Seven Powders in the 38 Special including Dominion D800

Andy

Andy

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38 Special - 148 gr FWC - 1.250" OAL
S&W Model 10 - 6" Barrel

1 - Red Dot - 3.0 grs - 790 fps
2 - Titegroup - 3.0 grs - 775 fps
3 - Bullseye - 3.0 grs - 760 fps - Accurate
4 - HP38 - 3.5 grs - 760 fps - Accurate
5 - HP38 - 4.0 grs - 860 fps
6 - Unique - 4.5 grs - 960 fps
7 - D800 - 4.0 grs - 820 fps
8 - D800 - 4.5 grs - 920 fps - Most Accurate
9 - D800 - 5.0 grs - 990 fps
10 - CFE-Pistol - 3.5 grs - 690 fps

Placed in order of Burn Rate in the 38 Special. Top Loads for each powder are considered near Max except for CFE Pistol - I just wanted to try a Min Load in it.

D800 came in right where I would have expected Hodgdon 800-X - a bit slower than Unique and faster than CFE Pistol. I was surprised and delighted that it came in as so accurate, as I bought 5 lbs of it! It doesn't meter as well as some other powders, but I'll cope.
 
oops said:
Is it very dirty?.......I use 3.0 of 231,with 148wc...some smoke,but more residual dust on the cylinder
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I didn't pay much attention to that, certainly not by comparing each of the 10 loads. I never pay much attention in fact. I go first for accuracy, and then for metering. Cleanliness is a nice to have.

snooker said:
Andy, are your wc lead or plated?
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Lead - Wolf FWC DGG (Full Wad Cutter Double Grease Groove) 148 grain.
 
I've used plenty of 800-X in shotgun loads but it meters very poorly, ended up getting up to 0.5gr variations due to the large flakes.
This isn't a problem with shotshells but I personally wouldn't use it in handgun loads unless you're hand weighing your charges.

On the other hand, I've had good luck with red dot in 38 spl, particularly with lighter bullets(125gr TC, 115gr RN).
 
Good thread. I've used lots of 700X in 38 spl, along with several others. True, it doesn't meter worth a hoot, but for all the pistol shooting I do nowadays, I just weigh each charge.
 
You should see what 3gr of Unique under a 148gr HBWC loaded upside down does for expansion.I used these in a 4" S+W model 10 years ago and they expanded to about .75" Skeeter Skeleton used to use these in his backup gun 2" S+W while on Border Patrol....writer from G+A years gone by.
 
Andy said:
.....
D800 came in right where I would have expected Hodgdon 800-X - a bit slower than Unique and faster than CFE Pistol. I was surprised and delighted that it came in as so accurate, as I bought 5 lbs of it! It doesn't meter as well as some other powders, but I'll cope.
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I've tried a bit of D800 and like it. Really have to ask if you have found a measure or method of handling it that works very well?
In bigger loads for plinking ammo I can live with some inconsistencies but this weekend I tried a few different settings and 2 different measures. Finally gave it up and went back to titegroup.
Is there anything besides weigh and trickle to get good results?
 
vagrantviking said:
I've tried a bit of D800 and like it. Really have to ask if you have found a measure or method of handling it that works very well?
In bigger loads for plinking ammo I can live with some inconsistencies but this weekend I tried a few different settings and 2 different measures. Finally gave it up and went back to titegroup.
Is there anything besides weigh and trickle to get good results?
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I use my Lyman 55 powder thrower for flake powders. It works better than the others.
 
Ganderite said:
I use my Lyman 55 powder thrower for flake powders. It works better than the others.
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With D800, my RCBS Uniflow powder measure drops +/- 0.5 grs in the 4.5 gr range. Also with D800, my RCBS Chargemaster is less than +/- 0.1 grs in the 4.5 gr range.

I have heard good things about the Lyman 55 as well, and if one comes my way at an excellent price, I'd probably buy it. However, I'm not about to buy and try several powder measures to try to match the RCBS Chargemaster I already own to gain a few seconds per round in powder dispensing. I just use the time that the powder is being dispensed to seat a bullet, then when they're all done, they're separately crimped. Not the fastest approach, but fast enough for me.

I use the powder in my revolver, loading perhaps 100 rounds at a time, not for a semi-auto pistol where I go "full operator" running around dropping mags everywhere, for that I'd avoid D800.
 
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Ganderite said:
I use my Lyman 55 powder thrower for flake powders. It works better than the others.
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Tried my Lyman 55 using the medium slide alone and then using the big slide and fine adjustment with the small. Going to have to work on the technique some more.
The big Pacific measure was completely useless. And didn't even try the Lee.
 
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