.38 special BP loads

S

Super Sneaky Steve

New member
Hey guys. I've been reloading smokelss .38's and .45's for a while now and I thought I'd make some black powder loads just for kicks, but i've never done it before.

From what I can gather you can't overload a case with too much powder, but they should be filled up all the way to the bullet.

Can anyone confirm this? And I'd like to know if this can be done with a modern shell insead of a balloon case.

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated! :)
 
If'n yer gonna use real black powder and not a fake, you need to:
Use enough powder so as to require some compression to seat a bullet. Not just full to the bullet, but packed down a bit. Now when I load black powder rifle ammunition, I use a compression die so I don't mash my bullets out of shape. But you can put on a little bit of compression for a pistol bullet in the seating step.
Use a proper black powder bullet lube to keep the fouling soft. The hard wax on store boughten nitro bullets will just make a mess.
 
Thanks Jim. I have a bunch of 158gr Berry's plated bullets laying around (no lube ring) so I was going to use those. I know it's not period but I figure they should be OK for testing.


If I used the fake black powder are the rules different? I don't have compression dies at the moment.
 
Generally filling the case to 1/16th of the rim will give you the compression you need when you seat the bullet but those bullets you're going to use are going to foul big time.
 
If I used the fake black powder are the rules different? I don't have compression dies at the moment.
Click to expand...

Not really.

T7 doesn't like any compression, APP, Pinnacle and BP all like about 1/8 inch compression in a .38 special case. Leastways that's how I do mine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top