The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post

SL1 · June 22, 2013, 08:36 PM

I'm with Mehavey on this one.

Hodgdon's 2008 printed manual data for the .38 Special with the 158 grain XTP showes only 3.0 start and 3.1 max for Clays powder. But, the pressures are in CUP, not psi, so that is a little hard to work with in QuickLOAD. So, I set-up QuickLOAD to give the SAAMI max "+P" peak pressure limit (18,500 psi)with 3.1 grains and the book COL of 1.455", then increased the charge to 4.0 grains. The result is about 27,000 psi. There is a LOT of margin between that and the SAAMI limit for the .357 Magnum, which is 35,000 psi.

So, if you have a Magnum gun to shoot those loads in, you should be fine.

SL1

June 22, 2013, 08:36 PM	#25
SL1 Senior Member Join Date: November 8, 2007 Posts: 2,001	I'm with Mehavey on this one. Hodgdon's 2008 printed manual data for the .38 Special with the 158 grain XTP showes only 3.0 start and 3.1 max for Clays powder. But, the pressures are in CUP, not psi, so that is a little hard to work with in QuickLOAD. So, I set-up QuickLOAD to give the SAAMI max "+P" peak pressure limit (18,500 psi)with 3.1 grains and the book COL of 1.455", then increased the charge to 4.0 grains. The result is about 27,000 psi. There is a LOT of margin between that and the SAAMI limit for the .357 Magnum, which is 35,000 psi. So, if you have a Magnum gun to shoot those loads in, you should be fine. SL1