147 RMR Smiley for .38/.357 load?

[Random 8]

Wife has taken to shooting indoor ladies combat league this winter, and although not prohibited, cast bullets are frowned upon. Coated bullets even more so due to the burnt electric smell.

Need to come up with a basic load for these guys. Not trying to hot rod anything. Will be loaded in .38 brass, fired in .357 short barreled steel frame Taurus. Looking to land in the full .38, maybe slightly on the +P side to approximate defensive loads she uses in keeping with the spirit of the friendly competition.

I have the usual suspects .38 powders on hand. HP38, Unique, Longshot, Autocomp, W244, WSF, and some Red Dot I'd like to use up. I'd rather not use the Unique as it is earmarked for medium loads in the .41 and not very replaceable at the moment.

What have folks who've loaded this bullet or similar weight jacketed bullets used?

 

[rperyam]

I’ve been using the Smiley Face bullets since they first came out. I use 3.5 grains of Bullseye in either .38 Special or .357 Magnum cases. Very accurate and easy to shoot. Far from +P, on the mild side. Great for plinking and getting to know the feel and trigger of the guns. Grandkids love this load.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Wife has taken to shooting indoor ladies combat league this winter, and although not prohibited, cast bullets are frowned upon. Coated bullets even more so due to the burnt electric smell.

Need to come up with a basic load for these guys. Not trying to hot rod anything. Will be loaded in .38 brass, fired in .357 short barreled steel frame Taurus. Looking to land in the full .38, maybe slightly on the +P side to approximate defensive loads she uses in keeping with the spirit of the friendly competition.

I have the usual suspects .38 powders on hand. HP38, Unique, Longshot, Autocomp, W244, WSF, and some Red Dot I'd like to use up. I'd rather not use the Unique as it is earmarked for medium loads in the .41 and not very replaceable at the moment.

What have folks who've loaded this bullet or similar weight jacketed bullets used?

I load the Fiocchi 142gr TCMJ with 4.5-4.8gr of W231 for my Taurus M85 2”. It’s a good load for making water bottles dance 25’. In my 3” Rossi it’s a very accurate load. The Fiocchi data is in Italian and is for the Italian powders, Frex. But they do give VV powder equivalents, if you want to look at them just for your wife’s play time.

 

[AJC1]

If it were me I'd try a few at 3.4 grains of red dot and maybe a litte higher if groups shrink. That load was great for my 156 cast and your bullet is lighter. That's a max cast 158 load, but accuracy was worse in the +p zone for me... the total absence of recoil made them boring for me, but good for my 12 year old daughter

 

[Palladan44]

I'd use Red Dot for light target loads or the HP38 for medium loads.
I'd probably avoid all the other powders you mentioned....they're all slower burning and better suited to higher pressures, IMO.

 

[blackd24]

When I was trying to do the same thing, I think 4-4.5 is 38 special, then 4.5-5 is plus p range for HP-38. Just make sure you’re using brass with good neck tension. I have older brass that had wadcutters where I had 0 neck tension. A small push and the bullet was all the way in the case.

 

[Palladan44]

When I was trying to do the same thing, I think 4-4.5 is 38 special, then 4.5-5 is plus p range for HP-38. Just make sure you’re using brass with good neck tension. I have older brass that had wadcutters where I had 0 neck tension. A small push and the bullet was all the way in the case.

Even after proper resizing, that sounds odd? It shouldn't matter what was loaded in the case prior, or so I thought.
I've had tons of trouble with neck tension loading .355 (9mm) bullets, gave up on that.