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38 spl. BP load question

divecopdivecop Member Posts: 778 ✭✭✭✭
edited April 2006 in Black Powder and Cowboy Action Shooting
Does anyone load 38 special in BP and if so How? I would like to try it but don't have any experience in bp loading cartridges. How many grains BP for 158 gr rnfp lead. What kind of BP? FFFFG, FFFG, FFg, or what?
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    Noah MercyNoah Mercy Member Posts: 43 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I just got back from sending a few of those downrange. The load I use is 18 grains of Goex 3F or Cowboy (their special powder for the cartridges commonly used in Cowboy Action Shooting) and a 160 grain RNFP bullet (close enough to 158). I lube the bullets with a 50/50 mix of beeswax and Crisco. Any BP compatible lube will work (i.e. SPG, Lyman Black Powder Gold, or any non-petroleum soft lube) and there are a couple commercial suppliers of BP-lubed bullets. (IMHO, Desperado Bullets are the best...they sell sample packs of 100 bullets at a very reasonable price so you can try them without a big cash outlay.) The bullets I cast are fairly soft, flat-based slugs, and I crimp them in the case firmly. When I'm shooting, I keep a jug or jar (Gatorade bottles are great for this) about half full of water and a shot of Murphy's Oil Soap handy to drop the fired cases in...keeps 'em from turning green[xx(]. Just shake 'em up once in a while and when ya' get home pour off the stinky black water and flush the brass with hot tap water. Let them dry and they're ready for the tumbler.

    Hope this helps, pard.

    [:D]
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    richbugrichbug Member Posts: 3,650
    edited November -1
    The most important this to remember is make sure you have no airspace left in a loaded cartridge. The above mentioned 18 grain load must be seriously compressed, I can only get about 22 grains in my 44 special loads.
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    Noah MercyNoah Mercy Member Posts: 43 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    That is about .15" compression (as close as I can measure it). The Lyman 2nd Edition Black Powder Handbook & Loading Manual lists 17.5 grains Goex 3F in 38 Special w/a 158 grain bullet, so I'm not exactly overloading them. (They also list 18 grains Elephant 3F and 18 grains of Pyrodex P with the same slug.) And the more BP you get in the case (without actually crushing it), the cleaner and more uniform the burn. That's why serious BPCR competitors use drop tubes and powder compression dies.

    [:D]
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    divecopdivecop Member Posts: 778 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thanks for all the helpful info. I'm going to try a few.
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