Exactly!

If those lite 38 loads hurt her hands she either has an arthritis problem and/or has never been taught correct shooting. Make sure her hands properly fit the grips, I'll add to Larry's comment to say that too small grips for her hands will add to felt recoil. Plus she does not need a death grip on the gun, the tighter she squeezes the grips the more of the recoil she will feel. Get a Pachmeyer grip and teach her proper grip/shooting.

Rick

[Willbird]

The lee 105 works great with a light load of clays or titegroup. You can find published mouse fart loads sometimes in the "cowboy" section of loading data. The Hodgon basic manual download has the cowboy action stuff in it, and they show a 90 grain lead bullet at 705 fps in 38 special using clays or titegroup. Those are very very mild.

[Lizard333]

Shooting the snub nose 38 seems like it is the first problem. Get her shooting something with some more weight and she will enjoy it a LOT more. My wife carries a Ruger LCR in 38 plus p, but even shooting my light 38 wad cutters in it makes even my hands hurt.

Get a heavier pistol, and enjoy shooting it. There just isn't enough weight. You don't see many people, let alone women, enjoying shooting a snub nose. Not to be offensive to the ladies.

[Jon]

I found that the light bullets (105gr) shot very low with 3gr of bullseye. Has anyone else seen this issue?

[fouronesix]

Worked up a load for the same purpose. Light load of Trailboss under 130 gr plain base does very well in a small Colt revolver in 38 SPL.

CAUTION- when working down loads to very light levels, especially in revolvers, make sure the load is heavy enough to get the bullet out of the barrel and DON'T use gas checked bullets!

[Jkallen83]

i loaded my wife some 38spl....125gr bullet with 4gr of Unique. she loved it. she eventually got to where she wanted more power but in a revolver for fun, u can pretty much load as light as u want. as long as u got enough power to get the bullet out the barrel and to ur target.

[AviatorTroy]

Not to be a smart elick, but right off Alliant's website is this...



I load for my wife's Charter Arms .38 as well and her practice load with a 158gr lead SWC is 3gr of Bullseye or 3.5 gr of Unique which is a little below the published starting loads but I've not had a problem with it.

The lighter bullets would create even less recoil, but I tend to believe that you should practice like you shoot so my practice loads, while considerably lower than factory SD loads, is still useful to practice recovering the sight picture from recoil and all that, blah blah. Are you able to start your new shooter out with a day of shooting a .22, and then move into the .38?

[CAVEMTNMAN]

I load 3.4 grs. of 231 Winc. powder for my.357 Ruger Blackhawk with, 148 hbwc and 158 swc. Very light recoil and very accurate.

[Petrol & Powder]

Never had a problem with a WC sticking in the barrel of a snub-nosed revolver as long as the loads are within the published limits. Even at the low end of the data, that bullet will always make it out of a 2" barrel. I agree with Lizard333 that a bigger gun is likely a better solution. I've never been a fan of light bullets in small, fixed sight revolvers. A little extra weight, a little extra sight radius and a little bigger grip will help far more than finding some ultra light bullet/powder combo. There seems to be some desire to equip women with very small guns. Very small guns can be somewhat difficult to shoot. If you want to use a snub-nose i would suggest 148 WC, some powder charge at (but not below) the low end of the data and whatever grips fit her the best.
I always want to see people enjoy shooting! A comfortable gun that one can hit your target with goes a long way to making that happen. Good Luck!

[Cadillo]

I gave my wife, (100lbs. soaking wet), a 3" Model 60 S&W with adjustable rear and pinned blued front. She shoots it with 3.6 grains of WW 231 under a 150 grain Lyman 358477. She loves it and shoots it surprisingly well.

[reloader28]

I tried some Ranch Dog 100gr FN with around 3-4gr Bullseye, Clays and Unique.
Shot decent with all and NO kick. This was 38spl in a 357.

I like 4gr Bullseye with Lee 358 158 RF.

