Lightest 38 SPL

[fxvr5]

I have come across number of revolvers with a bulged barrel where apparently the shooter did not notice the previous round had exited the barrel. just my 2 cents.

Load them right and you never have to worry about that.

 

[joneb]

Load them right and you never have to worry about that.

If you load them too light you may need to

 

[fxvr5]

If you load them to light you may need to

Too light would not qualify as being 'right'. See post #51 again.

 

[Mr_Flintstone]

You can get 38 Long Colt by the 100 count from MidwayUSA. Those will allow shooting a real bullet like 125 and not get beat up. I use them for cowboy action pistols loading with Trailboss. Some of the ladies shoot short Colt or 32 SWL, but the 32s in a Ruger Single Six are rare and expensive now and it is not a lightweight gun. I wonder at some point if a 22 would be more effective in penetrating a bad guy.

I load a lot of 38 Long Colt, and it is a pleasure to shoot all day. Trail Boss, 231, and Titegroup all push the 125 gr cast bullets about 550-600 FPS on the low end from a 2” revolver up to about 700 FPS on the high end. Not what you’d want for self defense, but not scary to shoot for beginners. I used to load these for my wife, but I started shooting them myself because they are so much fun. You will need to clean your cylinders after shooting to avoid carbon rings, but that’s not really a big problem.

 

[joneb]

I hope no one here thinks 2.7gr of Bullseye behind a 148 gr LWC will behave the same as a 148 gr copper plated WC load.

 

[fxvr5]

FYI for folks, a previous link was to Matt's bullets and a 75 gr wadcutter and load data showing a minimum load of 2.0 gr Bullseye. That load with the bullet seated flush produced 620 fps from a 4" S&W. A 125 grain lead bullet seated flush in a 38 Special case with 2.0 gr Bullseye produced 570 fps from the same 4" S&W. Velocity with a 148 grain DEWC (flush) was 540 fps from the same 4" barrel. This is much slower than the usual wadcutter load and has much less recoil.

These are light recoil plinking loads that are comfortable to shoot in light weight revolvers. Obviously they will be slower in a shorter barrel.

The advantage of seating them flush is that they minimize the space in the case, so they keep the pressure and velocity more consistent than if the non-wadcutter bullets are seated to their 'usual' OAL.

AGAIN, people should work DOWN to these loads. If you don't seat the non-wadcutter bullets flush, 2.0 grains of Bullseye might be too little and you might risk a stuck bullet because velocity can be very erratic. For example, a 95 grain lead bullet seated to 1.400 even with a large charge of 3.0 gr Bullseye is too little powder for all that space and some speeds were scary low.

Also, search for a PDF of the Lyman #44 load manual for data for some of these really light loads. They list 2.0 gr Bullseye with just about everything lead in 38 Special.

 

[joneb]

I hope no one here thinks 2.7gr of Bullseye behind a 148 gr LWC will behave the same as a 148 gr copper plated WC load

This is coming from a guy that runs a 125gr Nosler BT with 16gr of Blue Dot in his bolt action .308 Win. go figure

 

[RealGun]

There is no need for 38 Long (or Short) Colt brass. Just load the bullet deep in with the 38 Special brass. Then you can load any light bullet weight. 2.0 gr Bullseye works very well with light, flush seated lead bullets up to 148 grains in 38 Special cases. People should work DOWN to 2.0 to see what works.

I wouldn't do this, because there is no tested data to support it, short of getting ones loads off the internet at real risk.

 

[fxvr5]

I wouldn't do this, because there is no tested data to support it, short of getting ones loads off the internet at real risk.

Load the bullet to the OAL of the 38 Long or Short Colt and use load data for the same cartridges (38 Long or Short Colt). Thus, one should be at those same working pressures.

And, as I posted above, search for a PDF of the Lyman #44 load manual for data for some of these really light loads. They list 2.0 gr Bullseye with just about everything lead in 38 Special.