I own a 357 and was wondering, whats the lowest powered 38 special round out there. I dont reload so it would be either win, rem, or fed. store rounds, does it matter bullet weight ? and also ive heard something about leading in barrels, does that meen the cheeper ammo will do this ? thanks all.
You'll shoot your eye out kid.
The 146 grain lead full "wadcutter" load intended for 50 foot target shooting is the mildest factory load I know about.
Why do you want the weakest possible 38 load? A 22 would be cheaper.
You need to start reloading if you want to be serious with center fire handgun shooting.
Government is the natural enemy of freedom. The more government you have, the less freedom you enjoy. Government exists to restrict liberty, not promote it. Government doe not liberate, it enslaves. Government is the problem, not the solution.
Saxon, to use for plinking and can killing, i figured why not the lowest powered 38 special, if its just for fun.
You'll shoot your eye out kid.
The 148 gr wadcutter would be the lowest load I know also. Be VERY careful of the reloads that you can buy. In fact I would stay away from them altogether.Originally Posted by Ohio guy
Dave
"There are no strangers here. Just friends we haven't met yet!"
In factory ammo, target wadcutters cost at least 2X what 158 gr. lead RN ammo costs - a waste of good $$, IMO. CCI/Blazer aluminum case loads w/ 158gr. bullets are about the cheapest factory-made .38 Special loads around here. They are pretty weak, too, so that should satisfy you for plinking.
xtm
If you try to shoot too low of power ammo, you also run the risk of sticking a bullet in the bore.:-ss
If you fire another round with one stuck in the pipe, you'll not be too happy with the bulge in the barrel that will be there when you get the obstruction out. That is, if you don't split the barrel!
Dyin' ain't much of a livin' boy. The outlaw Josey Wales
Leading in barrels is usually not that much an issue. There are some bullets and loads that will certainly clog up the rifling. But the better bullets are cast with alloys that won't really cause leading issues. 100 pounds of lead and 13 pounds of tin is a pretty good one, anything close to that should be okay. I for one, don't have a clue what the big factories use for slug alloys. You may be better off by finding a commercial reloading company and using their loads for your gun. Look for a large public range that shoots a lot of 38 special, and has in house reloads to buy. You want to find out where those reloads come from and buy direct. If you can spring for a thousand at a time, or more, often those reloading companies will be happy to load what ever you wish for slugs and powder.
Low velocity is no guarantee of no leading. On the other end of the spectrum, the Keith bullets, properly cast, lubed, and loaded at magnum velocities, are known as bullets that don't cause leading issues. There are other lead slugs that shoot cleanly too. All said and done, you can make a habit of firing off a few hundred lead slugs and then fire a couple of full cylinders of jacketed bullets-that will scrape out the lead quite well at the end of a session. When you clean the bore, use something good like a CLP, and let is soak for a few hours before using the bore brush.
You can make a pretty inexpensive and fun load by pushing primed cases into a block of paraffin wax.
A little messy in the clean up but all you are out is the cost of the primers....
Here's how it's done:
http://www.gunfighter.com/cgi-bin/bbs/f ... i?read=700
Accurate enough for Bill Jordan and I've used them across the length of my basement.
".... Evil Flourishes When Good Men Do Nothing...."
so why the wax bullet? Any problems with wax staying in the barrel? Are they any good at very basic plinking for 20ft? seems rather interesting in a way.
Hey Greg!
Yes, you do get wax in the barrel, but it comes out pretty easily.
I used to use a stainless 681 for this and after I peeled the grips off it went into the dishwasher..... alone, with nothing else. Came out slick as a hounds tooth and after I hit it with a generous dose of Break Free it was ready for storage.
Wax can be fairly accurate.... better than runner bullets in my opinion. we were shooting at 50' of so.
One thing we learned was that if you opened up the primer pockets with a drill it eased seating of the the primers and reduced set back against the recoil shield. Cases so modified were notched and never used again for anything else....
Cheap, quiet, fun and relatively safe as wax won't ricochet....
".... Evil Flourishes When Good Men Do Nothing...."
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