158g 38 Special

[chrt396]

I just sold a rifle to a friend of mine...and the proceeds of the sale were eating a hole in my pocket..so I decided to buy a little Ruger LCR 38 with CT grips. Took it down and test fired about 50 rounds of 125g rounds that I loaded. Pretty good little shooter.

I arrived home and decided to load up 100 rounds of 38 specials with the following recipe. 158g JHP with 5.6g of AA#5, CCI SP primers and a OCL of 1.145. Got all done..went inside...grabbed my new edition of Handgunner..and lo and behold..there is an article on the Ruger LCR! "Oh GREAT!! I love reading about something AFTER I buy it!!" In this article..there was a *Note - That the author did not believe that 158g was safe to use in a 38 special case for the bullets would sometimes "Stick" in the barrel. It goes on in the article where he seems that he uses lead projectiles safely..but the JHP seem to create an issue.

Great..I just spent a lot of time on a single stage press loading these little boogars..and now there an issue. *&%$# :banghead:

I probably should go back and read it over and over to try and get a different meaning out of what he meant..but instead..I'll bring it up on a public forum to hear about anyone else's experience.

Do any of you have any experience with 158g bullets creating an issue?

 

[earplug]

Reloading manual

Go by what is printed in a reloading manual.
Yes jacketed bullets need a little more ompf to exit a barrel.
A under powered bullet will stick in the barrel. Even a lead bullet will stick if under powered.

 

[chrt396]

Go by what is printed in a reloading manual.
Yes jacketed bullets need a little more ompf to exit a barrel.
A under powered bullet will stick in the barrel. Even a lead bullet will stick if under powered.

looking at the recipe I listed...does there appear to be a problem?

 

[chrt396]

I guess I'm thinking...I could spit the bullet through a less than 2 inch barrel...wouldn't 5.6g of powder get it to do the job?

I have speer, Horndy, Lyman and Sierra manuals..and they are all over the spectrum in load recipes.

sierra 6.6 - 7.4
Hornady - 5.2 - 6.4
Speer - shows the 158g under plus P only
Lyman 5.0 - 5.8

 

[mavracer]

Do any of you have any experience with 158g bullets creating an issue?

The only problem I've ever seen was a guy who shoots in my bullseye league stuck some 158 jhps in his gun, but he was using like 2.8 gr of bullseye. I don't think you'd have a problem with full power loads.

 

[Grumulkin]

I don't think you'd have a problem with full power loads either. The load for my wife's 38 Special, which works very well, uses 4.5 grains of Unique and Hornady 158 gr. HP/XTP bullets.

 

[Bigdog57]

I had a couple bullets shift forward from the case mouths once and jam my Ruger Securitysix - I added a bit more crimp - problem solved. Bullet weight had nothing to do with it.

 

[Revolver218]

While I haven't shot 158 gr jacketed I have loaded a lot of 125 gr JHP, both Remington and Hornady. I loaded according to the minimum recommendation in the Hornady manual, 4.8 gr of W 231, and shot them from both 2 and 4 inch barrels. Never a problem, very accurate. Since you are well over (about 1/2 way to the max) the minimum in their manual, I see no problem with what you have. As to the COL, just don't exceed the max of 1.550. Good Luck.

 

[rsrocket1]

Your 5.6g AA5 ought to give plenty of oompf to kick the bullet out of the barrel. The issues come from too light a powder load causing the lead to separate from the jacket and flying out leaving the jacket lodged in the barrel.

1.145" seems to imply that your bullet is seated to the mouth of the case. If you meant 1.45" COL, then you should be fine.

I would stay away from JHP's only if you are loading super light recoil loads. Full strength loads are fine with JHP's.

 

[gamestalker]

I load 158's for my 38 spcl. and don't have that problem. The author is very likely working with light or reduced charges. Try a mid range charge of Longshot and you'll have no such problem, and velocities will be quite impressive.
Go to Hogdon loading pages to locate the proper loads for 158's and you'll be fine. Too bad you already loaded that batch, but a lesson learned at the bench can be far less expensive, than one learned at the range!
GS

 

[chrt396]

Thanks guys!! Yes...OCL was 1.450...oops! I was worried that I loaded a bunch of ammo that should have been only in my .357 mag., when the primary reason I loaded them was to fire them out of the LCR. I went out today and bought some Hornady 125g FP - XTP's and some 158g Hornady lead SWC-HP's. I have a S&W 686 with a 6" barrel that should like the latter. Again..thanks for the input and advice!!

 

[mavracer]

I love the 158gr lead SWC-HPs for 38 special. About 850fps is great for about anything.

 

[Walkalong]

I had a couple bullets shift forward from the case mouths once and jam my Ruger Securitysix - I added a bit more crimp - problem solved. Bullet weight had nothing to do with it.

Yes it does. Recoil vs bullet weight. Neck tension and a good roll crimp will stop the physics of the brass and bullet trying to go in opposite directions.

An object at rest (The bullet) wants to stay that way. Under recoil the brass wants to pull away from the bullet. The more recoil and the heavier the bullet the more neck tension/roll crimp you need to hold the bullet from pulling out of the brass.

That said, as long as the OP does not go too light, he will be fine. Do not use a powder that is so slow that you do not get a good burn in that short barrel/pressure range.

His AA #5 should work just fine.

 

[gamestalker]

+1 as to what Walkalong said about bullet jump from the mouths relative to bullet weight/recoil. Although a firm roll crimp is the solution as you've already discovered, heavier bullets produce more kinetic energy.

 

[Waywatcher]

In good news, your LCR is well machined to handle lead bullets. Good throat diameter on the cylinder for lead bullets, right from the factory. (~0.3585)

Load up some lead and don't look back!

 

[chrt396]

Took all of it to the range tonight!

YA KNOW WHAT???

I LOVE that little gun!! I shot almost 100 rounds through it. The round that I was concerned about...shot the most accurately!! At 15 feet..5 shot groups..two hand supported...placing them neatly and well within 3" circle. Tightest group was 5 holes with 3 touching each other and one 1/2 away to the right..the other 1/2 a little lower. I'll take that all day long for that little snubbie. The lead rounds were also very accurate. I had one no fire...and the primer was punched pretty good. I do believe I had a dud primer.

Real happy about the results...and I wanna thank those on this thread for giving me confidence in what I was firing off today. I was however counting holes in the target to make sure that the rounds actually exited the barrel and hit paper.