A Primer on Loading .38 Special for the New Shooter
-Ed Harris
© 2014
A complete package for casting and reloading .38/357 for Newbie
Q- I read your articles on the .38 Special with great interest. My
wife and I live out in the country, far from town. We have decided to buy two
revolvers for personal defense and a lever-action utility rifle, which uses the
same ammo. I reload rifle ammunition with jacketed bullets for hunting, but am
new to bullet casting. I want more production capacity than my single-station
press. Please recommend a progressive reloading package for the 38/357 which to
include casting equipment & mould. I would appreciate suggestions as to
cheap sources for components to load in large quantity.
A - If you intend to cast your own
bullets, do not use the same casting pot to render your dirty, gleaned scrap lead
into ingots. Instead, get a propane fired turkey cooker or plumber’s burner
with round-bottomed, cast iron pot which will hold about 50 pounds or more of
melted alloy at a time. Then buy not less than six ingot molds. Ten are better.
Use the propane pot outdoors to render your scrap lead alloy into ingots. Wear
coveralls with long sleeves, a floppy hat, gloves and full face shield when you
do this!
Automobile wheel weights or indoor range
backstop scrap work fine for revolver bullet alloy. Range scrap is more
troublesome to deal with, but the jacket material you skim off, after you pull
out any steel with a “cow magnet,” is worth more than enough to a scrap dealer
to pay for the propane it takes to melt it. With luck you may have a little
extra to trade for roll-ends of tin bearing solder, wheel weights, type metal
etc.
While many experienced casters prefer to use
a dipper, most people find a bottom-pour pot easier to learn with. I use an
RCBS 20-lb. bottom pour pot with a pair of molds and handles, alternating
between them, by setting each one down after it is filled, to solidify while I
open, dump and refill the other. This provides a consistent mold temperature,
necessary to get good castings. I cast outdoors on a covered, screened in porch
to ensure good ventilation, and use an electric hotplate to preheat the molds.
This is important, especially in winter. Placing a layer of plain crushed clay
kitty litter over the melt helps maintain heat and reduces the need for
frequent fluxing.
A pair of double-cavity RCBS or Saeco molds
present the best value. Or buy a pair of LBT or Saeco 4-cavity blocks if you
want higher production. For general use in the .38 / .357 for lever-actions and
revolvers the Cowboy style rounded flat-nose designs work well if you get a
bullet with meplat not less than 1/2 of bullet diameter for hunting purposes.
Suitable designs are the RCBS 38-158CM or Saeco #358.
For hunting use a hollow-point bullet is
useful. On the Saeco 4-cavity blocks only the center 2 cavities can be modified
for hollow-point, because of the way the sprue plate hinge, handle screws and
alignment pins are located. This will produce a pair of solids and a pair of
hollow-points with each pour. With double-cavity Saeco and RCBS blocks both
cavities may be modified using the inset bar conversion from Erik Ohlen at Hollow Point
Bullet Moulds (http://www.hollowpointmold.com)
You may like one set of blocks modified
for hollow point, and use the other to cast solids. Either way you have hunting
and practice bullets, which will feed from the lever-action rifle. SWCs may
not.
The best sources I have found for buying
powder and primers are either Widener’s or Graf & Sons. My shooting buddies
and I buy primers by the case of 5000 at a time, and powder in 8-lb. kegs. An 8-lb.
keg of Bullseye will load 16,000 rounds of .38 Special at 3.5 grains per pop.
An 8-lb. keg of #2400 will load 4000 rounds of .357 Magnum at 14 grains per round.
Graf will let you combine powder and primers in the same shipment under one
hazmat fee for up to a 50-lb. box, which gets you 20,000 small pistol primers,
a keg of #2400 for magnum loads and a keg of Bullseye for .38 Specials with
nothing left over.
You won't get reliable expansion of cast
hollow points from a 2 inch snubby unless bullets are cast soft, 8-10 BHN, such
as 1:25 tin/lead alloy, or 50-50 wheel weights and plumber's lead, with no more
than 2% tin added in in the form of bar solder, only IF needed to get sharp
fill out of the bullets.
What you want is to cast bullets when the
mold blocks are hot enough that bullets fill out sharply. Uniform frosting of
well-filled bullets is perfectly OK. This fuzzy surface of dentrite arms look
under SEM like you were flying low over a pine forest, and the porous surface
holds tumble-on film lubes better.
You don't need quench-harden bullets up
through .38 Special +P. As-cast wheel weights or common range backstop scrap is
about 10-12 BHN and is fine for standard pressure loads up to about 20,000 psi.
Bullets cast hot enough to be uniformly frosted in wheel weights, dropped
directly from the mold into water to quench them will precipitation harden to
about 24-28BHN, which will stand up to 40,000 psi.
