38 Special Reloading

[Bart Solo]

Now that I am switching to 38 so I have been thinking about bullets and loads.

 

I have taken delivery on 2 boxes of 125 grain RNFP bullets, ordered Starline Brass and my dies and assorted reloading equipment. I haven't ordered primers yet, but note that they are available. I will be using Trail Boss as my powder. The Hodgdon site has a nice light load I think I will start with.

 

I note that a lot of people talk about 90 grain other light bullets. What 38 special weight bullet is most common and why? What is the best overall length for use in an Uberti 73 clone?

[Arcadia Outlaw, SASS 71385]

I'm not quite sure why you would use Trail Boss for 38spec. unless you already have it.

 

Red Dot or Clays are great for 38spec alot cheaper and can also be used for shotgun but to each his own.

 

 

 

I think most folks use a 125 or 105 gr bullet TCFP.

 

The overall length of 1.46 works great for me.

 

 

 

Regards AO

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

All of AO's comments are spot on. Clays with a 125 grain bullet at about 700 FPS, loaded to an OAL around 1.460 will work in almost all 73 rifles. The truncated cone design probably feeds best for most folks, but a Round Nose FP will be fine too.

 

Don't be too worried about "perfect" yet - get a year or two of shooting in and you will know what is closer to perfect for you at that point. A pard who has just decided to switch calibers is really not at a stable point from which to be striving to absolute perfection. And, I'm sure you have noticed, one pard's perfection is another pard's object of derision.

 

Go shoot, don't worry, be happy, and when you are beating many of your local pards, start your fine tuning.

 

Lighter slugs start to get you into a battle between what has little bounce in the revolver and yet will still feed reliably in the rifle. Or loading differently for rifle and revolver. Both of which can be done if you need to, but you probably don't want to fight that battle while you are getting your shooting style tuned in. "Take your steps thoughtfully, grasshopper."

 

Good luck, GJ

[Dirty Chris]

I believe 158gr was the standard bullet weight for the cartridge, but for CAS 125 is probably the most common. I recently tried some 105s and like them in the pistols, but still use 125s in the rifle for a little more OAL. In a 73 anything at 1.45 OAL or longer should run smoothly, but you can get away with a little shorter even. I like Titegroup powder but not everyone does cause it's a little "snappier" recoil wise than something like Clays. For the 125s I crimp into the side of the bullet between the crimp groove and lube groove and get an OAL of just over 1.5 and it works great in my 73.

[Bart Solo]

I am using Trail Boss because I have about 5 pounds of the stuff and because that is what I use in my 45 LC and ACPs for Wild Bunch. I am not above using something else later, but TB is the powder I have adopted because up tel now I have been shooting 45.

[Frenchy Cannuck]

I just started reloading. In my case I decided to go with 158gr RNFP bullet, 3.8gr Trailboss, I get 1.467 OAL, work real well in my 92 as well as my buddys 66. It feels great, rings nice and loud at impact, the load should give about 750/775 fps velocity, according to the hogdon site and I've never worried about any knock down targets.

I'm pleased!

This isn't a recomendation, just a statement.

 

Frenchy

[Lead Ringer]

Garrison Joe gave some Solid advice.

I've gone through 16lbs of Bullseye powder over the last 12 months. It has worked great and cost a lot less than Trail Boss. (Clays, GeenDot, REX II, etc. would all work great and save$)

I load both 105TC & 125RN or 125TC. Normally just run the 105TC in rifle and pistols. once in awhile You may need to deliver a little more thump to a knock down, so I send a 125'er down range.

When i started loading for 38's. I would load up 25-50 rounds of some specific lenght, bullet style or powder. Then go to the range and see how they cycled, recoiled, etc.

Hopefully you have a rifle that will cycle about anything? That makes life easier.

Don't over think it. Just have fun trying things out

P.S. I am not down on Trail Boss . It's great powder. I own some and have used it. But the $$$ doesn't make sense for the .38's.

[Bart Solo]

I know we aren't supposed to talk charges here, but I do wonder if I should go midrange or bottom on the Hodgdon chart. Does a bottom charge have enough power to handle a knockdown?

[KC Colt, SASS #69404]

I'm not quite sure why you would use Trail Boss for 38spec. unless you already have it.

 

Red Dot or Clays are great for 38spec alot cheaper and can also be used for shotgun but to each his own.

 

 

 

I think most folks use a 125 or 105 gr bullet TCFP.

 

The overall length of 1.46 works great for me.

 

 

 

Regards AO

 

Dittos to everything said here.

 

IMHO Trailboss powder was designed to be used in larger cases. I use it in my 38-40, 45SW, 45Colt, and 44-40s when not stuffing them full of 777.

 

I use Clays or Red Dot (they are interchangeable to me) in 38sp, 357Mag, 45ACP.

 

I Missouri Bullets exclusively and the 125gr (cowboy #2) is my main match round (650fps) and I load up 158gr rounds for Chauncey's darn plate rack.

 

Our shooting pard, Pecos Paul will agree with what I said here.

 

Your pard,

 

KC

[Lead Ringer]

I know we aren't supposed to talk charges here, but I do wonder if I should go midrange or bottom on the Hodgdon chart. Does a bottom charge have enough power to handle a knockdown?

When I loaded and tested Trail Boss, I could go to the very, very, very bottom of the chart and it still could handle any knock down I've ever came in contact with.

[Jefro, SASS#69420]

Red Dot or Clays are great for 38spec alot cheaper and can also be used for shotgun but to each his own.

 

I think most folks use a 125 or 105 gr bullet TCFP.

 

The overall length of 1.46 works great for me.

