| Posted: Fri Dec 14th, 2007 02:06 AM |
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21st Post |
Ghugly
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Small pistol primers for .38 and .357. I'm going to suggest Trail Boss powder http://www.imrpowder.com/data/handgun/trailboss-feb2005.php I've used it in .44 special and it has it's advantages. It's clean and fluffy. It fills the case so well that a double charge just won't fit and since the volume is high if you are a little over or under it doesn't make much of a difference. It is not for maximum loads, but it makes for nice plinking rounds. I think it's a great powder for the beginner. It would really take some work to screw up a .38 special load with Trail Boss so badly that it would hurt a .357.
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14th, 2007 10:32 PM |
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22nd Post |
WILDCATT
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GOT YOUR EMAIL.your right that trailboss fills case but my post was for target load that is extremly accurate and mild.one had better not be careless when reloading,my only mistake was when I was loading for a match and had friend watching and talking.I did not put any powder in a bout 100 loads.its not easy shooting amatch where you have to stop and drive out a squib ever other shot.I learned abig leason and I had been loading for 40 yrs.
 
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| Posted: Sat Dec 15th, 2007 12:43 AM |
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23rd Post |
Ghugly
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I'm sorry if I gave you the impression when I said it was idiot proof that I was, in any way, referring to you. I only ment that Trail Boss is an extremely friendly powder. Although I use it as a powder for plinking, I understand that for moderate loads it is a match for about anything out there. My personal favorite for target loads in a .38 is Bullseye under a 148gr HBWC. It's pretty much the standard, and should be. If I was loading for myself only, I wouldn't use anything else for light loads. However, my son and I shoot togeather (one of the best father & son things you can do) and he complains to no end after running a few boxes of Bullseye loads through his gun. We both end up looking like we're made up for a minstrel show. With Trail Boss the guns and our hands are darned near as clean as before the shoot. Now he screams like a wounded mouse if I touch a can of Bullseye. For heavier loads, I am still allowed to tip the occasional can of 2400 or Unique but the Bullseye is gathering dust. 
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| Posted: Sat Dec 15th, 2007 12:59 AM |
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24th Post |
jjb2
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WILDCATT wrote: GOT YOUR EMAIL.your right that trailboss fills case but my post was for target load that is extremly accurate and mild.one had better not be careless when reloading,my only mistake was when I was loading for a match and had friend watching and talking.I did not put any powder in a bout 100 loads.its not easy shooting amatch where you have to stop and drive out a squib ever other shot.I learned abig leason and I had been loading for 40 yrs.
sorry to hear about your misfortune in the empty cases too... that never happens to me i load from single stage presses and ALWAYS look into each case in the loading block to make sure there is the right amount of powder in each......................
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| Posted: Sat Dec 29th, 2007 09:47 PM |
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25th Post |
WILDCATT
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I was loading on a Bair 3 station press with loading blocks.never looked in block as I was distracted.never again.yes trail boss may be the powder to load for new loaders.that way they will stay away from heavy loads.my 2.8 gr load of 700X gets me 2500 loads per lb.
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30th, 2007 06:55 AM |
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26th Post |
wblodgett
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I'll put in another vote for HP-38 or 231. It is a great powder for loads in 38 special (as the HP-38 name suggests it is generally very accurate in this caliber). I use it in a number of other calibers as well and find it burns rather cleanly. It meters like water in most powder measures (i.e. very well), however I haven't found the Lee Perfect Powder measure to be one of them (it doesn't seem to like fine grained powders) so if you have that measure you might want to avoid HP-38 or 231.
You can find good load data at http://www.hodgdon.com (they own most of the major powder manufacturers now so you will find data for a lot of different powders here).
If you round up some 158 Grain Lead Semi Wadcutters and use the starting load for HP-38 or 231 posted on the Hodgdon site you will have a good paper punching load.
I use quite a bit of Unique and find it to be very forgiving and very versatile. It has a rather wide charge range (considerably wider than a faster burning powder like 231). Hodgdon makes Hodgdon Universal which is another good powder if you are looking for a powder that is rather forgiving (it also isn't quite as sooty as Unique and tends to meter a bit better in most measures).
If you haven't stocked up on reloading manuals already I can heartily recommend the Hornady manual. It is one of the few that actually shows you the relationship between velocity and charge weight and has a lot of useful data for the advanced handloader (I'm not quite at the point where I would call myself advanced, but the data is nice to have for when I reach that point).
One more thing. CCI primers have the hardest primer cups of the commonly used brands (i.e. Federal, CCI, Winchester, Remington) so they will be the least likely to be accidentally set off if they get forced in sideways or something similar. The Federal primers are generally the softest. Priming is one area where you want to investigate if you encounter any amount of undue resistance (i.e. one primer seems to be taking a lot more force to seat than others, etc.). I haven't set one off yet in using Federal, CCI, or Winchester (they all take a fair amount of force to set off), but this is one area of reloading I tend to apply a bit more finesse to.
-BillLast edited on Sun Dec 30th, 2007 07:09 AM by wblodgett
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