redlevel
Senior Member
What do you load in .38 special, 148 grain wadcutters and 158 grain semi-wadcutters. There is a thread running on the S&W forum about "Best non +p defense loads in .38 special for old revolvers" or some such. Several of us are claiming 5.0 grains of Unique behind a 146/148 grain wadcutter. Someone pointed out that this would be considered an overload in more recent manuals.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/ammo/107100-best-defense-load-38-spl-old-revolvers-not-p.html
I am looking at a 1980 publish date Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook that lists some loads for 146 grain cast and 158 grain cast bullets that make the 5.0 grain load look right wimpy.
I load three loads for .38 sp now, all using GA Arms 148 grain hardcast full wadcutter bullets. They claim a Brinell hardness # of 18. I load a target/plinking load with 2.8 grains of Bullseye. This is pretty much a standard target load of long standing. Fun to shoot, easy on arthritic hands, and pleasant for young shooters. I load a 4.6 grain Unique load with the same bullet. I call it my "field load." I carry a three inch S&W Model 36-1 in a flap holster on the farm a lot, and this is the load for it. I consider it to be a sort of "kit gun," except it is a whole lot more potent than a .22 in about the same package. I also carry the load in various K-frame Smiths, mostly with four inch barrels. Extrapolating from various manuals, this should yield around 800-850 fps from a four inch barrel. This is guesswork, because I don't have a chronograph.
Finally, I load the 5.0 grain Unique load. According to the Cast Bullet Handbook I mentioned, this load generates 948fps at 16,100C.U.P in a four inch test barrel. It isn't particularly loud, nor is recoil particularly great, but you can tell it is a step up from the 4.6 grain load, especially in a j-frame such as a Model 36 or Model 60. I haven't tried it in my daughter's 442-2, although the 4.6 grain load isn't particularly punishing in the Airweight. It isn't something you would want to shoot fifty rounds at a session in the little Airweight, either.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/ammo/107100-best-defense-load-38-spl-old-revolvers-not-p.html
I am looking at a 1980 publish date Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook that lists some loads for 146 grain cast and 158 grain cast bullets that make the 5.0 grain load look right wimpy.
I load three loads for .38 sp now, all using GA Arms 148 grain hardcast full wadcutter bullets. They claim a Brinell hardness # of 18. I load a target/plinking load with 2.8 grains of Bullseye. This is pretty much a standard target load of long standing. Fun to shoot, easy on arthritic hands, and pleasant for young shooters. I load a 4.6 grain Unique load with the same bullet. I call it my "field load." I carry a three inch S&W Model 36-1 in a flap holster on the farm a lot, and this is the load for it. I consider it to be a sort of "kit gun," except it is a whole lot more potent than a .22 in about the same package. I also carry the load in various K-frame Smiths, mostly with four inch barrels. Extrapolating from various manuals, this should yield around 800-850 fps from a four inch barrel. This is guesswork, because I don't have a chronograph.
Finally, I load the 5.0 grain Unique load. According to the Cast Bullet Handbook I mentioned, this load generates 948fps at 16,100C.U.P in a four inch test barrel. It isn't particularly loud, nor is recoil particularly great, but you can tell it is a step up from the 4.6 grain load, especially in a j-frame such as a Model 36 or Model 60. I haven't tried it in my daughter's 442-2, although the 4.6 grain load isn't particularly punishing in the Airweight. It isn't something you would want to shoot fifty rounds at a session in the little Airweight, either.
