Advice wanted on .38 Special loads

Dances With Coyotes · February 28, 2011, 01:40:30 PM

Just got me a couple of boxes of 158gr RNFP's in the mail. The powders I have sitting on my shelf right now are Unique, Win231, Trailboss,AA#5,WinWST. First I'm wanting to try Unique, then maybe Trailboss or the 231.I still want to get my hands on some Titegroup. I don't want to do mousefart loads. Just mild target loads for CAS that I know will clear the barrel of my guns. Will be shooting a pair of .357 Ruger New Vaqueros and a Rossi 92 in .357/.38. Would like advice on loads you like and what works for you...All suggestions will be checked against several loading manuals ,of course Thank ye kindly.

StrawHat · February 28, 2011, 04:33:54 PM

When I used to use the 38 Special and 158 grain bullets (cast SWC) for small game I enjoyed about 5.0 grains of Unique. Nice accurate load from my revolvers, S&Ws of various frame sizes. Never had a 38 Special rifle so...

J.D. Goodguy · February 28, 2011, 06:51:23 PM

Have used the Trail Boss and Titegroup in the wife's revolvers and rifle. Use the mid point of the load manual and get very good results. Have to load the 38's long, close to the 357 length to get them to work in the Rossi rifle. The Rossi seems to be very length sensitive. Have had good results with both RNFP and round nose in the 158's. Good luck. JD>>

Modoc · March 01, 2011, 10:20:14 PM

Have been using 4.0 of Unique for years in the 38 for Cowboy. Never really papered them to see how they shot, but the Wife and I have put quite a few down range. This allso turned out to be a recomended load for copper clad bullets for the Indoor range. I do not know how they will feed through YOUR Rossi '92, but the Wife's will feed them well. My Browning did not, so we ended up going to 357 cases for the rifles (shrug). This did allow us to work up an accurate load for the rifles and not worry about mixing it up with the pistols.

panhead pete · March 02, 2011, 05:32:41 AM

When I load smokeless, 3.2-3.5 grains of Titegroup. I have used CCI magnum primers as well as Winchester. No problems for CAS.

Johnny McCrae · March 02, 2011, 07:22:13 AM

For four years now I've been using a 147 grain .38 Special TC bullet from Moulton Lead ( http://www.moultonlead.com/ ) in my 1866 Uberti Yellowboy. My 1866 is finicky about overall length.This bullet makes for a longer OAL of 1.555" and is trouble free. Boss. In my revolvers I use a 158 grain RNFP bullet. I use 3.0 grains of Trail Boss for both rounds.
Moulton Lead's quality and service is exceptional!

Dances With Coyotes · March 02, 2011, 07:50:15 AM

@Johnny, that 147gr boolit is VERY interesting, and their prices are great too! I have a question. Why not use the 147gr for revolvers too? Accuracy better with the 158s?

Johnny McCrae · March 02, 2011, 08:01:16 AM

For some reason the 158's seem to be more accurate in my Revolvers. I'm not a good pistol shot so the 147's might work out OK in Revolvers for someone else.

I've been buying from Moulton lead for years. Their service, quality and prices are very good.

Pit Mule · March 02, 2011, 08:49:54 PM

158 grn RNFP, 3.5 grns HP38

Solid load for rifle & pistol, shoots flat and accurate

Christopher Carson · March 03, 2011, 09:56:44 AM

Quote from: Dances With Coyotes on February 28, 2011, 01:40:30 PM
Just got me a couple of boxes of 158gr RNFP's in the mail. The powders I have sitting on my shelf right now are Unique, Win231, Trailboss,AA#5,WinWST. First I'm wanting to try Unique, then maybe Trailboss or the 231.I still want to get my hands on some Titegroup. I don't want to do mousefart loads. Just mild target loads for CAS that I know will clear the barrel of my guns. Will be shooting a pair of .357 Ruger New Vaqueros and a Rossi 92 in .357/.38. Would like advice on loads you like and what works for you...All suggestions will be checked against several loading manuals ,of course Thank ye kindly.

Of those (excepting WST, which I haven't worked with), a moderate charge of Trail Boss will take up the most space in the case, burns reasonaly cleanly once you get above the middle of the recommendaed range, and gives velocities that are generally steel-friendly.

Unique is very versatile for mid-range handgun cartridges, as is AA#5... but I found both to burn somewhat less cleanly than Clays and Red Dot, which are the next bulkiest powders I know of. (Maybe Alliant's Clay Dot fits in this category, too). Unique can give you some good loads at the high end of non-magnum. Alliant has reportedly cleaned up Unique in the meantime (as they did with Red Dot), and so might burn cleaner now than when I was working with it. In any case, "clean" usually only really happens with charge weights from the middle of the recommded ranges.

W231 (and it's clone, HP38) and TiteGroup don't take up much case space, might be slighlty harder to ascertain cases are properly charged if your weights are on the light end.

-Chris

Dances With Coyotes · March 18, 2011, 06:25:08 PM

Right now settled on 3.0 gr Trailboss for the 158grRNFP. Good load. Very clean and accurate. When I get me some of those 147grTC I'll play with those.

Dances With Coyotes · April 18, 2011, 11:33:38 AM

Got me some of those 147 TC's and they run like a champ through my Rossi 92. The 158gr were jumping out whn the action was worked............Loading at 1.555" with 2.7 gr Trailboss.

LoneRider · April 23, 2011, 08:45:06 PM

I shoot 90gr in pistols and 160's in rifle all loaded with 3.3grns of Trailboss.

Note: I use 3.3 grns because Trailboss is Temp. sensitive! I've had squibs w/3grns in cold weather, never w/3.3!!

Johnny McCrae · April 24, 2011, 07:39:36 AM

QuoteGot me some of those 147 TC's and they run like a champ through my Rossi 92. The 158gr were jumping out whn the action was worked............Loading at 1.555" with 2.7 gr Trailboss.

My 147 TC's are seated to 1.555" also. I use 3.0 grains of Trail Boss. This combination has been problem free in my 1866.

cpt dan blodgett · August 25, 2011, 11:39:50 PM

Started shooting .38 158 semi wads with Red Dot, moved to Nitro 100 and AA2

Truth be known any published data and powder will work. No real need to load differently for the rifle, we are not shooting a long ways or trying to kill anything.

If you do want to shoot the rifle long range I would load hotter and use .357 mag data, drive bullets as fast as you can without leading barrel and destroying accuracy.

Some folks swear by moly koted. some swear at them.

LoneRider · August 26, 2011, 05:43:46 PM

Quote from: LoneRider on April 23, 2011, 08:45:06 PM
I shoot 90gr in pistols and 160's in rifle all loaded with 3.3grns of Trailboss.

Note: I use 3.3 grns because Trailboss is Temp. sensitive! I've had squibs w/3grns in cold weather, never w/3.3!!

Yep...my experience exactly! 3.3 works!!! I load my 90's and 160's the same.

Ozark_Captain · August 28, 2011, 09:44:25 PM

Quote from: LoneRider on April 23, 2011, 08:45:06 PM
I shoot 90gr in pistols and 160's in rifle all loaded with 3.3grns of Trailboss.

Note: I use 3.3 grns because Trailboss is Temp. sensitive! I've had squibs w/3grns in cold weather, never w/3.3!!

I have been using 3.1 grains of Trailboss with my 105 and 125 grain bullets with no problems and very happy with the results. I didn't realize it was case sensitive so thanks for that info. Now if I have any problems in cold weather I will know what to do.