Quench bullets for .357 and .44 magnum loads
with solid-nosed bullets when necessary to prevent leading, but don’t count on
cast hollow-point bullets expanding at all if you do.
To enhance expansion of properly designed
hollow-point bullets from a sturdy, short-barreled revolver, such as the Ruger
SP101, you may safely use up to 4.0 grs. of Bullseye with a 158-grain
hollow-pointed bullet seated not less than 1.40” overall. This approximates +P
velocity, vs. a "standard pressure" charge of 3.5 grains, normally
used with cowboy bullets crimped normally, or a double-end wadcutter seated out
to 1.20” overall.
For approximating the +P+ in .38 Special
brass for use in the Marlin rifle or revolvers designed for .357 magnum, such
as Rugers, L-frame and N-frame S&W, you could use 10 grs. of #2400 with the
Saeco or RCBS Cowboy slugs, with WSP or Federal 200 primers, seated and crimped
in their normal crimp groove. Do NOT use this load in pre-1974 Colts, Charter
Arms, K or J-frame S&Ws unless originally chambered for .357 ammunition, because
pressure exceeds industry +P standard by about 15%.
For loading .357 Magnums at supersonic
velocities in revolvers or for rifles use an alloy not softer than wheel weights,
12BHN. With plain-based bullets you could load 11-12 grs. of #2400 in .357
brass with a 158-gr. cast bullet, the exact charge to be determined by whether
you get unburned powder which may jam revolvers, if any gets under the
extractor, or leading which impairs accuracy. Using a plain-based bullet
without a gas check, keep revolver velocity subsonic, not over about 1080
f.p.s. The same loads will get from 1200-1400 f.p.s. in the Marlin, versus
about 1600-1700 from an 18 inch barrel for a "maximum .357 load."
Keep charges with plain based cast bullets in the Marlin rifle about 10-15%
below maximum to avoid impaired accuracy caused by bore leading. In my
experience 10 grs. of #2400 with WSP or Federal 200 primers is the least you
can load in .357 brass and get acceptable ballistic uniformity. At 11-12 grains
in .357 brass only, you have a very satisfactory "medium velocity"
load, a bit lighter than factory, but still heavier than .38 Special +P+.
I feel that gas checked bullets are an
unnecessary expense in revolvers, because their GC diameter is usually
insufficient to seal the cylinder throats. They also cost about $30 per
thousand and will require that you buy an expensive lubricating and sizing
machine to put them on. That money will buy a good supply of primers and
powder.
Instead, save your money. Use plain based
bullets, of moderate hardness, cast from cheap scrap alloy, such as wheel weights.
Keep velocities under 1100 f.p.s. in revolvers, and below 1400 f.p.s. in the
Marlin. If you need a magnum load approximating factory velocity, buy a few
hundred 158-gr. jacketed soft point bullets for rifle use and use 14 grs. of
#2400, which is about 1/2 grain below maximum as published by Speer No. 13 or later. This will give about 1650 fps in
the Marlin. Such loads are apparent by their distinct appearance so there is no
guessing whether it is “hot” or not.
If you will use your compact revolver a lot
for field shooting, consider a double-end wadcutter such as the Saeco #348 for
one of your molds. Then pick a Cowboy style flat-nose for rifle use. Wadcutters
can be used for small game hunting in lever-action rifles as a “two-shooter,”
inserting a round directly into the chamber, closing the action, and loading
only one round at a time into the magazine tube. Each time you fire a shot and
work the lever, you can shove a replacement wadcutter past the loading gate.
You cannot fill the magazine tube with .38 Special rounds less than 1.4 inches
overall, because two at a time will feed out onto the lifter and jam the gun.
Ideally you want bullets to cast of correct
diameter so they do not require sizing. Then you can bulk lube with Lee Liquid
Alox and use the money you save by not buying a bullet lubricator and sizer to
buy powder and primers.
If you really want a progressive loading tool
for loading multiple thousands of rounds, get the Dillon RL550B. However, if
your requirements are less than 500 rounds a month, I would use your
single-station press. If you have not used a progressive reloading machine
before, and do not have an experienced mentor within convenient telephone
distance, stay with the single-station press you know well.
For plain based revolver ammo there is no
advantage to go any harder than about 13 BHN. Commercially cast bullets such as
Meister, Lasercast, etc. are made from a 92Pb-6Sb-2Sn alloy, about 16 BHN,
harder than necessary for non-magnum loads. They do so because this common
commercial “hardball” or “magnum” alloy is widely available in one-ton heat
lots, casts well from the automated Magma Engineering machines, and produces
“pretty” bullets for marketing purposes, which are not damaged in shipping.
Hard lube which requires a heated lubricating and sizing machine is used for
similar marketing purposes, because it is non-sticky, stays in the grooves,
doesn't melt in summer heat and goes through progressive loading machines well.
