manithree
Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2009
- Messages
- 112
My 13 year-old son who thinks that "Science Fair Project" comes from the latin root meaning "Excuse to re-load and chronograph" doesn't like to shoot my current loads out of our S&W snubbies. So, for next year's project he wants to make a .38 Special load that's light enough to be fun to shoot, even for him.
We already use Trail Boss to make some really soft .22-250 loads. But based on the massive case capacity of .38 spl, even published TB loads would still be pretty similar to what we're getting with a 158g bullet over 2.7g of Clays.
So, he wants to wildcat. Sort of. Since most reloading books and manuals I've seen warn against going too far below the published minimum loads, he decided to try lowering case capacity of .38 spl by just cutting the case down. Then we'll measure the usable case capacity and apply Hodgon's published 70% rule for Trail Boss using our new .38-based wildcat.
The lowest published Trail Boss load (that I've found) for a 158g lead bullet is 2.7g (661 fps). We're wondering if we can get usable case capacity down to 1.0-1.5 grains since Trail Boss is not very dense.
Does anybody know of a reason why Hodgon's published Trail Boss rules for any pistol cartridge wouldn't be safe for a shortened .38 spl cartridge? We plan to be very careful not to compress the powder, and watch closely for squibs. Those seem like the biggest safety risks for this project, but I've only been re-loading for a few years, so I'll be interested to hear how more experienced re-loaders would assess the risks involved. Especially while we still have plenty of time to choose another science project for next year.
We already use Trail Boss to make some really soft .22-250 loads. But based on the massive case capacity of .38 spl, even published TB loads would still be pretty similar to what we're getting with a 158g bullet over 2.7g of Clays.
So, he wants to wildcat. Sort of. Since most reloading books and manuals I've seen warn against going too far below the published minimum loads, he decided to try lowering case capacity of .38 spl by just cutting the case down. Then we'll measure the usable case capacity and apply Hodgon's published 70% rule for Trail Boss using our new .38-based wildcat.
The lowest published Trail Boss load (that I've found) for a 158g lead bullet is 2.7g (661 fps). We're wondering if we can get usable case capacity down to 1.0-1.5 grains since Trail Boss is not very dense.
Does anybody know of a reason why Hodgon's published Trail Boss rules for any pistol cartridge wouldn't be safe for a shortened .38 spl cartridge? We plan to be very careful not to compress the powder, and watch closely for squibs. Those seem like the biggest safety risks for this project, but I've only been re-loading for a few years, so I'll be interested to hear how more experienced re-loaders would assess the risks involved. Especially while we still have plenty of time to choose another science project for next year.