38 special hand loads

[mkk]

I'm looking for a couple of powder suggestions for some 38 special practice/plinking loads. Will mainly be pistol loads and some out of the 357 lever gun. 125gn Berry's plated Bullets

Thanks
Mike

 

[squirrel_slayer]

Not sure how things are in your area but often you might have to go with what's available. Titegroup has been one of the easiest powders to find and it work decent in light handgun loads. Not something you'd want to hotrod however. I stashed a bunch of Unique way back during the O days so I'm still working off that. It works great for light mag loads in the 357 and normal 38spl loads. "I hear" that Ramshot's True Blue has the versatility of unique but in a cleaner burning easier to feed ball powder. I have a lb of it to try but haven't gotten around to it yet. HP38/W231 are the old staples for 38spl and again will work in 357 but no where near mag levels.

sorry if I muddied the waters. There's so many new ones I haven't played with like the CFE and new Win stuff that should also work well.

For me Titegroup, Unique, and H110 handle all
of my handgun needs.

 

[mkk]

I've got H110 on hand for .357 loads but didn't see where it would work with .38 special
I can get HP38 locally

 

[squirrel_slayer]

Yeah H110 is way to slow for 38spl. HP38 should do you fine. I personally could never get 125's to shoot for crap and standardized on 158 rnfp bullets and 3.5gr of W231 (which is the sister powder of HP38 same stuff different jug) and later 4.7gr of unique when I ran out of W231 and couldn't find it.

Hopefully you have better luck with the 125s

 

[memtb]

Just plinking and practice…..1 pound of Bullseye will give you about 2300 loaded rounds.

Bullseye was a very well accepted powder of choice for the 38 Special before I was born 70 plus years ago!

I wish that I had enough primers to fully utilize the 8 pounds of Bullseye that is in my reloading room! memtb

 

[Montana'eer]

I use 231 for 38 plinking loads. Pretty widely available, cheap- does the trick. However I use Berry's 158gr boolits.

 

[BruceP]

I use Titegroup and Red Dot for most of my low velocity handgun loads including 38 special.

 

[Paulstarr]

I'm looking for a couple of powder suggestions for some 38 special practice/plinking loads. Will mainly be pistol loads and some out of the 357 lever gun. 125gn Berry's plated Bullets

Thanks
Mike

MKK you will probably find Bullseye,red dot and blue dot are all suitable powders for what you are looking for but as some have already said availability may be the deciding factor.

 

[ARlife4me]

I got scalded the last time I posted using 572 powder as this is "A long range hunting forum".

 

[Murph1951]

Being old school I use Bullseye only. 3.0 grains for my S&W Model 52 and 3.5 grains for my Model 19-3 S&W. I never found anything better.

 

[ncwg2boatguy]

Bullseye and unique seem to always still be on shelves because it's not the cool Gucci powder or the latest and greatest. But they've been getting it done for a long time. 3-3.4gr for the 125-140gr works just fine for target loads

 

[Ol' Red]

There are a lot of powders that would work for you. I have used 231, (HP38), Titegroup, Bullseye, Unique and Hi Skor 700X. It really depends on what you can get your hands on. Save the H110 for .357 Mag.

 

[Greyfox]

Bullseye…3gr

 

[casey36]

I've used more Bullseye than anything but have used 231, unique, HP-38, and I think I have a load for Red Dot.