Author Topic: 38 spc and 000 buck  (Read 409 times)

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Offline abigdiesel

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38 spc and 000 buck
« on: March 12, 2010, 02:37:35 PM »
I searched the threads before I asked this and found nothing so here goes...does anyone have a good current recipe for using 000 round balls for their 38 special?  I was flippin' through one of my reloading books, Basic Reloading by George C. Nonte, and saw that they were loading round ball in the 38.  I am sure accuracy would be sub par, but my thought was to have a cheap plinking round.  Not looking for accuracy, just fun.  He stated to start this load out with approx. .75 to 1 grain of bullseye powder.  Someone out there has some experience with this I am sure.  This would be a deviation from my normal handloading and is exactly why I would rather hear from some one who has done this before I did something stupid.

Plus it might be useful for others like me that don't know about it to learn.
"The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation."  ~Woodrow Wilson

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Offline ND Sharpshooter

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Re: 38 spc and 000 buck
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2010, 03:41:19 AM »
Many years ago I cast balls to load in 38 and 357 cases.  Weigh the number of balls you'll be loading (I put two in 38's and 3 in 357's) and use the lightest load for the weight in your reloading manual.  In my Python, the groups at 25 yards were 2-3 inches and at 50 yards they were in the 6 inch range.  Recoil was almost nil and you could see the "swarm" flying when using white 50 yard target backing.  Had a lot of fun with these loads.  Hope you do too.
Never said I didn''t know how to use one.  :wink:

Offline Badnews Bob

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Re: 38 spc and 000 buck
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2010, 04:41:38 AM »
How much dose one OOO buck weigh?  And what is the dia?  I use 2.5 grains of bullseye with a 125 gr LRN in my .38s that works really well.

I just weighed some .36cal balls I have and they where about 60gr +/- 1, Problem with them is they are only .350 dia and will prolly just bounce around going down the barrel. The lightest bullet I have found so far is a 92 gr Lyman, the One book/one caliber calls for 3 gr bullseye with that one.

I think if you found a .358 or .359 round ball it would work very well with 1 to 3 grs of bullseye or titegroup.  I have found titegroup to be very good for the super light loads like this. 8)

BTW three of these balls would weigh right at 180 grains, 3 grs of bullseye would get you around 750 FPS. :)
Badnews Bob
AE-2 USN retired