180 grain .38 special loads?

[smokemaker]

I have a supply of 180 grain hardcast .358 bullets, but can't find a +p loading for them. They'd be fired out of a Dan Wesson 709, which is identical to a DW 715 except the chambers are shorter for .38 instead of .357, so hotter loads would be OK. A DW employee told me that the gun's cylinders were heat treated identically (.38 and .357), so I'm not worried about going +p or even +p+. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Jeff

 

[Steve C]

You can check out MD Smiths reloading pages at http://www.reloadammo.com.
You can find data for a 200gr lead bullet on Alliants website which would give you a good starting point with the lighter bullet meeting somewhere between the 200 and 158gr bullets.
You can find data for 173gr lead bullet loads on Accurate Arms website and that would be close enough to 180gr to use in working up a load.