.38 Special Loads...What is your Favorite ????

[Coffinmaker]

WHAT???   WAIT?   NOT SO FAST THERE PERFESSER,

Your taking away without my perfunctory precise particularly pertinent PATENT Recipe.  TISK TISK

We must first ride the Wabac (Sherman and the Professor) to a period of those halcyon days of yesteryear.  When I too (gasp) utilized that Heathen Fad smokeless stuff.  A blast from the past:

38 Spl:
3.0 Gr Tightgroup
105Gr TC "Snakebite"
Federal Sm pistol Magnum Primer

Following a righteous rebirth and acceptance of the POWER of the DARK SIDE I are now repentant and fully immersed in the DARK ARTS
Anyway:

38 Spl
I don't actually know how much ... APP or Black MZ
I just load it to the bottom of a 105Gr TC "Snakebite" or 125Gr TC
Federal Sm Pistol Primer

Perfesser Marvelous:  The above yielded stellar result in all forms of "Cartridge" guns.  I did NOT have a harmonious outcome with R&D type conversion cylinders in my 1851 nor 1862 Pietta.  With APP and Black, they fouled out within 3 or 4 rounds.  I was not amused.  Since I no longer avail myself of the Heathen Fad stuff, I didn't bother with it.  I just sold the conversion cylinders as quickly as I could.

I wish you to be graced (Who's Grace??) with much better results.

[Abilene]

...Following a righteous rebirth and acceptance of the POWER of the DARK SIDE I are now repentant and fully immersed in the DARK ARTS...

I know you hate the term clone, as you've mentioned it many a time.  Know what I don't like?  Dark Side, when used for subs.  I call it the Gray Side 

[Coal Creek Griff]

I have to smile, gents. This 2012 thread was resurrected by our Polish troll friend (post now deleted), but we smile and keep answering away 

CC Griff

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[Professor Marvel]

By Gawd My Good Griff - you are absolutely correct!
what an oversight on my part!

My poor laptop suffered a nervous breakdown having to deal with my attrocities  abominations musings and
I am having remarkable difficulties adapting to a nitpad m-pad tablet thingy....

but there's hope, I have the laptop dismembered and the pieces held together with screws, pins and tape on a nice piece of plywood
whilst I mutilate utilize a spare flatscreen TV as a display ... now that it is backed up to a 5 Tb external drive i can safely transmorgrifiy the poor thing into an 1872 brass-and-oak frankenputer typing device... 

yhs
prof amrvel

[Coal Creek Griff]

Of course the info in the answers is still valid. I was actually interested because I recently picked up a couple futuristic (20th century!) 38 revolvers and, after a maybe 20 year hiatus, I'm loading 38 Special again.  So I find this thread useful, but I do have to smile...

CC Griff

[Johnny McCrae]

My favorite .38 Special load uses a 147 grain truncated cone bullet in a standard .38 Special case with 3.3 grains of Trail Boss. My 1866 Uberti Winchester is sensitive to overall length. The 147 grain TC bullet I use is actually a 9mm bullet sized to .357". This bullet makes for an OAL of 1.555" and has been trouble free. There is no crimp groove so I crimp on a flat spot. Since my February 2012 post on this topic I started using this in my 1873 SAA Pistols also. This bullet is too long for my 1851 Richards Mason Conversion.

[Coffinmaker]

Mumpfh.   Er .. Ffpmuh.   

[Professor Marvel]

Of course the info in the answers is still valid. I was actually interested because I recently picked up a couple futuristic (20th century!) 38 revolvers and, after a maybe 20 year hiatus, I'm loading 38 Special again.  So I find this thread useful, but I do have to smile...

CC Griff

My Dear Gruff -

What a remarkable coincidence! I too have recently acquired yet another modernisch revolver in .38 spcl, as well as the afforementioned .36 Pietta 1851's.  Thus my interest in both mild CAS loads friendly to opentops ... And modernisch loads I haven't cogitated upon for some lustrum ....

It turns out that whilst I had been preoccupied, cheap commercial lead loads are dissappearing!

The good news is that the purveyors of cowboy Ammunition have stepped up ...
The bad news is the cost...

