VANITY CHAT: Best powder choice for .38 / .357 short barrel loads?

Vanity | 12-6-08 | Vanity

[OKSooner]

Quick question for handloaders:

I've got everything in place and ready to go to load up a couple of decent-sized batches of .38 and .357 loads.

The .38 loads are for practice use in a couple of airweight revolvers.

The .357s are for practice use in a couple of .357 revolvers, both with 3-inch barrels.

All of the above will be loaded with 158-grain cast bullets.

The one variable I haven't figured out is this:

WHICH POWDER IS BEST FOR USE IN SHORT-BARREL HANDGUNS?

[Bigun]

I agree with every word you said!

I have personally fired many thousands of rounds loaded with the powder I spoke of and will assure you that I approached the use of it with great caution!

I still have some on hand and will use it but it appears that I won’t be getting any more.

[Elderberry]

I would not pass up Bullseye because double, even triple and quadruple charges would fit in a 38/357 case. One always needs total concentration while they are reloading.

[Bigun]

I used to get it here but it looks as though it is now all gone.

[hiredhand]

Speaking of KB's... here's something that might help somebody else...As with all things worth knowing, there's a bit of a story, so please bear with me. :-)

My brother and I were shooting .45ACP one weekend at his house. We were practicing what we call "two shot drills". The basic intention is to retrieve the weapon from where it's holstered and get two rounds on target quickly. The shooter walks AWAY from the target until the other guy gives the order to turn and shoot.

Anyway... malfunctions are handled accordingly... drop the mag, rack the slide twice, reinsert the mag....rack the slide.

It was my turn and I fired once...twice...and the second one "felt" strange. I didn't realize that the pistol didn't cycle and that there was a bullet lodged in the barrel.

So I went through a clearing drill and noticed the slide didn't "go home" solidly on a new round in the chamber. So I STOPPED and started looking for the source of the problem.

We quickly discovered the bullet in the bore. It wasn't quite far enough in to permit the next round to chamber completely. We drove it out and set that batch of reloaded ammo off to the side. It was loaded on a Dillon RL-550B and I called Dillon the following Monday. After explaining all the details and answering numerous questions, the guy at Dillon told me that it was because we were using old Bullseye. He said that if we dumped it onto a dinner plate, we would probably see small clumps that could (and DID) interfere with the flow system on the reloader. He said if we used a small tined fork or something else to break up the clumps, it would feed!

So my warning here is with respect to older Bullseye, if anybody has any stored. There was no harm done in my case, but if I had "shooting badguys", and under stress I know for a fact that I would have probably NOT been inclined to stop so fast and examine the source of the stoppage and then damaged the weapon by firing a good round behind the projectile lodged in the barrel.

Needless to say... me and my helper weighed "about" 800 rounds out of that run of reloads and everything weighed within spec...so apparently there was only ONE squib load. Also...due to the way that the powder flow system on the Dillon is made, it won't drop a double charge into the one following the squib. Older models of the Lee 1000 did this back in the early 1990s....so not only would you end up with a squib, but the one right after it would receive a double charge! As I understand it, Lee fixed this soon after it was discovered.

For the most part, we're running out of of Bullseye and are using WST (Winchester Super Target) for .38SPCL, .40S&W and .45ACP. It "seems" to do a good job. :-)

[hiredhand]

Ah! Jeff Bartlett! Right. :-) Thanks!

[Vinnie]

I’ve been using AA5 but just for giggles I bought 2 lbs. of Power Pistol.
Seems to have a burn rate in the vicinity of AA5 and Unique.

I plan on using it in 38/357, 45acp, and 44.
Not max loads but up there.

For my 342PD .38 ultralite its strictly factory loads.

[muir_redwoods]

Your experience may counsel otherwise but let me give you some free advice guaranteed to be worth at least what you paid for it.

A short-barreled revolver suggests a concealed self-defense purpose. If so, using hand loads could expose you to additional legal issues in a self-defense situation. An aggressive prosecutor could argue that the hand loads were specifically loaded to inflict the most damage possible and a gun-ignorant jury could agree.

Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6 but at least be aware that the government is rarely on your side in such situations.

[OKSooner]

Please read my original post again.

Still a good point to mention for everyone's benefit, though.

Thanks.

[Joe Brower]

Ping for FReeper OKSooner. Let us know what you find out!

[Bigun]

I heartily second that advice.

Hand loads are fine for practice but Never EVER carry a pistol loaded with anything but commercial ammunition!

In my case that is Federal Hydra-Shok.

[mylife]

I dont know squat about loading except that Santa really wants to bring me some equip.

Whats a good set up?

I am looking at a dillon 550 for rifle and pistol loads and a Mec for shotgun shells

I want to load 410 buckshot .223, .308, 9mm, 45 acp and .38 special

[Tijeras_Slim]

I use the MEC Sizemaster for .410 (shoot lots of skeet). Buckshot is a different animal though. Get a Lyman Shotshell Reloading Handbook and review to see if you want to mess with it.

[mylife]

Where can I get a cheap 110 gr .38 bullet?

158 is cheap bur just to damn heavy, making recoil suck.

Widener’s seems like the best source for supplys so far from my research

[mylife]

Sigh.... I just knew it wasnt going to be easy L0L

[OKSooner]

Sorry, I can't support bathtub chemistry nor condone breaking the law.

Welcome to FR.

[mylife]

I could live with turkey shot vice buck shot.
That would load easy wouldnt it?

[hiredhand]

We bought a Dillon RL-550B back around 2004, and I can ONLY say good things about it! ...and Dillon for that matter! I've been reloading for 25 years+ and I called them and told them that I had NO experience with progressive reloaders and I did NOT want to mess around and be "accessorized" to death! I told them that I wanted to receive everything I needed in one shipment and be up and running a short time after that.

The guy I talked to was VERY helpful and they did exactly as I asked! We bought the machine, and tools, accessories, and recommended spare parts (already had dies) for well under $500 and were using it the afternoon of the day it arrived. :-)

[mylife]

Thats what I wanted to hear! Thanks.

Their website is very helpful as to making sure you have what you need from what I can see

[hiredhand]

All These folks buying reloading supplies might want to set back a good book or two dealing with how to make smokeless powder and primer ccompounds. If i wanted to stop the firearms trade it would be a simple matter of just making propellants and primer compounds very very hard for the average person to come by.

How's that working out for the powers-to-be at stopping the illicit drug trade? :-) People who reload ammunition are not "average". There's an entire substrata of underlying philosophy that goes along with it. Show me a person who reloads ammunition, and I'll show you somebody who is very much above average in many, MANY different ways.

It rather goes without saying that we can make a lot of stuff.... drugs, explosives, toxins....etc...etc.... I'm just not sure this is the best place to discuss the merits thereof.

Welcome to FR. :-)