38 Short Colt Loads

[Silvertip]

Thinking Of trying lighter loads that are not temperature snsitive.  Using 96 or 105 grain bullets.

i have some new to me Ultimate Pistol powder and lots of older stand by powders. Any suggestions?

ST

[Todd Hayseed]

54 minutes ago, Silvertip said:

Thinking Of trying lighter loads that are not temperature snsitive.  Using 96 or 105 grain bullets.

i have some new to me Ultimate Pistol powder and lots of older stand by powders. Any suggestions?

ST

I load with 2.7 grains of SB-620 that I can get on Gunbroker for less than $20 a pound  ST Auctions sells it in 14 Lb increments for about $200 including shipping.  Buy it once and you can load 36,000 rounds.

[Hawkeye Kid]

Iam using 2.2gr of TrailBoss, magnum primers with either 100 gr or 105 gr bullets.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Clay Dot is my favorites for light .38 spl cowboy loads in cold weather or hot. Bet is would be fine in .38 Short Colt too.  GJ

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

Dunno what you're trying to accomplish.  However, just load 3F APP to base of any bullet you choose.  As far as actually reducing recoil, you're already there with the bullet weight you mention'd.

[Scarlett]

37 minutes ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

Dunno what you're trying to accomplish.  However, just load 3F APP to base of any bullet you choose.  As far as actually reducing recoil, you're already there with the bullet weight you mention'd.

Always repping for Frontier Cartridge! You know that gets you a special place in my ♥️. 
 

Silvertip - I’ve loaded the occasional ahem smokeless load with 2.8-2.9 gr of Clean Shot.  The Ultimate Pistol is a faster burning powder than the Clean Shot so I might start at 2.4? Ultimate Pistol is a great powder, too! It’d be good for your 45ACP loads, too! Looking forward to seeing you and Red Marie at EOT! Hope we get to shoot WB together again!

 

Hugs!!

Scarlett

[Silvertip]

Thanks everybody. Hi Scarlett I got this powder from you and just now am getting around to using it, yes we hope to shoot with you also. I’ll try it in the 45ACP also.

ST

 

[Silvertip]

Hi Joe I used to use a lot of Clays and Clay Dot and ran out and it was my favorite for years also. I’ll have to get get more.

ST

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

One thing to consider with .38 Short Colt, and .38 Long Colt, is the bore size.   Older guns have a bore diameter of .375" and used a heel based bullet.   At some point, they switched to .357" and an inside the case bullet.  If you've got an older gun with the bigger bore, and you don't want to mess with heeled bullets, you need to used hollow based ones to get them to expand enough to engage the rifling.

I know.  I have have guns with both bore sizes, and I use the smaller bullet with a hollow base with no problems.   I use a 150 grain hollow base .358" bullet from Buffalo Arms.   For years, it was the ONLY bullet I could find that fit the bill   There are others on the market now of lesser weight if that is something you prefer.  

Also, if you've got a big bore pistol, it might be black powder only.    And the smaller bore may or may not be safe for smokeless.   Do the research on your gun to be sure.

For smokeless, I've used 1.2 grains of Trail Boss in the Short Colt, and 2.0 grains in the Long Colt.

Good luck.