Best 38 special target load

M

marklyftogt

New member
I am looking to purchase a S&W model 64 38 special.
I load my own 9mm and want to load 38 special but am curious what bullet is best and powder and load etc.

Supposedly wadcutters are the most accurate but seem a little odd.

I would appreciate what you target shooters and reloaders use.
 
For target loads, it's typically a hollow based wadcutter at around 800fps. But there are a lot of good 148 and 158gr SWC target loads. Wadcutters are used in target shooting because they punch clean holes.
 
What kind of targets are you talking about? Are you talking about exclusively paper, or a general purpose range load...etc? I'm a fan of SWC loads, as the hole is still clean in the target, but the loads can be had a little hotter. My current favorite is somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.3 gr. of HP-38 under a 150 grain Dardas LSWC.
 
I reload and for many years shot PPC with revolvers. My all time favorite .38 Special recipe for plinking and target work is the classic target load with a 148 grain, double sided, hard cast, wadcutter over 2.7 grains of Bullseye.
 
38 Special load

For my K38, the 2.7 grain load was noticeably worse than 3.0 grains which is unreal, at least with the 358495. Test before you settle. You never know.
 
My Trooper Mk III likes 3.2 grains of bullseye behind hardcast BBWC. I've tried moving down and up and for me consistency suffers. I haven't tried hollow base wadcutters.
 
What is so "odd" about wadcutters-they cut a nice clean hole which makes for easy scoring. And they make a pretty good defensive round. Before WWII they had 22LR wadcutters-wish we had them today.
Ye Olde Standard Load of 2.7 grains of Bullseye propelling a 148 gr WC always worked for me. Hollow base wadcutters work great with a bore that is slightly oversize-38 S&W, e.g.
 
I've had great results with the 148 gr. HBWC on 3.2 of HP38/W231. I'll seat slightly below the case mouth, and put a very light roll crimp on the front radius.
 
While I've not put as much time into developing .38 Spl loads as I have with other cartridges, 4.0gr Unique under a 158gr LSWC with a Winchester small pistol primer seems to work well in both my M36 and my dad's M15.
 
A word about the HBWC

Hollow Base Wad Cutter.

(A) Velocity approaching 800 feet is enough to deform the skirt on the hollow base. I started getting better results with low velocities and hollow base bullets.

(B) It might be my imagination but Colt barrels seem to like light and fast bullets for best accuracy.
 
It might be my imagination but Colt barrels seem to like light and fast bullets for best accuracy.
Click to expand...

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Colt used a different twist rate for the rifling in their barrels than S&W did, perhaps that would explain the phenomenon you notice.
 
My target load is 4.0gr of Bullseye behind a 158gr Berry's Plated RN.

Yesterday I was able to shoot the eyes out of my zombie target with this load in my 6" GP100. It's like a magical lazer beam.
 
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