Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading .38 SPL 158 Grain LSWCHP Advice

After years of dithering I finally made the jump today and bought a Lee Precision classic turret press reloading kit and .38 special dies. Now comes the hard part for a newbie!

I am looking to you experienced guys for some loading advice. I would like to reproduce the Remington 158 grain LSWCHP +P I have been using, for use in a Ruger SP101 .357 Magnum with a 2 1/4 inch barrel.

I have a ton of once fired brass, but need your help choosing the powder, primer, and how many grains to load with.

Thanks in advance for any enlightenment you can provide!

Steve

I'd try and get some Win 231 or Alliant Unique!

Also Hodgdon HP-38.

Primers any you can find in small pistol, CCI,Win,Fed.. these are more preferable, but there are some others showing up lately !

5 to 6 grains of Unique is a good place to look. Accurate No5 is a good one too. As is PowerPistol.

For the bullet, I highly recommend the Rimrock 158 grain SWCHP gas check. It is cast soft at 5 bhn and it will expand at these velocities.

Unique for the powder. 4.5 grns gets me 830 fps, 5 grns (a +p load) gets me 885 fps, in a 4 inch barrel S&W 67. These are for use in 38 Special cases.

I prefer using magnum cases with loads of this type in a 357 Mag revolver. 6 grains of Unique in a magnum case gets me between 1025 and 1080 fps depending on barrel length in a magnum revolver.

Regards,
Manny

Fantastic advice, thanks guys!

Now, when you say Unique is there a specific (for lack of a better term) model number I should use? Or is Unique Unique?

4-4.4 gr hp-38/win 231

Thank you Sir!

I use Unique for my every day loads in 357mg with cast lead 158gr bullets. 2400 launches my heavy loads with the same bullets.

I'm unfamiliar with the SP101 but my GP100 has a cylinder that's slightly shorter than my S&W's of the same chambering. COAL may be detail of importance.

12grs if 2400, I'm assuming you are using 38 special brass? Avoid the double crimp wadcutter brass.

6grs of Unique in a 38 special case would work fine for his purposes

I would suggest picking up a manual or two and searching through there for loads rather than using data from unknown sources on a website. At the very least you could compare the suggestions with actual tested data to help weed out any loads that might be problematic. The Lyman Cast Bullet manual would be a first choice. A manual can also help one troubleshoot any problems that one may encounter.

As for myself with various 158 gr lead SWCs, I have used Alliant Unique, Herco, Blue Dot, and 2400; Winchester 231, WSF, and WST; Hodgdon Universal, HP-38 (same as Win 231), Titegroup, HS-6, and H4227; Accurate/Ramshot True Blue, No 5, and Solo 1000 to get +P type loads.

Powders I haven't tried yet but hope to soon would be Hodgdon CFE Pistol; Winchester AutoComp, W244, and W572; and Alliant Power Pistol.

The 38 Spl is a pretty easy cartridge to load for and like many, it would be far shorter to list poor loads than good ones.

Well, the OP wanted to replicate the factory Remington load, which 4.5 to 5 of Unique would do, in my experience. 6 of Unique in 38 Special cases while safe in his 357 revolver, would be fairly high pressure in a 38 revolver if it ever happened to get in one. It would be considerably hotter than the factory load he was trying to replicate. Since the OP stated he was new to reloading, I thought that was a better, safer, route to go. I do agree with Woodmaster above, obtaining a recent reloading manual and following it is good advice.

Regards,
Manny

5.5 gr Unique under Rimrocks 158 LSWC-HP

Remington +P load is not impressive in a short barrel, I'd want to reproduce 4-6" Remington +P speeds in my 2 inch barrel.

Agree 100%.

Since the OP is new to handloading, I'd also start by assembling and shooting several boxes of standard-pressure loads first. That will help you ensure that your dies are properly adjusted and that you know how to execute each step properly before you try to load high-pressure ammo.


Okie John

Yes, get a manual or two. Lyman would be a good start. And remember, you'll need to roll crimp these .38's. Light to medium, depending on the load.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for your advice and insight!

I am going to order another loading manual as you suggested and get my mind "right" about this project.

Last time I took something like this on was a few years ago when I built a still and began making high grade vodka (that took a lot of reading and some experimentation as well). I enjoy the learning part, but having a great finish product is the goal!

Thanks again.