Powders for 38 Special and 357 Magnum

[p..]

In 38 Special, I've tried, W231, Unique, Power Pistol, Red Dot, Green Dot, Titegroup, and CFE Pistol. I don't really have a favorite, though my most accurate J frame load is with Titegroup and lead 158s. I will say for this round, I really do not like Berry's plated bullets. I get awful SD numbers with them.

In 357 Magnum, I've tried Unique, H110, 2400, Green Dot, and Enforcer. For full power loads with jacketed 158s, my preference is 2400. H110 works, but there's not a lot of room to play with loads. You kind of fill up the case behind whatever bullet you're loading, and that's that. I found that Enforcer was picky about primers. Did not like Federal MSPP #200s, super wide extreme spread with some almost misfires, only ran well with CCI550s. I didn't try CCI 400, or any non magnum small pistol primers. Unique and Green Dot were fine for less than maximum loads. Haven't really played around a lot with "mild" magnum loads so don't have much advice to offer on that front.

For 357 full power loads, if I couldn't get 2400, I'd get H110. If I couldn't get either of those, honestly I'd explore one of the other magnum pistol powders before I went with Enforcer. I didn't like that powder's primer sensitivity. I have some Alliant 300MP but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet. Kind of waiting until I pick up a 357 lever gun to use that one.

 

[mac1911]

2400 and Clays

 

[whacko]

I think for magnums its pretty tough to get one that will work for both range loads......maybe HP38 or W231 would be best bet for that.

For Unique and Universal.....I'm finding that Winchester 572 is probably gonna have to be my replacement. I have a dwindling 8# of Unique now......I use Unique in 20ga, 28ga target loads alot..... and 44 mag plinking loads.

I use Titegroup for 357 mag , 40SW and 45 ACP target loads..........TG is readily available currently and have had no problems other than prices going up.

I retain 110 and 2400 for use in 44 mag hunting loads, and it can be used for 300 Blackout, Im burning thru my110 right now for Blackout, and will likely pick up a large supply of H110, ro 2400 if I can find it. If not I'll have to go to CFE BLK which is readily available, and possibly that could be used for 44 mag stouts, but not a lot of data out there.

I don't hunt with .357 so no experience with full house loads there but I'd expect 110 or 2400 would be the powders to go to.

Unique is about the best you'll get for splitting the difference in 38 and 357.

 

[whacko]

Unique is about the best you'll get for splitting the difference in 38 and 357.

I'll sign up for it.....Never heard of it.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

I'll sign up for it.....Never heard of it.

I’ve had a subscription a couple times. It’s nice because if handloader had an article on using Clays powder to load mouse farts with 168s in the .308 you’ll find it there.
So you get a lot of the odd ball loads too.

 

[Road_Clam]

My holy grail of internet purchase "at the right place and right time" find. Brownells , I had a 15% coupon, and used the penny hazmat code. I wanna say this 8# Keg cost me about $150. Excellent handgun powder especially if you want to experiment with some lighter loads. I also been playing around with 2400 in my Henry 30-30 with light cowboy loads.

 

[p..]

My holy grail of internet purchase "at the right place and right time" find. Brownells , I had a 15% coupon, and used the penny hazmat code. I wanna say this 8# Keg cost me about $150. Excellent handgun powder especially if you want to experiment with some lighter loads. I also been playing around with 2400 in my Henry 30-30 with light cowboy loads.

I think I paid about that at Shooting Supply for a 4# bottle 2 years ago, and I thought that was a pretty good deal.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

My holy grail of internet purchase "at the right place and right time" find. Brownells , I had a 15% coupon, and used the penny hazmat code. I wanna say this 8# Keg cost me about $150. Excellent handgun powder especially if you want to experiment with some lighter loads. I also been playing around with 2400 in my Henry 30-30 with light cowboy loads.

View attachment 965372

Love that for “magnum” loads. I don’t see the need for H110 to gain a few feet per second and burn up my cylinders or chambers on a gun I can’t buy anymore.

Last time I got an 8# I paid $80. That was 2019
Other than free that’s about the best powder score I’ve ever had.

 

[Mark from ?]

Love that for “magnum” loads. I don’t see the need for H110 to gain a few feet per second and burn up my cylinders or chambers on a gun I can’t buy anymore.

Last time I got an 8# I paid $80. That was 2019
Other than free that’s about the best powder score I’ve ever had.

I have pound of it I paid 20 dollars for back probably around 2018. I'm saving it for my hunting loads in .44mag.

 

[DW357]

My holy grail of internet purchase "at the right place and right time" find. Brownells , I had a 15% coupon, and used the penny hazmat code. I wanna say this 8# Keg cost me about $150. Excellent handgun powder especially if you want to experiment with some lighter loads. I also been playing around with 2400 in my Henry 30-30 with light cowboy loads.

View attachment 965372

I bought an 8 pounder from them also, in late 2019? Or was it 2020? I paid $160 shipped.