Zaydok Allen
Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2011
- Messages
- 13,274
Yesterday I finally made it to the range. I haven't gotten to shoot since maybe September. Honestly I can't recall if I got out or not. It might have been July. Life has thrown some unexpected curveballs my way this year.
I tried out my first reloaded 38 Special +p's yesterday. I was using Xtreme 158 gr platted FP bullets over a ladder of AA#5. Load started at 5.4 and worked up incrementally. 5.6, 5.8, 6.0, 6.2, 6.4 grs. I know this isn't known to be a particularly common loading for 38's but I was in search of load data for platted bullets, because that's what I had, and this was a combo my Lee manual had. There was also a Platted FP Berry's bullet load that mirrored the Lee data in my Western Powders loading manual.
Anyway, they shot like crap, and the recoil was a bit more than I expected. I mean I expected +p recoil, but I guess I just was a touch surprised. But like I said, I haven't shot in awhile. I did see a pretty nice group at the 6.0 gr loading in my 686 Competitor, but it was not really mirrored in my 686+ 3" gun. I was only shooting at 10 yards.
The first four loadings shot so poorly out of my Ruger SP101 that I put that gun away after 35 rounds and didn't bother with it again.
I suspect strongly that I was a major part of the problem. Accuracy seemed to increase with higher powder charges, but I'm guessing I settled in at that point. I noticed a tendency for my shots to hit low right, which may indicate my grip was tightening as I was squeezing the trigger. Again, it wouldn't surprise me. I was also shooting them out of 357 revolvers, so that bit of a chamber jump may contribute.
In any case, I'm going to take another swing at this combo and see if It was more me than the loadings. I'll probably skip the lower rung loads though as the cases came out pretty sooty and like I said I did see a bit of improvement around 6. gr.
1) So, I first wanted to ask what loadings people tend to really like for 38 Special and +p loadings. I believe I've heard that Win231 is a particularly good powder to use?
2) I realize that every company has variances in their plating, or jacket thickness, so I've been reluctant to just simply trust FMJ data when using platted bullets. I understand that for any new loading I need to work up the load for safety. However, I'm curious how big of an issue this really is. To me it seems a lot bigger issue if you negligently use HP data with FMJ's, as the bullet lengths can vary enough to create different case capacity and therefore different pressures.
3) As I was shooting I was looking at my loads and scrutinizing them heavily as the accuracy was not what I wanted. I looked at my crimp and it seemed a little inadequate. So I compared them to some factory loads I had in my bag, and I decided they needed a heavier roll crimp. So when I was home I tightened my crimping die down a 1/3rd turn, tried it, and the crimp now looked pretty good. I noticed some excessive sootiness at lower charges. Could a less than optimal crimp create extreme accuracy issues? I mean every one fired and extracted smoothly, and I had no problems while shooting them, but the sootiness seemed to indicate either too low of a charge, or too light of a crimp. But these were +p's, so I wouldn't image the charge was too light.
Well, after I shot all 300 rounds up I pulled out my 1911 which has been neglected for some time. I shot some 230 gr FMJ's loaded with 6.2 gr of Unique. Now those shot very well. I had three targets on the cardboard and after 150 rounds, each one had a large ragged hole on the bull's eye. At least those shot.
I still had fun despite the lackluster 38's, but I can see it's definitely time to dry fire my revolvers heavily. My skills have slipped.
I tried out my first reloaded 38 Special +p's yesterday. I was using Xtreme 158 gr platted FP bullets over a ladder of AA#5. Load started at 5.4 and worked up incrementally. 5.6, 5.8, 6.0, 6.2, 6.4 grs. I know this isn't known to be a particularly common loading for 38's but I was in search of load data for platted bullets, because that's what I had, and this was a combo my Lee manual had. There was also a Platted FP Berry's bullet load that mirrored the Lee data in my Western Powders loading manual.
Anyway, they shot like crap, and the recoil was a bit more than I expected. I mean I expected +p recoil, but I guess I just was a touch surprised. But like I said, I haven't shot in awhile. I did see a pretty nice group at the 6.0 gr loading in my 686 Competitor, but it was not really mirrored in my 686+ 3" gun. I was only shooting at 10 yards.
The first four loadings shot so poorly out of my Ruger SP101 that I put that gun away after 35 rounds and didn't bother with it again.
I suspect strongly that I was a major part of the problem. Accuracy seemed to increase with higher powder charges, but I'm guessing I settled in at that point. I noticed a tendency for my shots to hit low right, which may indicate my grip was tightening as I was squeezing the trigger. Again, it wouldn't surprise me. I was also shooting them out of 357 revolvers, so that bit of a chamber jump may contribute.
In any case, I'm going to take another swing at this combo and see if It was more me than the loadings. I'll probably skip the lower rung loads though as the cases came out pretty sooty and like I said I did see a bit of improvement around 6. gr.
1) So, I first wanted to ask what loadings people tend to really like for 38 Special and +p loadings. I believe I've heard that Win231 is a particularly good powder to use?
2) I realize that every company has variances in their plating, or jacket thickness, so I've been reluctant to just simply trust FMJ data when using platted bullets. I understand that for any new loading I need to work up the load for safety. However, I'm curious how big of an issue this really is. To me it seems a lot bigger issue if you negligently use HP data with FMJ's, as the bullet lengths can vary enough to create different case capacity and therefore different pressures.
3) As I was shooting I was looking at my loads and scrutinizing them heavily as the accuracy was not what I wanted. I looked at my crimp and it seemed a little inadequate. So I compared them to some factory loads I had in my bag, and I decided they needed a heavier roll crimp. So when I was home I tightened my crimping die down a 1/3rd turn, tried it, and the crimp now looked pretty good. I noticed some excessive sootiness at lower charges. Could a less than optimal crimp create extreme accuracy issues? I mean every one fired and extracted smoothly, and I had no problems while shooting them, but the sootiness seemed to indicate either too low of a charge, or too light of a crimp. But these were +p's, so I wouldn't image the charge was too light.
Well, after I shot all 300 rounds up I pulled out my 1911 which has been neglected for some time. I shot some 230 gr FMJ's loaded with 6.2 gr of Unique. Now those shot very well. I had three targets on the cardboard and after 150 rounds, each one had a large ragged hole on the bull's eye. At least those shot.
I still had fun despite the lackluster 38's, but I can see it's definitely time to dry fire my revolvers heavily. My skills have slipped.
