carlpaulsen
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Has anyone had experience with this powder/bullet combination?
Any recipes would be appreciated.
Any recipes would be appreciated.
.38 special hornaday xtp/hp 158 gr & Red Dot
- Thread starter carlpaulsen
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rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Some bullet manufactures no longer lists any 158 grain JHP loads for the .38 Special.
In fact, Alliant no longer lists any 158 grain jacketed loads with any of their powders.
This is due to the fact that it is very possible to stick them in the barrel on guns with excess cylinder gap, or folks trying to shoot them with very reduced loads.
Alliant used to list a 160 JSP load with 3.2 grains of Red-Dot, giving 715 FPS.
The +P load was 3.3, giving 750 FPS.
But either one is probably too slow to reliably expand a 158 grain JHP.
rc
In fact, Alliant no longer lists any 158 grain jacketed loads with any of their powders.
This is due to the fact that it is very possible to stick them in the barrel on guns with excess cylinder gap, or folks trying to shoot them with very reduced loads.
Alliant used to list a 160 JSP load with 3.2 grains of Red-Dot, giving 715 FPS.
The +P load was 3.3, giving 750 FPS.
But either one is probably too slow to reliably expand a 158 grain JHP.
rc
zxcvbob
Member
Red Dot is wonderful in .38 Special, but not with that bullet. You can use Bullseye (barely), Unique, Herco, Power Pistol, or Blue Dot to get over 800 fps.
Unique looks the best to me.
Unique looks the best to me.
Speer which in conjunction with Alliant no longer recommends jacketed bullets heavier than 147gr in the .38 spl, even at +P levels because the velocities are too slow to provide reliable expansion.
Realize that you will only be able to push a 158gr JHP at around 850 fps max with a +P load. If you don't need the expansion from the XTP and will just be shooting paper then Red Dot will work. A lighter 110 or 125gr bullet would be a better choice for a defense equivalent or hunting load. The following data is from a "One Caliber" Load book circa 1993.
Realize that you will only be able to push a 158gr JHP at around 850 fps max with a +P load. If you don't need the expansion from the XTP and will just be shooting paper then Red Dot will work. A lighter 110 or 125gr bullet would be a better choice for a defense equivalent or hunting load. The following data is from a "One Caliber" Load book circa 1993.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
The Speer #10, 1979 manual listed Red-Dot with 158 grain JSP & JHP bullets of the time.
THSE ARE BOTH WELL ABOVE CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
+P 4.0 Starting load at 770 FPS.
+P 4.8 MAX load a 865 FPS.
+P pressure rating for the .38 Spl was 22,400 CUP in 1979, since reduced to 18,500 CUP now I believe.
rc
THSE ARE BOTH WELL ABOVE CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
+P 4.0 Starting load at 770 FPS.
+P 4.8 MAX load a 865 FPS.
+P pressure rating for the .38 Spl was 22,400 CUP in 1979, since reduced to 18,500 CUP now I believe.
rc
GP100man
Member
for the 38 spl. i like a soft swaged hp like hornady`s, or since i got my hp mould i cast mine .
GP100man
GP100man
Last edited:
The Bushmaster
Member
Easy solve...Switch to the Hornady 140 grain HP/XTP. The higher velocity will give you almost the same results as the 158 grain and it will open at thehigher fps in the .38 Special.
Either the Remington 140 Grain SJHP or the Hornady 140 grain HP/XTP are the only bullets that I use for my .38 Specials and .357 magnums.
Either the Remington 140 Grain SJHP or the Hornady 140 grain HP/XTP are the only bullets that I use for my .38 Specials and .357 magnums.
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ArchAngelCD
Member.
I think the current SAAMI .38 Special +P ratings are in PSI, not CUP but the limit is 18,500. Also, SAAMI made a stop at 20,000 PSI for a while on it's way down from 21,500 to 18,500 PSI.
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