IMR Target in .38 Special: any experience/preferred loads?

[1KPerDay]

I have a couple lbs. of this and just tried a few at 3.6 grains under an MBC coated 158 SWC and they seem good. I haven't shot for groups yet, mostly because I don't really enjoy shooting for groups and @lionking hasn't done any of his fun challenges lately.

Powder is small black round flakes similar to Bullseye in appearance and smells a bit weird in the canister. Seems to meter well at this charge level out of my Lee PAD. The density/volume seems similar to IMR PB on the Lee chart so I just wrote "target" over "PB" since it's unlikely I'll ever need PB info.

 

[lordpaxman]

I hope the new IMR powders last as long as the old ones because I got more than a few pounds of Target and Red. Both do nicely in .38. 3.4gr of Target with a Bayou coated 158 SWC at 1.455” barely made icore PF at 121, that was out of a 6” 686. You can go lighter and have some really soft shooting loads. Bayou also has a 138gr BNWC that couples well with this powder. If you like Bullseye you’ll like Target. My only complaint is in the LNL powder measure sometimes the rotor will hang up. I believe the flakes are thin enough to bind occasionally. Good luck.

 

[1KPerDay]

Good info thanks. I’m not sure I “like” Bullseye as I haven’t used it much, though have had no issues with it. I just compared the look of the flakes to Bullseye.

I’ve mostly used HP-38/W231 for .38 Special so far. I was going to use W244 but I’ve mostly blown through my 2 lbs of it and I don’t fancy working up a load and then not having any powder to actually load a few hundred with.