The Frontier Sixshooter Community Message Board - General Purpose .38 Special Load

General Purpose .38 Special Load (reply)

Charles — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 15:42:41 +0000

My notion of a general purpose 38 special load is a solid base full wadcutter bullet over 3.5 grains of Bullseye. This is not a +P load, but is on the upper end of standard pressure.

You might read some Skeeter Skelton and John Taffin (reply)

The Alsatian — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 22:19:13 +0000

"More traditional loads for the .38 Special are assembled with 158 grain cast bullets from Bull-X (102 S. Main St., Dept. AH, Farmer City, Illinois 61842. Phone 309-928-2574.) My longtime standard .38 Special regular load has been a 158 grain SWC over 5.0 grains of Unique. At 850 feet per second, this is a fine varmint/jack rabbit load and certainly much better as a defensive load than the round-nosed .38 Special. The 158 grain Bull-X SWC .38 Special bullet fits the bill nicely."

I follow John Taffin's advice and this is my most used .38 load.

You might read some Skeeter Skelton and John Taffin (reply)

Rob Leahy — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 03:03:27 +0000

keeping in mind pressure changes with modern powder. John Taffin has a bit of wisdom to share on the .38 Special. Taffin Tests are my go to for wisdom.
http://sixguns.com/tests/tt38spcl.htm

Thank you. (reply)

Drago — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 06:16:53 +0000

Thank you gentlemen.

They've pretty much covered it... (reply)

Paul — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 01:52:46 +0000

a 158 grain leaden projectile (pick the profile of choice - RNL, SWC, HP, etc) a bit of Unique or Bullseye - or W231. There are several other powders that work as well, but those pretty much fall in to the "generic 38 SPL load" category. I tried a load of 4227 a while back, something I got off of Taffin's work if I recall correctly, but got a lot of unburned powder and didn't find that it gave me anything else worth mentioning. I just ran a bunch of 158's and plan to load up some over Unique, Bullseye or W231, if time allows. Need to run some 3030 and 45 Colt first.

Yep, 3.5gr of Bullseye… (reply)

Slow Hand — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 14:06:38 +0000

I’ve Liao many thousands of that load under any variety of 158-ish gr bullet and also a full wadcutter whether hollow based or solid. I always like it because I can tell non Re loaders that you can get 2000 rounds out of a pound of powder (theoretically, anyways…)

General Purpose .38 Special Load (reply)

Bob Hatfield — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 13:59:45 +0000

3.5 grains of Bullseye is also a standard load for many years with a 158-grain lead bullet. I always found that load to be more accurate with a round nose bullet. It is my go-to load when shooting old Smith Revolvers.

Bob

Yep. That should get a feller right up to original... (reply)

Hoot — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 01:00:28 +0000

Colt specs as well as being considered "safe" for Colts and replicas. I shoot quite a bit of that as well.....when I get to shoot these days anyway.

yep, about the same... (reply)

Hobie — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 00:45:01 +0000

Not sure how you wish to define it but... (reply)

Drago — Sat, 05 Mar 2022 22:44:16 +0000

I've always understood that 8.5 gr Unique and a 255gr was an all purpose load in .45 Colt. Something along those lines.

Not sure how you wish to define it but... (reply)

Hoot — Sat, 05 Mar 2022 21:33:40 +0000

my everyday load would be 4.5gr. Unique under a 158-ish SWC. Loaded at least a short ton of those.

General Purpose .38 Special Load

Drago — Sat, 05 Mar 2022 21:15:08 +0000

Is there a general purpose load for .38 special?