Fluffiest Pistol Powders

[1KPerDay]

If you're looking for a powder that will OVERFLOW a .38 special case with one doublecharge you're probably out of luck. .38 special cases will typically hold 3 or 4 charges of the typical range loads IME. IIRC you can triple charge trail boss as well.

I like American Select and Red Dot for "bulky" powders.

For light loads in .38 HP-38/W231 is good IME, but you do have to watch closely. It meters very well so that helps.

 

[Scimmia]

Using the number from that Lee chart and the maximum loads on Hodgdon's site, double charges of Trail Boss would, in fact, overflow the case. Double charges of minimum loads would not, but triples would. The exception is the data for LHBWCs that they're seating way into the case.

 

[1KPerDay]

Thanks. Last time I loaded TB I was using lead WC and the charges are tiny indeed.

What's the recommended starting load of TB for the OP's 105-grain lead?

 

[Scimmia]

Hodgdon lists 3.0 gr as the starting load for both 90 gr and 125 gr LRNFP, with max loads of 5.0 and 5.3 respectively. They don't list 105 gr bullets.

I calculate a full case to be somewhere around 7.1 gr of TB. Don't have any TB here right now, so I can't check that, it's just based on numbers for case capacity found on the net and density from that Lee chart.

 

[PO2Hammer]

What about Clays? Is that something that would work for a light revolver load with a small cast boolit?

Clays is excellent for revolver loads with lead bullets.

SR-4756 is another good bulky powder that burns clean even at reduced loads.

 

[Kernel]

Lee's VMD chart only deals with density. For a chart that rank powders by energy - called "quickness", "speed", or "relative burn rate" by handloaders - I like the Accurate (Western) Powders chart:

http://www.accuratepowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/burn_rates.pdf

There are others charts out there, none of which are in 100% agreement with each other (for a number of reasons I won't go into now).

 

[1KPerDay]

Hodgdon lists 3.0 gr as the starting load for both 90 gr and 125 gr LRNFP, with max loads of 5.0 and 5.3 respectively. They don't list 105 gr bullets.

I calculate a full case to be somewhere around 7.1 gr of TB. Don't have any TB here right now, so I can't check that, it's just based on numbers for case capacity found on the net and density from that Lee chart.

Cool, thanks again.