Excessive power

[Porky6331]

I am reloading 38 special 158gr RN with Power Pistol and I have excessive power floating around the air. People at the range thought I was putting up a smoke screen. I am useing 5gr of power. It is for a SW 38special and a
S&W 619 357. Is this nomal for this power. I usually use Bullseye.

 

[stoky]

We seem to have some language problems.
The smoke in the air is most likely from the bullet lube.
5gr of Bullseye in a .38 Special would be a power load indeed.
Please recheck the data in your manual. You do realize that different powders have a different range of safe load weights???
Please be careful and get some help if you don't understand the loading data.

 

[kludge]

Indeed! Start loads for Bullseye and .38SPL /158 gr are in the 3.0-3.3gr range.

 

[Porky6331]

The 5gr is with Power Pistol not Bullseye.Bullseye I use 4gr. This is the information I received personally from Alliant Power.

 

[justin_ws]

Alliant Powder recommends using a maximum charge of 3.6gr of Bullseye in a .38 Special with a 158gr bullet. So yeah, your Bullseye loads may be too strong. The general rule of thumb too is to start reloading at 90% of the recommended maximum and go up from there.

 

[stoky]

Sorry porky, I should have read your original post more carefully.
I am not familiar with Power Pistol powder. I have loaded hot .38 loads with Blue Dot and H110.
Am I correct in assuming that you are using lead (not jacketed) bullets?
If so these very hot loads are going to be leaving a lot of lead in your barrel. If you really want very hot loads, why aren't you using .357 cases and jacketed bullets?
Please be careful.

 

[Porky6331]

I am trying to make a load that I can shoot in my S&W 38 cal Heavey Barrel and my wife can shoot in her S&W 357. Just so I can load one bullet.

 

[Ol` Joe]

1st off I`ve no experiance with Power Pistol in the 38.
I do however, use it in the 45acp for heavy loads in place of Unique. Power Pistol is a little slow for what I believe you are trying to do. I would stay with the Bullseye load, it will work in either pistol or switch to jacketed bullet if you want more velocity. My dad used lots of 140 gr Speer jacketed bullets in both his 38spcl and 357 with Unique powder stuffed in 38 cases when he was still shooting. The load escapes me but it wasn`t a top load but some where in the 850-900fps range as the book reported. (lite to mid-level) Top velocity loads for the 357 were loaded with 2400 which is slower yet then Power Pistol.
I agree with the poster that suggested a lot of what you are likely seeing is bullet lube burning. Power Pistol also burns cleaner as pressures rise in the 45acp and likely do the same in the 38. Both cartridges are low pressure rounds to begin with and until you get in the pressure range of the 357/9MM you will likely have some soot associated with it also.

 

[Steve C]

I've never got what I thought was good results with Power Pistol in low pressure cartridges. I've tried it in the .38 spl and in the .45 ACP and came to the conclusion that they just don't develop enough pressure to make PP burn clean.

A .38 spl load of 6.3grs PP behind a 125gr JHP yielded a pretty good velocity of 1,080 fps from a Ruger BH 4-5/8" barrel but the cases came out smokeydown the top 1/3 indicating the pressure wasn't high enough to seal the case.

I do use PP in the 9mm and find it a great powder for that but it is the canister grade powder of the commerially developed bulk powder Bullseye 2 for the loading of US government 9mm ammo.

Alliant doesn't list any load using a lead bullet with Power Pistol, even in the 9mm. I don't think they see PP as a good powder for bare lead bullets. Speer 13 does have .38 spl loads using PP with their 158gr LSWC and their start load is 5.3 to 6.0grs in a +P load. Standard pressure loads are 4.8 to 5.4 grs.

I am much happier with W231 or Unique for loading the .38 spl and .45 ACP.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Porky,

Load info aside, the smoke is probably not from the powder. I assume your 158gr RN bullets are lead (hopefully they are - 158gr jacketed is too heavy for a .38 SPL). Lead bullets have a waxy lube that can cause lots of smoke.

 

[Porky6331]

Thanks for the information. What I am try to do as stated above is load for my 38 S&W Heavy Barrel and my wife's S&W 619 357. We shoot around 200-300 rounds per weekend. If I have to I will start loading my 38 and her 357 is 357 shells.