I have been trying to find the old federal or Remington "fbi load" ... To no avail.

edit: I found buffalo bore offers low pressure mid velocity high performance "short barrel loads" , but they are not carried by the local LGS's ...

So I have been haunting the loading sites to see what I can find, since other folks are desirous of the same thing...
and no-one really wants the +P+ high velocity full copper crap being offered ( btw that stuff actually jammed several revolvers
recently that are rated for +P+ ... )

So far I am falling back on skeeter skelton's old load,  5 gr unique and 158 gr soft flatpoint, for strong modern equipment only...

Backing off on the unique a bit for CAS....

More later when off this phone thingy.... I have some links bookmarked or saved or something on the franken puter

Damn you autocorrect!

prf mvl

[Rye Miles]

3.5 grs of Tite-group with a 125 grain bullet, either truncated or RNFP

It's got some zip!!

[Coffinmaker]

Whoops!!!  Whoah!!!  Hey ...... wait a minute here.  Or there   

I was about to surrender, but then I had a thought (Oh ....... the PAIN).  IT'LL take a whole bottle of aspirin to fix it too   

But > > > > Abilene was annoyed as I was alluding to "The Dark Side" whilst also alluding to my use of a Sub.  APP to be exact.  Abilene felt it should be  "The Grey Side" as opposed to "The Dark Side" in much the same vein as I object (LOUDLY) to the term "CLONE".  I was ready to surrender and request quarter (no, not the monetary "quarter") when I realized, the current formulations of APP and Black MZ, are in fact, BLACK.  The contents of the little plastic Jug is no longer a pasty grey (like my hair), but is actually in fact a very manly BLACK.

I claim (shamelessly) VINDICATION!!  (maybe??)

[Abilene]

...I claim (shamelessly) VINDICATION!!  (maybe??)

Hey, if it makes you feel good. 

I'll add that it also bugs me when someone says "I'm shooting Black Powder"  Oh, that's cool.  What kind?  "APP/Pyrodex/777/Whatever"
Haha.  But I'll live.  And like I said in the (old) BP and Subs article on my website, subs are fun.  But BP is funner.

[Lumpy Grits]

I have found 3.8-4.0 gn of Unique to work very well with 125-158 gn bullet.
Firm roll crimp-
LG

[Ken J Dyck]

My favorite .38 Special load uses a 147 grain truncated cone bullet in a standard .38 Special case with 3.3 grains of Trail Boss. My 1866 Uberti Winchester is sensitive to overall length. The 147 grain TC bullet I use is actually a 9mm bullet sized to .357". This bullet makes for an OAL of 1.555" and has been trouble free. There is no crimp groove so I crimp on a flat spot. Since my February 2012 post on this topic I started using this in my 1873 SAA Pistols also. This bullet is too long for my 1851 Richards Mason Conversion.

Thanks for sharing. The scenario is very similar to mine. I have a 1866 trapper in 38 Spl, and in order to fit 10 rounds in the magazine the OAL needs to be 1.50", and shorter is not good as feeding becomes an issue. I settled on a Xmetal coated bullet in 147 gr, like yours but without the lube groove.



I had been testing with Tin Star, but have not settled on a load yet. I tried your recipe, with a F100 primer, the Xmetal bullet at 1.50 OAL and crimped it into the lead, just as you have done. (BTW, I have crimped other bullets the same and results seem good.)  I used 3.0 gr of Trail Boss as a start load and the 10 loads I tested shot to point of aim, and they ran clean. As my bullet is a bit longer than yours, 0.645", and my OAL a bit shorter, I felt a small reduction in charge would be prudent.  I have run into some recipes that lead a bit, I suppose the coating can only do so much, but all in all I like this bullet. I've also run the Xmetal 125 gr up to 1100 fps in my hip gun, I added lube to the groove, my feeling being that the coating can only do so much. The only issue was that the Es and Sd were a bit larger than I'd like, but that is a function of other factors, not the bullet.



My hip guns are Ruger Blackhawks, so OAL not a factor. Again thanks for posting, saved me a few days, a couple of ounces of powder and a handfull of bullets.