Rye Miles #13621 Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 I loaded a few .45 Colt 200 grainers with 5.2 grs of Hogdon HP38 before I looked up the loading data. It says the minimum is 5.9 !!!!!! Should I pull those few (3) or shoot em. I'm using them in a Uberti 66 or 73 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sobrante Kid Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 Your only loss would be the 15.6gr of powder, vs. possibly having to get out the squib rod to push out a bullet. I might give em a try in a revolver, but if you are not going to test/use that load for anything, why mess with it, especially for 3 rounds. I will be interested to see what your results are with HP-38 in .45 Colt. I had very poor results using HP-38 in my 44-40 test loads. GL! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted August 5 Author Share Posted August 5 18 minutes ago, El Sobrante Kid said: Your only loss would be the 15.6gr of powder, vs. possibly having to get out the squib rod to push out a bullet. I might give em a try in a revolver, but if you are not going to test/use that load for anything, why mess with it, especially for 3 rounds. I will be interested to see what your results are with HP-38 in .45 Colt. I had very poor results using HP-38 in my 44-40 test loads. GL! I’ve used HP 38 for .38spl and it worked fine. Yea, I think I’ll pull these ! I’ll let you know how it works for .45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seminole Sam Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 34 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said: I loaded a few .45 Colt 200 grainers with 5.2 grs of Hogdon HP38 before I looked up the loading data. It says the minimum is 5.9 !!!!!! Should I pull those few (3) or shoot em. I'm using them in a Uberti 66 or 73 Minimum only really matters in a semiauto. With a manual repeater be it revolver or rifle you will be fine. I just worked out my .38 Spl load and I get a consistent 600 FPS with it. Its 2.5 grains of powder where the manual says the minimum is 5.5. I have fired a hundred rounds of this through a Chronograph just to be sure. Nice consistent powder factor 75. But your "normal" .38 Spl shooter would think they are way too light. I even tried 1.75 grains and it still worked, averaging 330 FPS and being rather inaccurate, but still no squibs. Power Factor 41, but no squibs. Rangemaster thought I had my airgun. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Original Lumpy Gritz Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 Hopefully, you used a FIRM roll-crimp. BTW, WW231 is the same powder. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sobrante Kid Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said: I’ve used HP 38 for .38spl and it worked fine. Yea, I think I’ll pull these ! I’ll let you know how it works for .45 I had great luck loading 3.4gr of HP-38 in .357 cases with a very firm roll crimp. In the GP100 they were clean, accurate, and had low recoil. I had big expectations for the 44-40 loads I was testing. I hope you have success with your .45 Colt loads. Let us know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Choctaw Jack Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 I used W231 ( as stated before, same as HP38) for several years in my 45 Colts , using as little as 4.9 grains with few problems. In Cold weather a charge that low might give some "iffy " ignition, but in summer heat, I'd say shootem! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griff Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 QuickLOAD sez that 5.2 grains of HP38 in a 45 Colt and a 5.5" bbl will attain 692 fps at a chamber pressure of 5,930 psi. You should be fine. From a 20" bbl it will yield about 952 fps. As OLG sez, you'll want a good roll crimp for best uniformity. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Eagle Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 (edited) How are you guys getting HP-38 to burn clean at cowboy pressures? I tried loading up to 3.5 grain behind a 105 grain bullet in 38 special cases and I had unburned powder everywhere. I could see it coming out of the barrel in my pistols with every shot. I roll crimp pretty tight, so I don't think that is my issue, but maybe I'm still not tight enough? I used this powder a lot for IDPA and USPSA loads in 9MM and 45ACP without any problems. Edited August 7 by Wild Eagle add info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sobrante Kid Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 Wild Eagle, I had the same experience trying to use HP-38 in 44-40 loads, unburned powder everywhere (my thread). I did get a very nice, accurate, and clean burning load in a .357 case using 3.4gr of HP-38 and a 148gr RN bullet with a tight roll crimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 (edited) I get the same results that Griff showed using 5.3gr of 231, (the same powder with a Winchester label) out of my 5.5” Remington ‘75s with a 160gr bullet in a .45 Colt cartridge. Shoots well out of my 1860 Henry and Hatfield’s 24” ‘66 too! It’ll work fine behind a 185gr bullet as well! Edited August 7 by Blackwater 53393 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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