.38 Special, Which size?

[Dave.H]

My wife wants to learn how to shoot for personal protection and maybe she will even like it I am going to set her up with a .38 special, its what I learned on and it fits her well over anything else I have. I am just not sure what to load for her. I am going to load a few things and try them myself this weekend, but currently I just have some 158gr hollow points I can load. Thats about all I can find locally too. However, I may be able to pick up some 125 gr bullets locally. I want to start her off with some lighter charges for some nice relaxed shooting so she can get accostum to the firearm and shooting without too much kick. I can load a 158gr light, but thats a pretty heavy round too, I used to shoot them loaded light in my revolver and I could practically watch them drop.

I have been thinking that 125 gr may be a nice place to start and a nice round to buy factory loads for personal protection. Any input would be appriciated.

Should I start at 125 and work my loads up or am I not going to notice a huge difference in 125 and 158 for training purposes? Once she is comfortable I will load up some target rounds similar to the factory loads we will keep in it.

[benedict1]

Look here

http://www.reloadammo.com/38loads.htm

He has a bunch of loads, all chronographed. You should find something.

[DMZX]

I would first purchase one of those UMC box of 250 130 gr MC rounds. It well run you around $50 or so and they well serve to break in the gun and the shooter for a small price. Also you can keep the brass for reloading.

After that, you may have a better idea where to go from there.

Good luck.

[cdrt]

You didn't say what kind of powder you have available.
My Lyman book shows the following starting loads for a 158 jacketed HP bullet:
Clays 2.5 grains
AA 5 5.0 grains
HS-6 5.5 grains

The Clays load pops out there at 536 fps. Really mild.

[mtnbkr]

For plinking and practice in my S&W 37 Airweight, I use whatever 125gr-130gr jacketed or plated bullet I can find with 3.5gr of Bullseye. I haven't chrono'd it yet, but I doubt it's doing more than 800fps out of a 2" barrel. It's soft shooting even in my light stubby and about like shooting 22lr in a medium frame revolver.

Chris

[joneb]

Hi Dave, does the gun have fixed or adjustable sights ? what barrel length ?

[Dave.H]

Hi Dave, does the gun have fixed or adjustable sights ? what barrel length ?

Fixed sites. 1 7/8" barrel.

You didn't say what kind of powder you have available.

I have Clays and some various Hogdon powders and Unique.

I guess I should expand. I am new to reloading. My father did it years ago and we are both doing it together now and he has forgotten a lot over the years and never really documented his loads. So far my experience has been with my .357 and .40 loads and I am still trying to find my favorite there.

I guess my question is more two parted then. I can find 110, 125 and 158 gr bullets if I look hard enough, all at least semi jacketted and most of what I find localy is HP. I have several boxes of 158gr that I used to use for light loads in my .357, and a few containers full of both used and new brass. I don't remember the powder or amount of powder we used in those, but I did not care for those loads one bit. There was no kick but at 15 yards you could see the bullet drop a ton.

So really I guess my question is, before I spend the money whats a good starting point? Could I do some "medium" loads based on the loading tables and use the 158 gr bullets and get a decent practice/learning round that we can work into something closer to the factory rounds? Or am I better off with a lighter bullet and a lighter load?

I don't want to scare her off with too much kick while she is thinking about aiming and stance and everything else, but I also want something with decent accuracy compared to the factory loads she will have in it later.

Please excuse my ignorance here, I am trying to learn what I like now too. And I don't know how different weight bullets react compared to each other just yet. And I don't know how its going to feel and behave based on velocity just yet. I have a lot to learn.

Maybe I should pick up some 125 gr bullets and load both over various ranges in the load tables and see what feels good to me?

We engineers tend to over-think things and maybe I am doing that with this.

[Trapper L]

Heavier bullets always results in more recoil. I'd skip the 158s and load some 125s. I'd suggest 3.5grs Clays which is a minimum load and should be real pleasant to shoot. The 125s also make a dandy defense bullet out of a 38 Special in +P loads.
Here's some loading data for you from the good folks at Hodgdon:
http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

[joneb]

125 gr shoot 3-4" low in my S&W 36 1 7/8", 140's shoot 2" low, slow 148 shoot closer to POA, 158 gr shoot POA. This is how the fix sights are regulated on my gun, I would think yours is simular.

[Dave.H]

125 gr shoot 3-4" low in my S&W 36 1 7/8", 140's shoot 2" low, slow 148 shoot closer to POA, 158 gr shoot POA. This is how the fix sights are regulated on my gun, I would think yours is simular.

Thats VERY intersting, if I understand you right. Aiming down the barrel the same on every round and the 125 gr will drop more than any other or are you saying that you must aim lower for the 125? Is this also based on light loads of all ??

[mtnbkr]

You'd aim higher with the lighter bullets.

The lighter bullets don't cause the gun to recoil as much, so the barrel isn't pointed as high when the bullet leaves the barrel. You can offset this when going to heavier bullets by upping the velocity (reducing dwell time). To offset this in lighter bullets, you'd have to decrease the powder charge to lower velocity and increase dwell, assuming the barrel would rise enough for it to matter.

My M37 appears to be regulated for lighter bullets, so it prints high with anything heavier than 135gr or so.

Chris

[Dave.H]

OK, mntbkr. I'm learning a lot here. I guess I just need to try some combinations and see how they "feel".

I guess I always attributed the lighter rounds in my .357 shooting lower being due soley to the powder, where the heavier .357 magnum loads would be dead on with the same aiming.

Until I started loading I just never gave bullet size and velocity and the like much thought, to me a bullet was a bullet and I liked shooting them

This is becoming very educational to me. So much to learn, so little time...

[joneb]

With lighter bullets I need to aim above the target or raise the front blade, this has to do with recoil and dwell time (the amount of time the bullet is in the barrel) The front sight would need to be lower to the barrel to shoot 125gr for POA and POI to be the same. I have down loaded 140gr plated where POI was a 1 1/2" low.

[Dave.H]

Thanks guys. I think I am going to try some 125 and 158 gr bullets with different loads and see what I think feels good to me. I appriciate the replys and the patience with my newbieness. I'll post up what I do and what my results are. Maybe even some more questions

[FM12]

Try the old standby 148 gr. wadcutter, with a target powder load. Good for all purposes, practice and sd for those that are recoil shy. Not a chore to shoot and not a load to be afraid of.

I carry them (wadcutters) in my BUG.