Unique & 38 Spl+P

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Jesse Heywood

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Went to the range today. It had been almost a year. One of the guns was a Colt New Cobra. Learned the chambers were larger than my Diamondback and New King Cobra.
Two loads with Speer 158 LSWCHP, a swaged soft lead bullet. Charges were 4.7 & 5.2 gr. Unique, per Speer #14. Found there was a reason the other manuals stopped at 4.5 gr. The 4.7 gr. charge was hot, but manageable. The 5.2 gr. charge was more than I could handle. When I opened the cylinder I found 6 flattened primers, something I never
experienced with 38 Spl.
Unique+P.jpg
 
They extracted with some effort. The primers were considerably flatter than some wadcutters that I had fired. They are PMC, which are fairly hard and have a larger radius on the corner, which had expanded.
I don't like torture, either, and will try some other powders.
This gun has the Hogue grips, which are still smaller than my hands. Might have to try some Pachmyer Compacts and see if the gun still fits in my pocket.
 
5.2 gr Unique under a 158 IS a +P load ,,,,it is not an excessive load. Full power .38 spl in an alloy snubby let you know that you dropped the hammer on a a real load, Just think how fun .357 magnums are in an airweight!:D
 
According to the 2004 Alliant Manual, 4.5 gr Unique is the maximum load for 38 spl. +P with a 158 gr. LSWC. I'd stick to this load in your Colt revolver. If you need more velocity, go to a slower powder.
 
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