Powders for 38 Special and 357 Magnum

[steve8140]

Looking for recommendations for powders for 38 special and 357 magnum for anything from subsonic loads up to hunting loads.

With some powders starting to come back with regular availability, I’m curious what would you lean towards buying in today’s market?
I’d hate to buy 1-2 pounds but then not be able to find more.

 

[Eric H]

When I first started loading, I was getting real good use of out Power Pistol for both cartridges. Titegroup works too, but you're not gonna hit top end of .357 Magnum with that though.

2400 is fantastic for top end .357 Magnum however.

I haven't been looking lately on the availability of any of these though.

 

[steve8140]

When I first started loading, I was getting real good use of out Power Pistol for both cartridges. Titegroup works too, but you're not gonna hit top end of .357 Magnum with that though.

2400 is fantastic for top end .357 Magnum however.

I haven't been looking lately on the availability of any of these though.

Powerpistol, universal, unique and a few others are constantly out of stock at several vendors and a few others have sporadic availability but the cost is significantly higher.

I have Titegroup and CFE Pistol on hand so I’ll probably start with those.

 

[peterk123]

2400 all day long for full power 357. Great stuff. Accurate as heck out of my 357 6inch barrel. I will fire the same load out of my Henry lever action and ping steel at 100 yards with it.

I love hp38 for 38sp. Use it in a snubby and my 6 inch revolver.
Will also use this in my Henry. It's like shooting a 22. Also very accurate for pinging steel at a 100. Just takes a little longer to get there.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

WW231, Unique or Titegroup (probably) for 38 special.

WW296 or H110 (same thing, made by St Marks and rebranded) is great for 357 mag.

 

[DW357]

I feel like you’re going to need a medium burn rate powder to get the best of both. Like unique or power pistol. I never bothered trying to find a dual purpose powder. I run 2400 strictly for 357 mag and any fast burn rate powder for 38 spl.
But all my powders were bought before they went full retard with pricing and availability

 

[walter62]

I generally use HP38/W231 for low-end 357 and AA9/Enforcer/N110 for heavy lifting.

I only load into 357 cases so need 2 flavors.

 

[steve8140]

I feel like you’re going to need a medium burn rate powder to get the best of both. Like unique or power pistol. I never bothered trying to find a dual purpose powder. I run 2400 strictly for 357 mag and any fast burn rate powder for 38 spl.
But all my powders were bought before they went full retard with pricing and availability

I’m perfectly fine having multiple powders. Just looking for availability mostly which I expect to continue to get better over time if we’re lucky.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Good thing about 38 is it’s been around for over 100 years and has been loaded with just about every powder. There’s a ton of data on it.
Don’t discount checking old load books for more data than you find in the modern books.

Just about any fast to medium burning pistol powder works fine in 38. In your lever gun you’ll see more speed with the medium powders.
357 I pretty much only load 2400 powder.

That being said you can load 38ish light loads in the longer 357 brass. No need to hot rod if you can’t find the powder.

Some 215 grain SWCs penetrate deep and only need a pinch of Unique to do it.

 

[Golddiggie]

You can use this link to get load data for both calibers (plus a hell of a lot more). Looks like you can use Win231 for 357, depending on what projectile weight you're going to load up.