I've been playing with my Maxed Handi looking for an accurate, very low cost, easy to assemble, fairly quiet load with a reasonable velocity and range. Think I have it.
THIS LOAD IS INTENDED FOR RIFLES ONLY!!! It would be safe enough in .357 mag pistols and I seat the bullets out far enough to prevent its use in most .38 Special pistols. (I don't have a .38 Special, anyway.)
Federal .38 Special cases.
Federal SP primers
9.0 grains of a surplus AA-7 clone
Lee 356-153-2R seated to barely cover the lube groove.
You could sub any lead .38 150-158 bullet. I use the one I use because it casts .358 and there is no sizing needed. I use Rooster Jacket lube because it's as easily applied as Liquid Alox and is not tacky when dry.
I chronied a 10 grain charge and got an average of 1340 but poor accuracy. I dropped back to 9 grains and started getting 5 shot groups of 1" or smaller. My guess is that velocity is right around 1200, but I'll chrony and report later. This velocity is important, because it means the trajectory will match that of the .22 lr we all have burned into our brains. Bullet is about four times heavier than a .22 so it has four times the smackdown.
Because the bullet is seated well out, I would expect this to work well in .357 lever carbines. Unfortunately, I don't happen to own one.
Anyway, I'm happy. I have several thousand .38 Special cases, 12 pounds of the powder, a ton of WW, and a six cavity mould that shucks those bullets out at the rate of around a thousand an hour. There may be a better load out there, but there ain't likely to be one that is cheaper or easier to put together.
Hope it works as well for y'all as for me.
