Looking to replicate 380 Revolver Mk IIz. Brit Loads for 38 S&W

[gfanikf]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38-200#section_2

I have a Royal Hong Kong Police Colt Police Positive Special clambered in 38 S&W (yes despite being a special) on the way and I wanted to replicate the British ammo most likely used in the gun as much as possible. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to achieve this with a 180 gr FP?

Thanks

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[rcmodel]

The original 38/200 military load was a 200 grain LRN at 620 FPS.

Lyman #49 has load data for a 195 LRN using Lyman Mold #358430.
That bullet will weigh approximately 200 grains after size & lube depending on the alloy hardness used.

They show two loads using 1.7 Titegroup, or 1.9 Unique, which gave 600+ FPS.

That is as close to the original 38/200 load as you can get.

If you are set on using 180 grain bullets, the same data + 0.1 or 0.2 more would do the same.

rc

 

[gfanikf]

Excellent, thank you very much. I'm going to go with the 180gr for the moment since it's what I have to work with (vs say the 180gr FMJs that the MkII used in the 180gr version). I just wanted to shoot a 38 S&W load that was close to what the gun usually had shot out of it, both for historical interest and not wanting to put too much strain on the frame. Though I would imagine a Colt Police Positive Special chambered in 38 S&W should have a decent frame, but that's not accounting for age and wear. I would love to try the 200gr load, but at the moment I can't do casting (and still need to learn about it anyway) and haven't seen any cast loads locally at the 195 weight.