Preferred 38 special powder?

[Walkalong]

Clays will do well for you, although those 20 BHN bullets better be a tight fit to the throats.

For light plinkers I like WST or it's near cousin Competition, but Clays did well for me. It's unforgiving at the top, start low and go up in .1 increments.

 

[Walkalong]

Yeah, too hard. Using up the last of 4000 I bought before I knew better.

Shoot .357 Mag?

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Unique.

 

[Obturation]

Shoot .357 Mag?

More than anything else, that's what I bought them for and I'm down to my last 600 or so, typically I load them on top of 2400 and for revolver use they are just fine.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Hey all,
From my appropriate powders on hand : clays, titegroup , unique or trailboss- which would you choose to work up new loads for an old s&w snubby? Bullets are the dreaded laser cast 158 swc (bnh 20ish I think ) . not really seeking charge weights but which powder you would prefer in light of the short barrel/old gun. I was thinking clays because it's the fastest or trailboss but I have a good supply of titegroup that I bought a couple years ago and have never used and was thinking about giving it a try. Let me know what you'd choose, thanks!

Clays and Trailboss for soft lead. Titegroup for jacketed. Unique for anything. With very hard lead which will not expand to fit the bore, avoid hot, fast powders. Unique should be fast enough even in the short barrel.

It will be a little smoky.

 

[Constrictor]

Hey all,
From my appropriate powders on hand : clays, titegroup , unique or trailboss- which would you choose to work up new loads for an old s&w snubby? Bullets are the dreaded laser cast 158 swc (bnh 20ish I think ) . not really seeking charge weights but which powder you would prefer in light of the short barrel/old gun. I was thinking clays because it's the fastest or trailboss but I have a good supply of titegroup that I bought a couple years ago and have never used and was thinking about giving it a try. Let me know what you'd choose, thanks!

unique

 

[Project355]

Bullseye, 231, Tightgroup, but Unique is bestest.

 

[Obturation]

I used 4.1 grains of unique , going to try them out .

the gun I'll be using isn't mine, it's an old family relic my dad's cousin has that belonged to his dad but my grandpa and him used to keep it for an under the counter gun in an auto repair shop my grandpa owned from the 20's- mid 70s downtown Chicago. I asked my dad's cousin about it and he got it out to show me , said he has never fired it but has had it since the early 90s. He said I was welcome to shoot it if I had some ammo. So that's what this thread is kind of all about, making some mild loads for me to enjoy a piece of family history , I don't own the gun and likely never will but I will enjoy sending some lead down range with it. My dad's cousin has no interest in shooting it but thinks it's a fun idea for me to.

So I'll take the 50 I made out there in a week or so and see how they do, not seeking perfection, just simething that will work reasonably well in an old snubby that I may never shoot again. Kind of a weird deal but what the heck, it's 2020.

Thanks for all the input, you all are a wealth of knowledge and nice folks too.

 

[TooManyToys]

Can't go wrong with Unique.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Of the powders you have, my choice would be Clays. I use in in my competition revolvers and it has proven soft and accurate...and it meters pretty well

 

[35 Whelen]

Hey all,
From my appropriate powders on hand : clays, titegroup , unique or trailboss- which would you choose to work up new loads for an old s&w snubby? Bullets are the dreaded laser cast 158 swc (bnh 20ish I think ) . not really seeking charge weights but which powder you would prefer in light of the short barrel/old gun. I was thinking clays because it's the fastest or trailboss but I have a good supply of titegroup that I bought a couple years ago and have never used and was thinking about giving it a try. Let me know what you'd choose, thanks!

For what kind of load???

I use Clays (3.5 gr.) for light loads in my .38's and Unique (5.2 gr.) for +P SD loads.

I'm not sure why Laser Cast bullets are "dreaded", but if you're referring to their hardness, just shoot them, good.38's aren't picky about bullets.

35W

 

[Theinkman]

I mainly shoot 125 gr JHPs over 5.3 gr Unique. Have used this for 30+ years and haven't found a powder that works better.

 

[lordpaxman]

Given your requirement of mild loads, I’d start with Clays. Burns clean and doesn’t have quite the felt recoil impulse of Titegroup in my 686. TG has produced some of the most, well, tightest groups out of my 686 I’ve ever seen. Good luck.

 

[Typetwelve]

I was developing loads for some 145g LRN projectiles that I had. I tried Unique, Tighgroup, W231/HP38, Trail Boss, and Bullseye. Of all of them, Tightgroup produced the worst accuracy. HP38/W231 was the best by a long shot with Trail Boss coming in a rather distant second. While none of them had much recoil in a 627, I noted that Bullseye was heavier in that dept with Unique being the most.

I like Tight Group under 148g DEWC loads, great for ringing steel.

Bullets are the dreaded laser cast 158 swc (bnh 20ish I think ) .

Oregon should be ashamed that they even made those turds. Like a goober, that was the first company I ordered from when I started reloading. They are absolutely useless and lead like mad. I finally gave up on them and they now sit in a box. How absurd to make anything for 38 special in that hardness...and they were REALLY expensive. Still irritates me...

