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Posted: 5/11/2013 11:45:45 AM EDT
Ok, so due to ammo being gone everywhere, I took the sort of easier way out for me anyways, and bought all I need to load up .38 special. I've not delt with any strait wall pistol rounds before, just rifle rounds, so I have been studying my Lyman manual as well as other for the basics, and I think i have that just about figured out, but I'm open to any pointers anyone may have
I managed to find and order up the Lee 3 die set of carbide dies, a Lee factory crimp die, I have plenty of Unique, and 250 Berry's plated 158RN bullets, as well as some SP primers. These loads will all be shot out of my S&W bodyguard snubby, and they will just be plinking loads for camping, so low power is where I'm heading here. Anyways, I guess my question really is, what load do I want to work with here for these bullets. I see data for 158gr FMJ's, and I see data for lead 158gr bullets, what should I be using for these 158gr PLATED bullets?? I guess basically I have unique powder and 158gr berry's plated bullets, where should i start 
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I load a lot of Berry's bullets in, 9mm, .38spl, .40S&W, & 45ACP.
Berry's states you should use the same load data as for hard cast lead bullets or start with mid-range jacketed data. Personally, I use the hard cast data. As described in their FAQ, it's the velocity you need to watch. Hope this helps, and have fun.
My wife has a Ruger Security Six and can shoot .38spl 125gr berry's plated bullets all day. |
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Quoted:
I load a lot of Berry's bullets in, 9mm, .38spl, .40S&W, & 45ACP. Berry's states you should use the same load data as for hard cast lead bullets or start with mid-range jacketed data. Personally, I use the hard cast data. As described in their FAQ, it's the velocity you need to watch. Hope this helps, and have fun.
My wife has a Ruger Security Six and can shoot .38spl 125gr berry's plated bullets all day. Thanks for that link, I looked for the info over there, must have over looked it thank you!!! |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I load a lot of Berry's bullets in, 9mm, .38spl, .40S&W, & 45ACP. Berry's states you should use the same load data as for hard cast lead bullets or start with mid-range jacketed data. Personally, I use the hard cast data. As described in their FAQ, it's the velocity you need to watch. Hope this helps, and have fun.
My wife has a Ruger Security Six and can shoot .38spl 125gr berry's plated bullets all day. Thanks for that link, I looked for the info over there, must have over looked it thank you!!! I hope you end up liking the Berry's. They make up about 95% of my plinking bullets. A guy at Cabelas the other day tried to convince me to switch to Rainier (cheaper), and I am sure they are fine, but I have always had good results with Berry's. and they are not that much cheaper. |
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I load a lot of Berry's bullets in, 9mm, .38spl, .40S&W, & 45ACP. Berry's states you should use the same load data as for hard cast lead bullets or start with mid-range jacketed data. Personally, I use the hard cast data. As described in their FAQ, it's the velocity you need to watch. Hope this helps, and have fun.
My wife has a Ruger Security Six and can shoot .38spl 125gr berry's plated bullets all day. Thanks for that link, I looked for the info over there, must have over looked it thank you!!! I hope you end up liking the Berry's. They make up about 95% of my plinking bullets. A guy at Cabelas the other day tried to convince me to switch to Rainier (cheaper), and I am sure they are fine, but I have always had good results with Berry's. and they are not that much cheaper. Well for me, 158gr wasn't my first choice for plinking, but it was the only bullets that Brownells, or anyone had in stock at the time, and for $30 for 250 it wasn't too bad. I hope they work out good 
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I'm loading 4gr of Unique in both 158gr plated and 158gr lead in 38 special. It makes nice plinking load for my J frame Smith & Wesson model 60. Not quite a powder puff load but defiantly not a hot load. Good info thanks! That is what I was kinda leaning at, as most of the loads I had seen for hard cast were 4-4.7gr of Unique. Looks like 4gr of Unique should push a 158gr close to 8-900fps, which is pretty decent for a plingking load. I'll load up 3-4 different combos, try them, and settle on one. |
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You may not want to use the FCD with the plated bullets but with the 38 being roll crimped it should be OK. The FCD has a carbide ring in the bottom that will iron out any anything that is over the max dimension of a minimum size chamber. This sometimes causes it to size down slightly oversize bullets inside the case which is very undesirable. I won't use mine with cast bullets for this reason.
If you use the FCD you should still have your seat/crimp die adjusted so that it removes most of the mouth flair (bell mouth). |
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Quoted:
You may not want to use the FCD with the plated bullets but with the 38 being roll crimped it should be OK. The FCD has a carbide ring in the bottom that will iron out any anything that is over the max dimension of a minimum size chamber. This sometimes causes it to size down slightly oversize bullets inside the case which is very undesirable. I won't use mine with cast bullets for this reason. If you use the FCD you should still have your seat/crimp die adjusted so that it removes most of the mouth flair (bell mouth). I'll just have to play it by ear. I know i have to have a good crimp on my load, so not to get bullet jump. I'll just try out the FCD, and a light crimp and see what happens. |
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