Thanks for the input. I figured I would be admonished for daring to go outside the recommended loads.
It can be done, but the better question might be "Is it wise for a novice reloader ?" Over the years reloaders have figured out how to do quite a lot, but hardly any of it is recommended as a 'good starting place' in your new hobby. And most of those "not recommended" procedures are based on
safety concerns.
That being said, of all the swaps you could have made, using No2 with 158gr Berry plated might be the most benign. So I'm not here to admonish you so much as to show you where some of the possible "gotchas" are.
Here are some of the unstated issues....
• When using a "faster" powder than recommended, the load range shrinks. The load range for No2 with a 148gr bullet is only 0.4 to 0.5gr wide. When the bullet weight goes up, the load range usually gets
even narrower. A load window of 0.4gr is not very wide and doesn't allow for many measurement errors. That brings on a raft of questions, like.... Just how accurate is your powder measure with No2 ? Over 100 rounds, what deviation can you expect ?
• No2 is so fine that a lot of less expensive powder measures will leak powder. Heck, a lot of expensive powder measure leak No2 !! Can your measure work with No2 and remain trustworthy?
• The one thing reloaders always focus on is the
chamber pressure. The faster a powder burns, the more a Pressure vs Time graph starts to look like a spike rather than a smooth curve. That's one reason the load range narrows. What if the max pressure sneaks over? Your gun is rated for +P so there is some margin of safety. But some people recommending this load might be shooting it in a 357 Mag, which increases their safety far more. So knowledge of the gun they use may be just as important as their recommendation.
• Just being in Ohio raises concerns of it's own due to the low humidity. Low humidity leads to static, which makes some powders want to cling. Static tends to make a metal powder measure less accurate. Plastic powder measures can become totally erratic. Special steps might need to be taken.
• Be aware that tiny loads of faster powders tend to quirky. Inside the huge 38 Splc case, tiny amounts of powder can be dispersed many ways. Although No2 is not noted to be as troublesome as some, you need to be aware. "Case fill" is why powders like Trail Boss are so popular.
The place to start is to call Accurate Powders and ask them to fax or email you the load data on using No2 with 158gr jacketed/plated bullets. This will give you published loads that have been verified. Then move slowly and accurately from there.
Hope this helps!
