.38 vs .357 Cowboy Loads

mcgiiver

I have been trying to work up a light cowboy action load. I have settled on 2.5 grains of PB with 125 truncated cone lead bullets. Shooting them in Beretta Stampede revolvers. I find that the same load in the .38 cases seems to produce tighter groups than in the .357 case. Any ideas why and has anyone had similar results?

PJ

My guess is that the powder (which I am not familiar with) is position sensitive.
Pete

R D Henry

I don't know what PB is either, but the primary issue is pressures.

With the same powder weight in a larger case, you've increased the air gap between the powder and the base of bullet. Stick with the 38 cases and you will be fine. A lot of shooters will use Grits to fill the case when using a small powder charge in a large case, but that shouldn't be necessary with 38/357.

I had the same problem before switching to 777 in my 45LC loads. Back then, I was using 5.5gr of Clays/180gr pill, and they were erratic to say the least. The minute I started using a full case of powder and a 200gr pill, my accuracy and consistency improved 150%!

Pearyw

Try Trail Boss powder. It is very bulky and works well for light loads.

mcgiiver

Originally posted by R D Henry
I don't know what PB is either, but the primary issue is pressures.

PB is DuPont PB, which is a fast burning powder originally designed for shotgun loads. I have heard that it might have been used as the original .357 powder.

R D Henry

Since it was manufactured by Dupont, is it still out there under the name PB? If I remember the food chain correctly, Dupont was sold to IMR, which in turn went to Hodgdon. Follow the bread crumbs here! [:D]

Anywho, there's a ton of shotgun powders that have pistol/rifle applications. Clays being one of them that I've played with over the years. A lot of CAS shooters like it for easy cleanup, burn rate, so on. You can check here for load data http://www.hodgdon.com/ They have a section devoted to Cowboy Action loads.

I've heard good things about Trail Boss, mainly that it was developed for the larger cases like 44, 44-40, 45, etc. It's a large flake powder that looks like a little doughnut...seriously!

longbow589

Please tell me why you are loading BP. With all the new and very fine powders there to load with . You may only want to hobby shoot but if you want to find and enjoy the potential of a hand gun use smokeless powder .You can load Light loads for plinking and hull horse loads for hunting . Give them a try.

R D Henry

Longbow, was that aimed at me, as far as loading BP?

I'm not flaming ya here, just answering the question. I shoot BP just cuz it's a helluva lot of fun! [:)] When I first got into CAS, I shot smokeless in many varieties.

I've probably tried every concoction known to man in order to achieve what I wanted with 45LC. Everybody and their brother shoots in a wide variety of classes with smokeless, but a few of us maniacs like the big boom and clouds of smoke that make everybody gag and choke! [:D] It's what we live for! [:p]

The way the "Soot Lords" see it...smokeless is just a fad! [:D]

MrOrange

quote:Originally posted by R D Henry
The way the "Soot Lords" see it...smokeless is just a fad! [:D]


Hear, hear!