38 special loading experience

osu007 · Jan 17, 2018

Good day Ladies and Gentlemen. I am inquiring as to the most accurate 38 special load for 150 grn. cast semi-wadcutters. The gun is a s&w mod. 67, 4". I am looking for a load that will be accurate at 50 yrds, for target shooting only. Any info on this boolit or 158 grners. would be appreciated. Trying to shy away from hbwc boolits as these will be used with speed loaders. I feel the semi-wadcutter will be more beneficial in doing timed reloads. Any info from experienced loads would be greatly appreciated. Will probably use either bullseye or titegroup.

swampratt · Jan 17, 2018

Consult a load manual but I would start with 2.7 gr bullseye and 147 gr HBWC then maybe 3.0 and continue with the 3.0 and step it up in .1 gr increments with the other bullets possibly maxing out at 3.5

I think with 158gr 3.2 was starting load in some manuals

osu007 · Jan 17, 2018

Thanks swampratt. I have tried the 158 grn semi's with tite group and double end wadcutters with tite group and long shot. I was hoping that someone could give me a very accurate load with my particular gun. Was leaning towards semi wadcutters, but maybe I need to spend a whole lot of time on practicing reloading with regular wadcutters in the speed loaders. 148 grain wadcutters are plenty accurate for what I need, however, I am trying to speed up loading time.

swampratt · Jan 17, 2018

If I had 1 load to try that was not HBWC it would be 3.2gr bullseye and 158gr lead SWC.
Yea the 148 gr HBWC is very accurate load and many people love it with 2.7gr bullseye.

Fyrtwuck · Jan 17, 2018

If you’re going for fast reloads with speed loaders, use a round nose bullet. The shoulder of the SWC can catch on the edge of the cylinder.

There isn’t a way to give you information about the most accurate load for YOUR gun. Each gun has its own personality when it comes to match grade loads. This is where the fun starts with reloading. Trial and error and good record keeping will get you where you want to be. It’s a continual learning experience.

Norman · Jan 22, 2018

Ones that work for me or people I’ve shot with, but you should work up to:
3.3 grains of bullseye with 158’s
3.2 grains HP 38 with 158’s
4.1 grains unique with 158’s

You might practice with reloads as much as possible to save cost, but precision delta 158 LWSC are more than adequate in accuracy. I watched a guy struggle because he had three squibs in 2 days with reloads. The flip side is I watched a guy shoot 581 with reloads, he bullseye load IIRC.

I assume OP doesn’t want rn bullets because he wants nice clean holes on a B27 target. I haven’t had too much of an issue with Safariland comp 3’s and LSWC’s.

OP, if you’re doing what I think you’re doing, DRY FIRE! dry fire basic skills, then dry fire the entire match 5 every night at least once.

Shadowrider · Jan 23, 2018

Titegroup is not good with cast bullets. You'll think you screwed up and grabbed the black powder can and except for all the lead in your barrel you'll have no reason to doubt that's what happened.

osu007 · Jan 24, 2018

T

Norman said:
Ones that work for me or people I’ve shot with, but you should work up to:
3.3 grains of bullseye with 158’s
3.2 grains HP 38 with 158’s
4.1 grains unique with 158’s

You might practice with reloads as much as possible to save cost, but precision delta 158 LWSC are more than adequate in accuracy. I watched a guy struggle because he had three squibs in 2 days with reloads. The flip side is I watched a guy shoot 581 with reloads, he bullseye load IIRC.

I assume OP doesn’t want rn bullets because he wants nice clean holes on a B27 target. I haven’t had too much of an issue with Safariland comp 3’s and LSWC’s.

OP, if you’re doing what I think you’re doing, DRY FIRE! dry fire basic skills, then dry fire the entire match 5 every night at least once.

Thanks Norman. I bet you know what I'm doing. Yesssss on dry fire. Now if I can only find my bucket holster.

38 special loading experience

osu007

AKA: Fat Jack, Believer in God

swampratt

Sharpshooter

osu007

AKA: Fat Jack, Believer in God

swampratt

Sharpshooter

Fyrtwuck

Sharpshooter

Norman

Sharpshooter

Shadowrider

Sharpshooter

osu007

AKA: Fat Jack, Believer in God

Similar threads

Latest posts

38 special loading experience

AKA: Fat Jack, Believer in God

Sharpshooter

AKA: Fat Jack, Believer in God

Sharpshooter

Sharpshooter

Sharpshooter

Sharpshooter

AKA: Fat Jack, Believer in God

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!