Light 38 loads

[Stinger]

I am looking to load some cowboy loads for my blackhawks and my Marlin. I have a bunch of Oregon Trail 158 SWC's, as well as some Hornady 158 SWC which are swaged. Powders on hand are Trailboss, 231, and Unique.

I have some pretty good loads for the Hornady's with Trailboss, but I have a LOT more of the Oregon Trails. So if you have any advice for something that will work in both the revolvers and the levergun, I'm all ears.

BTW, I'm looking for light loads.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Stinger,

I've been using 2.9 grains of Bullseye for my cowboy loads in both my Blackhawks and Marlin. My wife shoots Great Western II's and a Marlin and she's shooting them, too. Believe it or not, I've used that same charge for everything from 105 grain to 158 grain bullets. I did an experiment with the Marlin and put 10 rounds each of several different bullet weights through a paper target at 25 yards and 40 rounds all went to the same point of aim, making one ragged hole in the target.

My pard uses Trailboss and really likes it. When I'm done with this 8 pound keg of Bullseye, I'm probably going to use Clays, as several in our club are using it and really like it.

With the Winchester 231 you have, I'd probably load about 3.1 grains or so, and see how you like them.

Next time you buy bullets, you might want to look at 125 to 130 grain round nose flat point bullets. They feed great through our Marlins and revolvers. Berry's makes a 128 grain RNFP that's an excellent cowboy bullet.

Several of us just went together and bought 45,000 bullets from Badman Leather and Lead in both .38 and .45. The large order saved us about $8.00 per thousand, and with lead prices going up, I think it was a good move on our part. He delivered them to one of the matches, too, so there wasn't any shipping to pay.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Norm Lee]

Light 38s

3.4 of Unique under a 158 gr. bullet produces a light pleasant, very accurate load. Stumbled across this recipe in a Lyman manual and was so pleased with the result that it was many years later before I tried anything else.

Cheers,

Norm

 

[tbtrout]

I started using Trail Boss and have had very good results with it. Very mild recoil.

 

[Clark]

The lightest is no powder.
The primer will push the bullet along, if there is low barrel friction.
That may not be possible with 158 gr, but if the bullet were pre slugged and seated down to compress the primer, it could work.

 

[tasco 74]

3 grs. of bullseye under any 150-160 gr. lead bullet is will be the most comfortable load you can shoot........... JMO..........

 

[smokeater201]

+1 on the 3.4 gr. Unique load. Very pleasant shooting round and my S&W M15 will chew a one ragged hole group with them.

 

[jhansman]

4.2 grains of Trail Boss under that bullet. In my Marlin levergun, it's accurate with just enough recoil.