Reloading .38 Super, Questions

[wanderinwalker]

Good afternoon and Merry Christmas all!

Short version: I'm looking for advice on reloading the .38 Super for a 1911 pistol. Took my new Colt Competition Model to the range today and put 150 rounds through it. I can already tell I'm going to need to dedicate a press to loading for only this pistol, I really like it!

Right now I'm looking at ordering up 500 (to start) of MBC's 135gr .38 Super bullets, either plain lead or with the HiTek coating. I've only ever loaded lead for .38 Special and .357 Magnum in revolvers. Should I be worried about leading at .38 Super velocities in my 1911 with the plain bullets or just jump to the coated bullets?

I also have some 124gr Berry's .356" RN bullets that I use loading 9mm. My plan is to try those as well in the Super, probably with WSF, Universal or Unique. None of which I have on hand at the moment but I can easily pickup locally.

Any other suggestions or pointers on loading this caliber? I'm not trying to push the throttle to the firewall, if I'm running the equivalent of 9mm +P+ speeds (or slightly over) I'd consider that perfect. Though I am tempted to get a couple boxes of 147gr XTPs and make a woods load for packing around...

 

[Walkalong]

You shouldn't have trouble with leading with the .357 lead 135s from MBC, but personally I would probably go with the .357 135 Gr coated. I'd go with Unique or WSF over Universal, which I like.

 

[springer99]

If your lead bullets fit the bore well or are .001 oversize, then leading shouldn't be a problem with the Super. Use 12Bhn or harder. If I was just starting to load cast, I'd jump right into the HyTech coated versions. My(limited) experience with them shows that they are very forgiving about bore fit and still much more accurate than plated bullets. Actually, I found my best cast accuracy by using only .357 hard cast. A 124gr. truncated cone cast running at about 1200fps is a nice range load.

My most accurate jacketed loads were with Hornady 124/125gr. .356 HAP/XTP pills, along with stiff loads of HS-6 or similar burn rate powders. For some reason, once I reached 1300fps, the accuracy really improved.

 

[rfwobbly]

38 Super has gone through many iterations, so many that you really need to work out what works for your gun to a much greater degree than your average 9mm or 45ACP.

Start by slugging the bore. The barrel on my Kimber slugged at 0.355", so I mostly use the bullets bought for my 9mm, but yours may be different. Slugging the barrel is always the place to start before using any lead bullet, coated or otherwise.

My Kimber Target II doesn't like 38 Super Comp brass, and expresses a decided inclination toward RN bullets. It's favorite bullet is the 150gr Nosler over Accurate No7. It also likes N330, N340, WSF and Blue Dot.

Best of luck.

 

[forrest r]

FWIW:
Shot countless 1000's of rounds from 38 supers/1911 race guns decades ago. Couple that with we'd hand fit 6" 9mm's in them also and run them like singer sewing machines. Learned some hard learned lessons along the way and still use those same lessons to this day. I don't run the 38 supers anymore but I still use the 1911/9mm setup.

.358" lead bullets:
Never mattered what the bbl slugged, I always use a .358" lead bullet in the 9mm/38 super/38spl/357. I prefer coated bullets in the pistols/revolvers anymore. Cleaner, don't have to worry about bullet hardness or leadings. Compared to traditional cast/lubed bullets, coated bullets are a lot more user friendly. A close-up of a 1911 after a 700 round range session with 125gr coated bullets and a 1100+fps/25,000+psi load.


What the bbl looked like after 700 rounds of caoted bullets.


What the same bbl looked like after being cleaned by 1 wet patch soaked with hoppe's #9 and swabbed with 1 dry patch. No brushing or anything else other than 1 wet/1dry patch.


Reloading dies:
Most reloading dies are designed for jacketed bullets. The real problem with them is the expanders they use. They are designed to put neck tension on the small diameter .355" jacketed bullets. The expanders also tend to be shorter due to the jacketed bullets are typically not as long as their cast/laed counterparts. The end result is lead/coated bullets tend to get swaged down when being seated in the under expanded cases. A 9mm/38 super expander designed for the larger/longer lead bullets. Note the depth it goes into the case, this keep the base of the bullets from being swaged down.


A factory expander next to a custom expander designed for .358" bullet in the 9mm


Another factory expander next to a factory lyman m-die. The m-dies are designed for the larger/longer lead bullets. The other thing you want in an expander is that extra "ring" at the top of the expander ball. It makes a shelf in the expanded case that the bullet sits on. That shelf keeps the bullets sides from being scrapped when seated and keeps the bullet
straight during the start of the seating process. A win/win.


Typical oversized lead bullets loaded with reloading dies that had a expander designed for jacketed bullets. Hate to say it but there's a lot of pictures like these on reloading sights and usually there's a "gotta have good neck tension" somewhere in the post to go with it.


Anyway, use the right expander, seat in 1 stage and crimp in a separate stage and use a a standard .002"/.003" taper crimp.Some .452" 45acp bullets and some .358" 9mm bullets loaded. There's no I swallowed a watermelon whole look, no excessive crimp, just what reloads should look right.


More .358" 9mm's. The red bullet on the left is a 150gr hollow based flat nosed bullet. Lyman started selling that bullet design/mold in 1900 for the 38lc. As you can see with the right expander it has no trouble being loaded in 9mm cases. The green bullet on the right is a cast/coated mihec 125gr hp sized tro .358", it's 1 of my favorite plinking bullets.


A 10-shot group with the 9mm/150gr hb rf bullet @ 50yds.


The mihec plinking bullet, a 10-shot group @50ft.


Your 38 super will do the same thing as my 9mm if you take care in how you reload your bullets. The 38 super is actually easier to reload for compared to the 9mm because of the longer cases. The web of the 9mm brass tends to get in the way with the longer/heavier bullets.

Just something to think about.

 

[RainDodger]

One other thing to think about... but only if you plan on shooting at an indoor range. The indoor ranges around here won't allow non-jacketed bullets. It's a real pain.