Andrew Webber
Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2020
- Messages
- 6
I'm new to the forum, and to reloading and I'm looking for a little advice on 38 Special loads.
A little background. I'm just getting started in reloading so I wanted to buy limited supplies. I wanted to be able to load 38 Special and 357 Magnum for my 6" GP100. My range requires FMJ ammo (there aren't many indoor ranges to choose from, and winters are long and cold in Maine) so after some research I ended up with Alliant Unique powder, 125 gr Speer TMJ bullets and CCI 500 primers. For load data, I used the Lyman 50th manual as well as data Speer publishes on their website.
I loaded some 38 Special with 5.7 gr of Unique which is what Speer recommends and is within the range for the 125 grain bullets in the Lyman manual. When I shot them at the range, they seemed to have a lot more kick, noise, and muzzle flash than any factory ammo I've shot. The Lyman manual shows 4.0 grains as the minimum, but the Speer data says not to reduce below 5.7 grains. I'd like to reduce it, but I'm not sure which source to believe. Would splitting the difference with like 5.0 grains be okay, or do I need to take the DNR advice from Speer more seriously? Is there that much difference between the Hornady 125 JHP Lyman tests with and the Speer 125g TMJ?
Thanks!
A little background. I'm just getting started in reloading so I wanted to buy limited supplies. I wanted to be able to load 38 Special and 357 Magnum for my 6" GP100. My range requires FMJ ammo (there aren't many indoor ranges to choose from, and winters are long and cold in Maine) so after some research I ended up with Alliant Unique powder, 125 gr Speer TMJ bullets and CCI 500 primers. For load data, I used the Lyman 50th manual as well as data Speer publishes on their website.
I loaded some 38 Special with 5.7 gr of Unique which is what Speer recommends and is within the range for the 125 grain bullets in the Lyman manual. When I shot them at the range, they seemed to have a lot more kick, noise, and muzzle flash than any factory ammo I've shot. The Lyman manual shows 4.0 grains as the minimum, but the Speer data says not to reduce below 5.7 grains. I'd like to reduce it, but I'm not sure which source to believe. Would splitting the difference with like 5.0 grains be okay, or do I need to take the DNR advice from Speer more seriously? Is there that much difference between the Hornady 125 JHP Lyman tests with and the Speer 125g TMJ?
Thanks!