J-Bar
Member
I found a pound of HP38 at a decent price and decided to try it just for a casual range powder, never having used it before. I loaded 100 rounds with home cast Lee 158 grain RNFP wheelweight bullets, lubed (very lightly!) with Lee Liquid Alox. My Hodgdon reference said HP38 under a 158 grain lead bullet should be loaded from 3.1 to 3.7 grains of powder. I tried the middle and loaded 3.4 grains.
A plain Jane S&W Model 14-4 had not seen the range in a while, so it had the honor of testing the new-to-me propellant. The target on the left was 12 shots over a rest at 10 yards. Then I screwed up my courage and shot offhand 2-handed at the same distance. That right hand target is pretty good for me, so I quit after a cylinder full!
I know this is not Olympic performance, but if I find more HP38 I will buy it.
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