 

[Mr_Flintstone]

Hey all,
From my appropriate powders on hand : clays, titegroup , unique or trailboss- which would you choose to work up new loads for an old s&w snubby? Bullets are the dreaded laser cast 158 swc (bnh 20ish I think ) . not really seeking charge weights but which powder you would prefer in light of the short barrel/old gun. I was thinking clays because it's the fastest or trailboss but I have a good supply of titegroup that I bought a couple years ago and have never used and was thinking about giving it a try. Let me know what you'd choose, thanks!

I have never used Clays, but I have used the other three in a Taurus Model 85 with 158 gr laser cast bullets. In my case, none of them caused a problem with lead. Trail Boss is a nice load, and fills the case, but not really cost effective. Titegroup lies on the other end of the spectrum. It's like Brylcreem, a little dab'll do ya. It really does a nice job though. Unique is my do-all powder. I've used it in everything from .32 S&W short to .30-30 Win, and it always performs well.

If I were hard pressed to choose between the three that I mentioned, I would probably use Titegroup; just because I can load a hundred rounds with less than a tablespoon of powder. I bought a pound of it when I first started loading a few years ago. I used it almost exclusively for quite a while, and I still have half of it left.

Now with that said, not all guns are the same. Your S&W may not like the same things as my Taurus, and if it were me, I'd make up ten or twelve test loads with each powder and see which ones I liked best; and to check the accuracy and for the possibility of leading. You might want to load on the hot side though.

 

[FROGO207]

I have used 700X, Promo, and 231 all with good results using a 158 SWC. Have Trail Boss but never tried it in this loading yet.

 

[Typetwelve]

I have used 700X, Promo, and 231 all with good results using a 158 SWC. Have Trail Boss but never tried it in this loading yet.

TB is an awesome powder...but I hate loading any larger amount of loads with it. <25? Ok, sure. 300+? No flipping way, it just takes too long. Part of the reason why I mostly shoot tight Group or HP38/W231 is that my Dillon meters it so well and I make a large batch of rounds.

 

[FROGO207]

FYI I make custom scoops and use a funnel to throw loads for TB. It makes things much easier. I mounted a Lee funnel to a shelf on the bench and scoop the TB, set brass up in bottom a n drop. Then to a diffetent loading block, works well and I do 120 roumds at a time.

 

[mdi]

Since you don't have any Bullseye or W231 (which I've used several (many) pounds of each in my 38 handloads), I'd go with Unique. The "flaming dirt" is from loading Unique on the light side, with light bullets and light/no crimp. I have used a lot of mid-range Unique loads with a roll crimp with my Lachmiller 160 gr SWC that shoot as cleanly as most other powders in this "speed" range...

You could cut your bullets by 75% with pure an have good shooting alloy, 20 BHN is unnecessarily hard, and too hard can lead to just as many problems as too soft. The hardest I've ever used is 15 BHN, Lyman #2, and that was for my 30 cal. rifles. My go to hardness for 98% of my handgun bullets runs 10-12 BHN, 44 Magnums too...

 

[Archie]

Depends on the load and purpose.

For wadcutters, light plinking, formal target (NRA 2700 type) and initial training, a 148 grain wadcutter (preferably hollow base, but any are okay) and Bullseye in a modest dose.

For defense, 158ish SWC or full wadcutters and Power Pistol in upper but not maximum level.

 

[Neutron Boy]

I use 700X in my wadcutter loads. Performs well.

 

[Walkalong]

700X is good stuff with lead in .38 Spl, does pretty well all around for it actually, but it really likes lead.

 

[Skgreen]

For a revolver that one doesn't own, or plan to own, but just shooting for a period of time for nostalgia (As good a reason as any! )
I'm not sure what I'd do or,,,, how worried I'd be about finding a 'perfect load'.
Of course, it goes w/o saying 'something mild' and as I have a lot of Universal on hand, I'd most likely choose it.
As Universal and Unique are 'close cousin's', your choice of Unique should provide similar results.
Of the (4) you mentioned my next choice would probably be Clays.

Have fun enjoying a piece of history!

 

[Obturation]

For a revolver that one doesn't own, or plan to own, but just shooting for a period of time for nostalgia (As good a reason as any! )
I'm not sure what I'd do or,,,, how worried I'd be about finding a 'perfect load'.
Of course, it goes w/o saying 'something mild' and as I have a lot of Universal on hand, I'd most likely choose it.
As Universal and Unique are 'close cousin's', your choice of Unique should provide similar results.
Of the (4) you mentioned my next choice would probably be Clays.

Have fun enjoying a piece of history!

Will do! Yeah, not seeking perfection but want the best I can muster with what's on hand and for a gun I've never fired. I'm also not looking for bullseye accuracy , good enough is good enough for this one. Ice got plenty of other loading projects to obsess over the minor details.
Thanks!

 

[halfmoonclip]

I'd go with Unique (tho' loved the PP calling it 'flaming dirt'). Really like the burn rate of the stuff, but don't like how it meters; end up chasing weight all night.
My usual loads for everything use Bullseye.
Moon