I got 500 of the Speer LSWCHP, will be fired from a 2" J frame and 3" K frame.

I have a few powders on hand but am willing to grab a pound of a few others.

Looking to hit 800 fps from the 2"

I have manuals just curious your guys' thoughts

Anybody have experience with this?

Check out Alliant's data for that bullet and Power Pistol.

That's a very nice bullet.   Very "old school", but one that works reasonably well in shorter barreled .38's.  

I don't have any chronoed data.  I do have some loads hiding somewhere, and I'll see if I can fire a few over the screens tomorrow.  I do know that I'm using PowerPistol for nearly all my "full velocity" loads now, but its a tad "flashy".  I have not yet used BE86, but apparently its got a flash suppressant in the mix, and its giving really good speeds.  If I had to pick one to try at random, it would be power pistol.

I've seen some chrono tests with 2" Smiths and the 158.  apparently 5.4 Unique was an old max load from a Lyman manual.  It supposedly ran 847 fps in 1980 out of a snubby.  Same load more recently chronoed 964 fps....    Neither is my data, and I cannot vouch for the accuracy or safety of it.  However, both sets of  chrono data show speeds in excess of 840 out of snubbie.

Current Alliant data is showing max load of unique is 5.2 for a +P 158 LSWC giving 919 fps, albeit out of a longer barrel.  Same alliant data shows Powerpistol running 1037 fps.  Hitting 800 fps out of your snub should be easy with Powerpistol....  

Reminder.... If you are firing these as .38 +P in a lightweight (airwieght or scandium snubbie), use a HEAVY crimp.  that lead is soft, and recoil is stout in snubbies.  As recoil drives the little revolver back, it can act like an unintentional kinetic bullet puller....  One of those bullets can slip forward, and tie the cylinder right up, putting the firearm out of action.  Personally, I'd loads em and crimp em.  Mark one round.  Load up all five chambers, and fire four, leaving the marked one unfired.  Load up four more, leaving the marked one in place.  Fire four more.  Then check the overall length of the marked, unfired cartridge.  If it will handle 6 or 8 firings and NOT move, odds are your crimping efforts are sufficient....

I've done quite a bit of loading and chronographing for my wife's CA Pink Lady, but my log is in the shop and, well, it's late! So here are some loads from a Ruger LCR that should get you what you want:

Attached File


These loads are for a much heavier bullet and they're +P, so they should easily go over 800 with the bullet you're loading. You could probably back off 1/2 grain or so and still get the velocity you desire.

Attached File


I'll check my log book tomorrow.

Speer #8 list loads for unique and bullseye  in that range from a 2" barrel

That same manual should also have some loads that'll get you to the old Treasury Round velocities using SR-4756.

800fps from a snub nosed 38spl is very doable. Actually that's the problem with the snub nosed 38spl's, that 800fps is doable enough that that's whats most factory/mild reloads do.

At the end of the day fast powders that give low to medium velocities in standard bbl lengths (4"/6") also do the same in snub nosed/short bbl'd revolevers/firearms.

Urban legend alert!!!!
Fast burning powders burn completely in short bbl'd firearms and give higher velocites than slow burning powders.
Nothing could be further from the truth!!!

Awhile back I did some testing with a 2" bbl'd 38spl. I did p+ loads and used 10 different bullets ranging from 148gr hbwc's to jacketed 158gr hp's to 145gr cast/coated hp's. I tested 5 common powders and did 10-shot strings with each bullet. While a 10-shot string doesn't tell you much I added the 10-bullet 10-shot strings together to get a 100-shot string average.

I did this because it gives me an idea of what to expect from a powder in that revolver. Yes specific loads can be tweaked, but the 100-shot string is a good baseline for that powder.

At the end of the day using a 500 round total test of 10-bullet/10-shots per string/5 powders of p+ loads:
Bullseye averaged 801fps
BE-86 averaged 845fps
unique averaged 833fps
2400 averaged 882fps
power pistol averaged 887fps

The bulleye and unique loads were hot, real hot!!!
The BE-86 loads were alliants published loads and were on the mild side. Eventually someone like handloader magazine will do some testing with that powder and the results should be impressive.
The 2400 loads were 2/10gr under max.
The power pistol loads were 3/10th's grain under max.

Amp up the power pistol and 2400 and pick out specific bullets, I have loads in the 950+fps range from a 2" bbl'd revolver/38spl p+.

What a fbi armorer has to say about the "fbi" load.

The FBI 158-grain lead HP +P .38 Special load is still available under the Remington symbol R38S12 or Winchester X38SPD. The equivalent Federal 38G has been discontinued. Alloy was 2% antimonial lead, which when fully cold worked and recrystallized is about 8 BHN. A cast HP of shape similar to #358429 with cavity 0.6 of the meplat diameter, with 15 degree included angle draft on the core pin, cast of 1:40 tin/lead has very similar upset characteristics but is a bit heavier at 162-164 grs. Velocity of the X38SPD with which I am most familiar was 855+/- 30 fps from the 4" SAAMI "vented" test barrel, which simulates revolver ballistics wth a 0.008" cylinder gap.

This velocity is approximated with 158-162-grain cast LHPs using canister powders with either 4.2 grains of Bullseye, 4.8 grs. of W231, 5.2 grs. of Unique or 5.5 grs. of PB, at a minimum cartridge OAL of1.50". All are +P loads!

Please use Blue or Green when you want to high light something, red is the color Moderators use when they correct something. Thanks. dryflash3

I build my own FBI loads for practice with my various 38s, including j frames. My primary powders has been WW231/HP 38, Unique, AA #2 or #5. The post above re: the FBI armorer lists loads that are very close to what I ended up with. I have developed loads that print to the fixed sights on my J frame, but hesitate to list them because they are slightly over published data . They seem a bit heavier than the Winchester +P HPs that live in the gun at home, this is probably because I used a cast Ideal 358156 GC HP mould, and the GC can/will raise the pressures by itself. However, my results have been undeniable, and since my J frame is a 357 gun anyway I'm less concerned about being a bit over +P loads (.3 gr). I wouldn't use it at all if I had an earlier M36, or any other gun that wasn't +P rated at the minimum.

For your bullet, I would suggest working up to the max. +P loading carefully, if its even necessary at all to attain your goals. FWIW, std pressure loads max out around 4.6 gr with your bullet design, and Winchester lists 4.7/231 as max with a soft lead bullet, and 4.4/231 with a jacketed bullet in 38 Spl +P. Loading data varies of course because not all bullets are created equal. there's often a difference in the length of the bullet shank itself, and use of a different bullet could technically invalidate the load data entirely. This is one of many good reasons some people don't like to give out loading data on the internet.

out of my 642,  Power pistol had the highest velocity with 158 cast bullets

unique is a good choice also


.

Thanks everyone I'll be grabbing some Power Pistol to try out

Suggest checking out Ramshot Silhouette. Less flashy than PowerPistol and will still get the velocity you seek.

Fabulous powder for 9mm too.