38 special overall length

garandfan

I am using a 125 grain lead bullet, but for a 125 grain bullet, I can only find load data for jacketed bullets. I was wondering if I can use the case overall length data from the jacketed bullet and apply it to the lead. Thanks.

mballai

Should be just fine if the bullet is the same shape(at least that's the auto gun reloader mindset). Try one on an empty case and see how it fits your gun.

Three Precious Metals: Gold, silver and lead

Laredo Lefty

Case length for .38 spl is not critical since they chamber on the rim not the front of the case. I have loaded thousands of .38's and never had to trim any, many of them loaded numerous times. You do, however, have to watch the overall loaded length to keep the front tip of the bullet from protruding beyond the front of the cylinder. The #13 Speer reloading book gives a max cartridge length of 1.550".
--Joe--

Iconoclast

Like Laredo says, the case length doesn't matter a bit. Only time it comes into play is if it varies significantly from round to round, which will cause the crimp to be much different and can cause variation in your shooting. Otherwise, as long as the ammo you load is at or under the max SAAMI spec OAL, not to worry. W/ .38s, you'll have case failures at the head or mouth before you need to trim them. And for the cost of 1xF brass, it sure isn't worth the time to trim.

aby80

I usually cast my own bullets for my .38's. I have 5 different molds, all with crimping grooves. I have also picked up commercially cast bullets at swap meets, gun shows, etc. I just crimp the cases into the crimping groove and have never had any trouble with the overall length.