But hard lube is less able coat the bore, and unless bullet fit is perfect, may
result in bore leading at standard pressures in the .38 Special. Soft alloys
and lubes in moderate loads are more trouble-free for the novice.
Commercial cast bullets often lead more than
softer home cast ones because the manufacturers size their product to fit the
tightest minimum bore and chamber to prevent function problems. Novices who buy
them don't know which size is correct. The old folklore of old Lyman manuals to
size bullets to groove diameter is incorrect. Bullets should be sized to fit
the ball seat of the rifle chamber or revolver cylinder.
If bullets are too hard, undersized, and
inadequately lubricated with a hard lube, they will lead. A very common
misconception is that cast bullet loads lead because the alloy is too soft. The
opposite is usually the case.
Alloy harder than about 12-13 BHN is not
going to expand when cast in a hollow-point bullet. Full .357 loads generating
over 1400 fps when fired from a rifle may fragment, but not “mushroom.” My advice
is to use straight wheel weights or range backstop scrap. Add 1/2 pound of
50-50 bar solder per 20 lb. potful when needed to get good castings. Bullets of
12 BHN will not expand in standard pressure .38 Special revolver loads, but
will somewhat in +P and do just fine when fired in the rifle or .357 or +P+
..38 Special revolver loads over 1000 fps.
If you want to get expansion at standard
pressures in a revolver cut wheel weight alloy 50-50 with soft plumbers lead,
adding the same 1/2 pound of 50-50 solder, only if needed to get good castings.
This alloy goes 8-10 BHN, does fine in subsonic rifle loads or up to .38
Special +P with 4 grs. of Bullseye in .38 cases, but you may get some leading
after firing a dozen rounds of +P loads. Accuracy is OK for hunting purposes.
Brush the bore when done shooting and leave wet with bore cleaner, then just
wipe the bore and chambers with a dry patch before shooting.
If reduced to using (free!) mixed head stamp,
range pickup brass, tumble clean it in untreated corncob to remove dirt and
grit before sizing. After sizing, do the best you can to sort it into batches
of like head stamp sharing the same type face, identifying knurls, etc., separating
plated cases from plain. Learn to identify and keep separate any cases
originating from factory loaded wadcutter match ammo. Treat them as if they
were gold! I explain:
Wadcutter brass is identified by either one,
or sometimes two knurls or cannelures at the midpoint
of the case's length.
Click on photo for larger pic:
Their purpose is to prevent a wadcutter
bullet being dropped into a loose-mouthed, powder charged case, from falling
below flush with the case mouth. This maintains proper position until the
bulleted, charged case reaches the crimping station. The loading machine used
by the ammunition factories full-length profiles the case sidewall to fit
gently, but tightly against the shank of the soft-swaged, hollow-based
wadcutter bullet. It uniformly, but lightly crimps the case mouth to remove any
flare, imparting only a slight radius at the case mouth to ease loading into
the chambers. Its design intent is to avoid at all cost any damage to the
fragile, soft- lead bullet, which would impair accuracy. THIS is the principle
of the Lee Factory Crimp Die and is why you should buy the Lee carbide die set
to the exclusion of all others.
The Lee Factory Crimp die does not depend
upon case length to determine strength of crimp. It doesn't care whether case
mouths are thin or heavy. Individual rounds are profiled full-length so that
none will exceed maximum cartridge dimensions. This prevents tolerance stacking
of oversized bullets in thick wall cases, which could cause a bulge that will
jam your gun. Cast bullets may be loaded unsized, simply tumbled in Lee Liquid
Alox. If bullet sizing is necessary, this is done by compression inside the
die, rather than by shear in an expensive, unnecessary lubricating and sizing
machine.
Because wadcutter brass has a thinner case
wall, intended to gently handle a soft lead bullet, it is work hardened less in
assembly, so it will last longer! Brass used for +P service loads often has a
heavy knurl or cannelure closer to the case mouth, which is used to hold the
bullet against the primer blast and maintain heavy bullet pull of a thicker
case which provides a tight fits necessary for acceptable ballistic uniformity
of slower powders. Such brass has a harder final anneal and is more heavily
work hardened in assembly, so it may crack after only a few reloads, especially
if it has been nickel plated. When obtained as once-fired brass, use this for
your "shoot and let fly" combat practice ammo.
If you intend to buy new brass, get plain, un-plated,
un-cannelured cases, from Starline,
Winchester or Remington. Plated brass was used to reduce corrosion of rounds
carried in leather looped cartridge belts. Today it is done mostly for marketing
appearance, so that old stock does not take on a patina and "look
old." Plated cases will not last long in repeated reloads as plain brass,
but some brands fare better than others. Winchester un-cannelured,
plated cases last longer than similar Remington. Federal +P and +P+ plated
brass also seems OK. Sellier & Bellot seems the worst. Reload only once,
use it for shoot & let fly, or save for trade to the scrap dealer.