38spl will this work

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BossHogg

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Ist reload with the 38spl. 3.5 grains with Hornady .358 lswc using Universal clays. col of 1.45 should be around 750 fps . Is this about right for a light plinking round or should I start a little higher? Is the COL 1.45 ok or a little longer? Thanks
 
You didn't say what bullet weight. If you're using 158 gr cast bullets, then yeah I guess 3.5 gr is a good starting point. That's a very light load though. Make sure the first couple make it out the end of the barrel. As for length, I seat them so that the mouth of the case is in the cannelure so I can get a decent crimp. And then make sure they aren't too long for the cylinder of your revolver.
 
He did say Hornady 158gr lswc.

It should work fine, but you will have lots of unburned, yellow flakes left in your cases and probably in the frame of your gun. To get rid of that, bump your charge up a bit, closer to 4.0gr.

Hodgdon gives 4.5gr Universal as a max charge, so you have a lot of room to work with here.

For OAL, crimp to cannalure - as long as it fits in the cylider (and it should) you're golden.

Q
 
Sounds very light to me.

Lyman #49 shows 4.2 Universal starting load giving 760 FPS out of a 4" barrel.

On the otherhand, Hodgdon shows 3.5 giving 756 FPS out of a 7.7" barrel.
4.7 is MAX.

Hornady shows 3.4 start - 4.4 MAX giving 800 from a 4" barrel.

Your Hornady swaged bullet has no crimp cannulure so:
1.145" OAL sounds fine to me as Hornady says 1.455" is what they tested at.

rc
 
I guess i'll start at 3.8 and it is 158 grain bullet. It still should be ok with 1.45 COL.? I don't want it to be to slow but would like to stay on the light side on the recoil.
 
Sounds like you're good to go. The length sounds about right, as long as the crimp is in the cannelure. Incidentally, for me personally, I have had much better luck using W-231 for light loads in .38 and .357 cases compared to Universal. But you use what you got sometimes. It works out regardless.
 
Once again, the Hornady swaged bullet he is using has no crimp cannelure.

It has knurling filled with dry lube, and no grease grooves or crimp cannelure atall.

rc
 
For plinking, target and fun shooting you don't really need anything that's higher in velocity. My standard .38spl handload is the ubiquitous HBWC and 3.7 grains of Bullseye. I have fired untold thousands of these loads; have hunted and shot targets with this load. Rarely have I needed anything much heavier but when I do I just buy a box of defensive ammo or use my .357. The powder you're using may not be as efficient with the light load you are using.
 
Yeah those are probably going to be a little lighter than you want.

Hornady 7th shows 3.4 to 4.4 max for Universal, with 3.9 giving 750 fps out of a 4" bbl. I'd start somewhere closer to 3.8 - 3.9 and go from there...

OAL looks good, manual recommends 1.455", so you're right there at it.

Good luck!
 
I loaded these with 3.7 grains of Universal and all but 1 worked fine. The 1 was a very light recoil and noise and I thought squib. Checked the barrel no bullet stuck so I was happy about that. I have a few flakes of powder left in the cases would moving up tp 3.9 or 4.0 grains help with burning all the powder or is a few flakes OK .
 
rcmodel:

In post #4 you said "1.145 OAL sounds fine to me" - that's too short, isn't it?

Shouldn't that be 1.445?
 
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