.38SPL +P / .357 Magnum question

[m5215]

Is there a round commercially available in .38 or .357 that is between the .38SPL +P & .357 Magnum rounds in performance?

 

[Moonpie]

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[1911'S 4 Me]

.38 special +p+

 

[Byrd666]

If I remember right 'Shooting the Bull' YouTube channel did extensive research on various .357 mag and .38 spcl. loads.

 

[Over it]

9mm. Discovered this when I was wondering which caliber Ruger LCR to buy.

 

[Axxe55]

I think a lot depends upon the pistol, the number of rounds that you plan on shooting and the intended purpose of the pistol and the rounds.

 

[Ozzman]

.38 Super is also a good caliber that is "in-between" the two.

Is your intent to have the cartridge be fired from the .357 cylinder as well?
If so, then the .38 Special +P is a great candidate. Hornady makes a good +P 158-grain load for self-defense. The trick is... finding them on the store shelves .

Cast and roll your own, and you can customize and tune a .357 magnum cartridge more to your liking.

 

[gll]

Cast and roll your own, and you can customize and tune a .357 magnum cartridge more to your liking.

I've never loaded for a snub nose, but have an SP101 now, that I want to handload some light recoil, low muzzle blast .357 for a neighbor lady to try. .357, because those are the cases I have... Also, probably 160gr hard cast or 158gr XTP bullets, because those are what I have. Candidate powders I have and think would be best are Bullseye and Unique, but I also have PB, 4227, and H110.

Any suggestions?

 

[zackmars]

.38-44, though it is dead.

Your best option is to just stick with 158gr .357mag, assuming that 125gr is typically on the hotter side

 

[oldag]

.38 special +P

 

[TxStetson]

I've never loaded for a snub nose, but have an SP101 now, that I want to handload some light recoil, low muzzle blast .357 for a neighbor lady to try. .357, because those are the cases I have... Also, probably 160gr hard cast or 158gr XTP bullets, because those are what I have. Candidate powders I have and think would be best are Bullseye and Unique, but I also have PB, 4227, and H110.

Any suggestions?

H110 is great for full power magnum loads, but not a good candidate for light loading. H110 should never be loaded below the suggested starting loads because of it's potential to detonate instead of burning. There's thousands of posts throughout the interwebs on this phenomenon, and I'm not saying it's true and I'm not saying it isn't. In my opinion Unique is a much better candidate for light loading magnum rounds.

 

[Ozzman]

Candidate powders I have and think would be best are Bullseye and Unique, but I also have PB, 4227, and H110.

Any suggestions?

IMO Bullseye is your best bet based on this conversation. 6.3-grain load over a 158 grain LRN bullet in .357 Magnum is a soft/easy shooting load to plink with. It's a little stouter than a .38 Special but definitely easier than full power.357 Magnum load.

 

[gll]

IMO Bullseye is your best bet based on this conversation. 6.3-grain load over a 158 grain LRN bullet in .357 Magnum is a soft/easy shooting load to plink with. It's a little stouter than a .38 Special but definitely easier than full power.357 Magnum load.

Any powders I might be able to find that would be significantly better?

 

[robertc1024]

IMO Bullseye is your best bet based on this conversation. 6.3-grain load over a 158 grain LRN bullet in .357 Magnum is a soft/easy shooting load to plink with. It's a little stouter than a .38 Special but definitely easier than full power.357 Magnum load.

I certainly agree with TxStetson - H110 is a fireball throwing machine - even without a short barrel. I've tried to do some mild .357's using TiteGroup - it was ok, but the range of the powder charge was really small. It's burn rate is similar to Bullseye. I got better results using a slightly slower powder - CFE Pistol - and it worked out pretty well for me.

 

[gll]

I certainly agree with TxStetson - H110 is a fireball throwing machine - even without a short barrel. I've tried to do some mild .357's using TiteGroup - it was ok, but the range of the powder charge was really small. It's burn rate is similar to Bullseye. I got better results using a slightly slower powder - CFE Pistol - and it worked out pretty well for me.

Yeah, I confused things by even mentioning that I have 4227 and H110... Those were never in consideration for light loads and minimum muzzle blast!

 

[TexMex247]

I'd go with unique or load AA#5 in 38 special cases at +p ranges. AA#5 sucks in the 38 except at +p levels. That's when it cleans up and shines. Nothing wrong with 158gr but 125s shoot well in lighter loads.

 

[Ozzman]

Any powders I might be able to find that would be significantly better?

"Significantly better".. no.

From your list, IMO Bullseye is at the top and in my experience has historically worked well with reduced charges. Unique and IMR-4227 powders are also good since they fill the case nicely, are easily tweaked, and simply perform great.

I agree with TxSteson that H110 is not the best candidate for reduced loads, and PB is just ok. The loading range for PB is small so be watchful for a high STDEV and excessive case volume.

Have you looked at Trailboss? Never mind, that could start a whole other thread.

There are many other pistol powders that can be lightly loaded with .357 Magnum so I cannot definitively say "buy this or buy that". My advice for you is to try to avoid picking up fast powders that leave an overabundance of case volume and thus can cause an unsafe firing condition under light loads.

Also, as great as it looks on paper and in the books, avoid Blue Dot. I have never been able to work a good load of Blue Dot in .357 Magnum. Velocity variances (STDEV's) is an understatement, and it just doesn't perform well in this caliber.

 

[gll]

"Significantly better".. no.

From your list, IMO Bullseye is at the top and in my experience has historically worked well with reduced charges. Unique and IMR-4227 powders are also good since they fill the case nicely, are easily tweaked, and simply perform great.

I agree with TxSteson that H110 is not the best candidate for reduced loads, and PB is just ok. The loading range for PB is small so be watchful for a high STDEV and excessive case volume.

Have you looked at Trailboss? Never mind, that could start a whole other thread.

There are many other pistol powders that can be lightly loaded with .357 Magnum so I cannot definitively say "buy this or buy that". My advice for you is to try to avoid picking up fast powders that leave an overabundance of case volume and thus can cause an unsafe firing condition under light loads.

Also, as great as it looks on paper and in the books, avoid Blue Dot. I have never been able to work a good load of Blue Dot in .357 Magnum. Velocity variances (STDEV's) is an understatement, and it just doesn't perform well in this caliber.

I found a list of powders by burn rate easily enough, but when I went looking for a chart of burn rates relative to bulk, the best I came up with was a Lee Auto disk Chart that shows grains thrown by a given disk...

Trail Boss looks to have twice the bulk of Bullseye or Unique, while it's burn rate is halfway between Bullseye and Unique. That would seem to make it a great choice!

My options for powder offline are pretty slim without a trip to the big city and online the shipping would be prohibitive...

I do have a load of Bullsye and Unique!

 

[TxStetson]

Checking my Lyman manual, with a 158 grn JHP, Unique starts with 6.4 grns @ 887 fps, and ends with 8.3 grns @ 1185 fps. Blue Dot starts with 9.6 grns @929 fps, and ends with 10.7 grns @ 1158 fps.

That is info from the manual, not my info, and I am not responsible for anything you do with that data.

 

[gll]

Checking my Lyman manual, with a 158 grn JHP, Unique starts with 6.4 grns @ 887 fps, and ends with 8.3 grns @ 1185 fps. Blue Dot starts with 9.6 grns @929 fps, and ends with 10.7 grns @ 1158 fps.

That is info from the manual, not my info, and I am not responsible for anything you do with that data.

I'm conservative by nature...

Figure I will try both Bullseye and Unique beginning with minimum charges and working up. Mild recoil is what I am looking for anyway.