.38 Special revolvers shooting high

[Ian]

I was more worried about corrosive by-products at first, but from what Brad has said about the containers and equipment in his industry, it appears that the pc might simply be absorbing some of the nitro. Who knows, if the ammo sits long enough and the bases have a good coat of pc, we might have invented rocket-propelled bullets.

 

[fiver]

I understand power pistol does the same thing. [tongue in cheek please nobody try this, or at least video tape it if you do]
maybe you could use it's data and wait a couple of years for the PC to suck the nitro out of the T-grp.
I'd imagine enough nitro soaking of the coating could add some excitement to your target shooting.

 

[freebullet]

Lol!!! You fellers crack me up.

I really couldn't see anything more happening than the powder coat peeling cracking or falling off. Think about it like gas tank sealers when they fail that's what happens.

I pulled a couple 1+ year old hf coated bullets & the bases are fine.

I have a power coated bullet sitting in a pill bottle of tg. Looks fine so far, we'll see in a month or 2. Maybe I'll throw the bullet in a fire from afar.

My 2+ year old 45/45/10 tl 9mm have tg stuck to the bases they fire as normal.

 

[Winelover]

Finally, found a load that prints to POA, for the 44 SPL Bulldog. The NOE 265 PB solid with 5.0 grains of Unique....this is my heaviest 44 bullet mould. Everything else I tried, printed low, including Lyman 250 grain bullets. Couldn't find any published data for anything heavier than 250 grains for the 44 Special......so I guesstimated. Tried the first round in the Redhawk, just to be safe....between raindrops.

 

[Rick]

Combat distance? I see powder burns on that target.

 

[Winelover]

Combat distance? I see powder burns on that target.

That's printer ink....must have been running low.

 

[Rick]

That's printer ink....must have been running low.

That's as good a story as any I guess.
.

 

[Winelover]

I did try those snake loads you gave me, in the Bulldog.........

 

[Rick]

Serpent won't be hiding from that huh? Did you do any penetration testing?

 

[Winelover]

Only the cardboard backing.

 

[Ian]

I don't know where your other thread went or what thread you posted on about the loads you tried, but I remember you were using Bullseye and Red Dot or similar with the Lyman 250 and that left me scratching my head. With the lighter bullets you were using Unique IIRC. I remember looking at that data thinking that they all ought to print in about the same place....light bullets slow/powder, heavy bullets fast powder, no wonder they all did the same thing for you.

Here's the guidelines for POI: Heavy bullets+slow powder+light charges get you higher. Light bullets + fast powder + heavy charges get you lower. I would have recommended True Blue and the 250 to make it print higher. TB will burn dirty but VERY consistently at low pressure and be just about the slowest-burning powder that would work in your application.

 

[Winelover]

Only posted on this thread.......I used Mike V's load of 4.5 grains of Bulleye for 44 Special, with the Lyman 250 grain bullet.

I am well of the relationship of powder, bullet weight and POA changes. This gun wasn't reacting the way I expected, which happened to be the opposite of the original topic.

I have too many powders laying around. However, I only keep Bullseye, Unique and 2400 for all my handgun needs. Never needed anything else. I reserve the 2400 for the magnum loadings. I have used Accurate #7 for 38's and 9mm's.....and would use again if Unique was unobtainable.

 

[Ian]

Strange that all of these loadings shot @ 5" low. All shooting was at defensive distance of 10 yards.

I guess I read the wrong thing in this, then, I was thinking you were surprised that the were all shooting the same, as well as all shooting low. They should have all shot the same, but should't any of them have shot low, so I'm only surprised by half of the equation.

I am well of the relationship of powder, bullet weight and POA changes.

I would hope so, you've been doing this a lot longer than I have!

Anyway, glad you got it sorted without having to buy another powder.

 

[Ian]

Well, well. Threw together a load with the powder-coated Lee 125 grainers and Titegroup and got instant bugholes in both .38s, right to POA w/6 o'clock hold on a dime-sized dot at 15 yards, no drama. Charge was somewhere between 4.0 and 4.1 grains because I wasn't in the mood to fuss with the measure much, might just leave it set right where it is.

 

[Str8shot426]

Well, well. Threw together a load with the powder-coated Lee 125 grainers and Titegroup and got instant bugholes in both .38s, right to POA w/6 o'clock hold on a dime-sized dot at 15 yards, no drama. Charge was somewhere between 4.0 and 4.1 grains because I wasn't in the mood to fuss with the measure much, might just leave it set right where it is.

Read this entire thread to see that your result are similar to mine. My S&W model 10 shoots 4-5" high with heavy projectiles, I also found the lee 125 RF shoots dead on with a medium charge of bullseye. Might just be the way I shoot, but I'm not changing either!

 

[Ian]

You and I must be in a class by ourselves, but that's the way it is. You'd think with all the tens of thousands of rounds I've cast, loaded, and shot in .38 revolvers over the years that I'd be used to them shooting quite high, but really it has always bugged me. In the K-38 I could cut the amount in half with the adjustable rear sight before it ran out of room, so it was a little more tolerable than the Victory Model 10.

Someone gave me a mostly-full cardboard keg of 473AA and I played a little with that, finally decided the Speer #11 data was too danged hot and a nice, 80%-throttle target load ended up being .2 grains below starting loads, at 4.3 grains. I really like it and it hits right where the 4.1 of Titegroup did, with similar accuracy. Not that I'm short on Titegroup, but the old Winchester powder seems to react less with the powder coating and it needs to be used up.