[dlamp]

i load 2.7gr trailboss with a cast 158gr swc its seem to be a pretty mild load

[wrangler5]

Another vote for Trail Boss powder. (There's a special plus for this powder - it says on the label "developed exclusively for lead bullets.") My "cowboy" loads are 158g lead round nose over 3.2g of Trail Boss. I get ~585fps from a 2" S&W. That's as low as any other "light" load I've worked up using other powders and 158g lead bullets, but obviously not as low as the ones gtgeorge mentioned.

To expand on kweidner's comment, the benefit of Trail Boss is that you're filling up about 3/4 of the available volume with this load. (The max 38 Special load for 158g bullets is 4.2g, and that pretty much takes all the available space.) You CAN NOT overload a 38 Special case with this powder unless you compress it, which they warn against explicitly, but at the velocities you're seeking that isn't going to be a problem. I find this enormously comforting, even when using a progressive press which pretty much precludes a double charge.

I'd also endorse the suggestions to get a bigger gun to learn on and practice with. Even my relatively light cowboy loads are not a lot of fun in my snubbies, especially the aluminum frame models. If a larger gun is simply not in the cards, then look for the largest rubber grips that cover and cushion the backstrap. My most comfortable grip for snubbies is a Pachmayr Decelerator. They don't seem to make that for Charter revolvers, but the Gripper model is the same shape with slightly less cushy rubber. Their Compac grip is also quite comfortable, covers the backstrap, has room for all fingers, and is still small enough to be fairly easily concealed, if that's an issue.

Jon, lighter bullets (and faster bullets) will shoot lower than heavier/slower bullets in virtually all handguns when fired from the hand or from a rest that allows the gun to recoil. The reason is that the light/fast bullet gets out of the barrel sooner than the heavy/slow one, and so the barrel hasn't moved as far "up" when the bullet leaves. (Lay a straightedge along the top of your sights and you'll see that the barrel starts off pointing below the line of sight - it is assumed that, before the bullet leaves the barrel, the barrel will rise TO the line of sight plus a bit to account for bullet drop to the target.)

Most 38 Special revolver sights seem to be set up assuming 158g bullets - my fixed sight 38s all hit pretty close to point of aim when I'm shooting "normal" loads with 158g bullets. If you have a fixed sight gun, must shoot lighter bullets and must hit point of aim (i.e., in a defensive shooting situation you will NOT have time or presence of mind to remember to hold high for your lightweight bullets) then a laser grip is the easiest way to add an "adjustable sight" to your gun. It is also a priceless training tool for letting you see what happens to your barrel when you squeeze off a "round" in dry fire practice. And since you can see what's happening, you can work on improving it, and can see how you're doing, "shot" by "shot."

[jdgabbard]

I will also suggest the 105 Lee SWC over 2.5-3.0 gr of TiteGroup or Bullseye.

BETTER GRIPS will help a lot, too. Add Pachmayer rubber Gripper grips.

Or buy a S&W 317 or Ruger LCR in .22 LR caliber - start with .22 LR and MAYBE
move up to .38 later, maybe not. A face full of 8 .22 LRs will definitely change
the subject.

Bill

This is what I was thinking about when I read the post. These things are literally sneeze loads.

[kpep]

I've shot PPC for more years then I'd like to say and 2.2 of WST is the the load for inside shooting (50 ft.) and 2.8 of WST for outside (50 yd.). 148 gn. HBWC is is the bullet most of us in PPC use. The 2.8 load should work well for the 158 gn. bullet.

[Bonz]

I load 125gr .38 special with 4.0gr Bullseye for my wife and load 125gr .38 special with 4.5gr Bullseye for myself for target shooting

My wife likes the 4.0gr Bullseye load but nothing less than that

[MtGun44]

Using heavy boolits (158 gr) makes the recoil higher for no benefit. Get some .360 round balls
or 105 Lee SWCs to cut the recoil dramatically.

Bill

[HarryT]

Speer T38 plastic bullets http://www.speer-bullets.com/product...g_bullets.aspx

Or you could try wax bullets.

[ph4570]

+1 on Trail Boss for light loads.