 

Regards AO

Yep, I use Red Dot for all my smokeless stuff. We use the 125gr for both rifle and pistols, 1.432.......or if longer OAL is needed they can be crimped below the crimp groove around 1.503 +=. Good Luck

 

Jefro

[Bart Solo]

Garrison Joe gave some Solid advice.

I've gone through 16lbs of Bullseye powder over the last 12 months. It has worked great and cost a lot less than Trail Boss. (Clays, GeenDot, REX II, etc. would all work great and save$)

I load both 105TC & 125RN or 125TC. Normally just run the 105TC in rifle and pistols. once in awhile You may need to deliver a little more thump to a knock down, so I send a 125'er down range.

When i started loading for 38's. I would load up 25-50 rounds of some specific lenght, bullet style or powder. Then go to the range and see how they cycled, recoiled, etc.

Hopefully you have a rifle that will cycle about anything? That makes life easier.

Don't over think it. Just have fun trying things out

P.S. I am not down on Trail Boss . It's great powder. I own some and have used it. But the $$$ doesn't make sense for the .38's.

 

I guess if you run a commercial outfit then the cost savings is important, but I have never understood the "price difference" argument against TrailBoss for the average reloader. Powder is cheap. The difference in price between Federal and Winchester primers is much greater on a per shot basis than the difference between Bulleye and Trail Boss.

 

I moved from HP38 to Trail Boss because Trail Boss fills the big 45 case. Because Trail Boss is not nearly as position sensitive as HP38 and is simply more reliable in the big 45 LC case than HP38 across the full range of uses. I settled on Trail Boss for my pistols because I shoot Cowboy more than I shoot anything else. All of my shooting is lead aimed at steel and so far TB has proven very acceptable in my 1911. I am not above changing, but since I don't want too many different powders around my place, I need something that works in the 45 as well as the 38.

[Bart Solo]

Dittos to everything said here.

 

IMHO Trailboss powder was designed to be used in larger cases. I use it in my 38-40, 45SW, 45Colt, and 44-40s when not stuffing them full of 777.

 

I use Clays or Red Dot (they are interchangeable to me) in 38sp, 357Mag, 45ACP.

 

I Missouri Bullets exclusively and the 125gr (cowboy #2) is my main match round (650fps) and I load up 158gr rounds for Chauncey's darn plate rack.

 

Our shooting pard, Pecos Paul will agree with what I said here.

 

Your pard,

 

KC

 

Thanks KC. Good thoughts. The real savings shooting 38 over 45 is the price of lead. I too have purchased Missouri Bullet Company Cowboy #2. I used the promo code PCC told us about and saved a couple of bucks more.

 

Actually, I just checked and I purchased Cowboy 17.

[Marauder SASS #13056]

Yup, Trail Boss will work fine.

 

Use loads in the upper half of the recommended loads by Hodgon/IMR for better consistency and cleaner cases.

 

And HP-38 works great in 38's as well. I generally use Clays but TB has worked well for me in 38's as well.

[Abe E.S. Corpus SASS #87667]

When I started shooting Cowboy a year ago someone recommended Clays because it can be used in shotshells as well as .38 Special. I bought some Clays and also some Trail Boss just for the heck of it. I had some 125 grain bullets already but once I used them up I started buying 105s. I load them with Trail Boss (a charge weight about halfway in the range in Hodgdon's catalog for cowboy loads) to an OAL of 1.45 inches. They have fed fine through Marlins and '73s. I thought the Trail Boss would be dirtier than Clays but I can't tell much difference, both are pretty clean.

 

I did have a couple of hits on a Texas Star that failed to drop the plates. Thinking of buying box of heavier bullets for knockdowns at some point but we don't shoot knockdowns very often. We had a recent match with a shotgun knockdown as a rifle bonus and it went right down when hit with the 105.

 

If I had no powder I'd probably buy a big jug of Clays but there's nothing wrong with the Trail Boss in my opinion. On the other hand if you don't want to use the rest of yours just send it to me and I'll happily dispose of it!

[Arcadia Outlaw, SASS 71385]

I am using Trail Boss because I have about 5 pounds of the stuff and because that is what I use in my 45 LC and ACPs for Wild Bunch. I am not above using something else later, but TB is the powder I have adopted because up tel now I have been shooting 45.

 

 

Well thats a good reason to use Trail Boss then cause you have it already,I was not implying there was anything wrong with it.

 

 

AO

[Grizzly Dave]

130gr RNFP for me, use same load same bullet in rifle and pistols, Win 231 powder towards the top of the published range. Works well for me.

[Buck D. Law, SASS #62183]

I''ve used 125's in both rifle and pistols since I started. They will take down a properly calibrated knock down, but I keep some extra hot ones with me...just in case. Recently I purchased some round nose flat points that cause the loaded round to be shorter and this caused a problem with my rifle. I've used other RNFP that were fine. All I'm saying is before you load them all up, try them in your rifle first. There are many round nose flat points that work great. My primary bullet is a truncated bullet similar to this one.

[Pit Bull Tex]

This is what was loaded for me and is what I will be loading.125gr RNFP 3.6gr of trailboss Fed. mag small primers OAL will be 1.52

[Ventura Slim, SASS #35690]

I use HP38 (231 the same) and 158 gr bullet. I use less than the stated minimum of HP, and it does knockdowns okay. Prior to my hometown closing the local range, I would test loads at paper targets all the time and came up with the above. I found the 158 more consistent. Now the ranges are an hour away rather than five minutes so I do not experiment as much. I do suggest you try different loads on paper and keep track of your results. Smaller bullets take more powder.