.38spec / H110 / Fired out of a .357?

Prairie Plinker

Prairie Plinker

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So I know H110 has a narrow operating window, but I'm curious...

Has anyone loaded up .38 special brass with H110 to make a "small" .357? Let's call it a .38 Magnum. If so, how much powder did you use? I'm just taking a wild guess... 16-17gr with a 125gr bullet?

And before the lectures begin, I am aware of the dangers of firing something like that in a .38spec firearm. They'd be used in my 686 only.
 
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I looked into that a while ago but distracted and never did anything with it. I can tell you that 16-17 gr is the max for a 158gr bullet bullet in 357mag so it would be over in a 38 spl case. I would consider a 10-11 gr charge with a 158gr bullet. But that's just me, do so at your own risk.
 
Should have clarified my guess of 16-17gr with a 125gr bullet. With a 158gr around 10-11gr sounds about right.

Anyone else have experience with this? I know there's no real reason to do it, but... what's the fun in that? :)
 
I couldn't tell you, but good point. My hunch is yes, but I like to go on more than a hunch when setting off explosives in my hand!
 
I have made mid-magnum loads in 38Spl cases, when I was short of magnum brass. Worked well enough, but because I shoot a number of 38Spl revolvers I quit before I made a mistake one day.

Is H110/296 your only powder? If I was going to do it, I would use 2400 or Power Pistol, and work up.
 
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The question is: why would you do that? Most of the 38spl revolver are not designed to shoot +P or magnum loads, and shooting steady 38spl in 357 cylinder will cause a ring of fouling in the chambers. Also there is a risk of misplacing those hot rounds and later shooting them in a 38 revolver. 357 cases are equally easy to find than 38.
 
Back about the time I was born , hot .38 loads were pretty popular if you read Elmer Keith or Skeeter Skelton.
Keith style lead semi wadcutter bullets were seated pretty far out of .38 special cases.
I've seen 1000 + fps out of a six inch 38 special with a not quite maximum load of HS-6.
On that note I find it interesting how the standard .38 Special load (158gr lead @ 850 ish) became a +P load.
Right up into the 70's a 158gr loads around 1000fps were available .
No doubt they were for intended for use in .357 revolvers.
But still...
 
FAQMAT said:
The question is: why would you do that? Most of the 38spl revolver are not designed to shoot +P or magnum loads, and shooting steady 38spl in 357 cylinder will cause a ring of fouling in the chambers. Also there is a risk of misplacing those hot rounds and later shooting them in a 38 revolver. 357 cases are equally easy to find than 38.
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The answer, like with the reason for owning firearms is because we can..

I don't own any 38spl only revolvers and have no plans to so it's not a concern for me.
 
Quickload software is something you might want to consider for experimenting where there is no published data.

17 grains of H110 should be a reasonable starting point with 125 grain bullets.
 
I went through some of this thought process 6 months go when all I could get was 110/296. In the end I dug out what I had for 357 brass and went that way. I couldn't find any data for 125gr and only found 150-180gr from Sierra.

158gr 10.6-12.1 of W296

Clint

EDIT Make sure to use Mag primers. I missed that bit when I used the 296. The manual I was using had "*", but no explaination on the "*". Had a couple of pops instead of bangs.
 
Well the op already stated a S&W 686, which is a good strong medium frame revolver. I used to use full bore 357 loads of 296, minus 2 grains in Dom/IVI 38 spl brass in an old Ruger 3 screw. Never had a moments problems with it and I fired thousands of them like that, but like you, I didn't own a 38 spl at the time and had no money to buy 357.......someone gave me 500 mixed Dominion and IVI cases and I just loaded them and went shooting.
ALWAYS use magnum primers !!! 296 is somewhat difficult to light and it certainly has a minimum working pressure that it does not like to work below, but beyond that it is an extremely stable and predictable powder, not the least bit tempermental and I have burnt many kegs of it in 357s and 44s, some in my hornet and now in my new 30 carbine. I have worked well above the books and used it with bullets there was no data for (300 gn Barnes) long before anybody thought of running a 300 gn bullet in the 44 mag, these bullets were built and labeled 444 Marlin, but man did they work and the load would out shoot my abilities. One very positive property was the predictable pressure increase with load increases, no spikes, no stuck cases just more velocity and linearly more pressure. I worked these loads in an old 3 screw and later the 2 pin Ruger Super Blackhawk with the unfluted cylinder, I wouldn't recommend going above book max in a spit frame revolver, or experimenting like I did, but the old SBH held together and I got some interesting data and results.
 
A bit of a revival here, but thanks for all the responses. While I realize this isn't really a practical thing to do, I like to tinker, haha.

I ended up loading all those 125gr bullets into light .38 loads. I've now got a couple thousand 158gr Campro's to load up. Once I get some free time I'll start with 10.8gr and work up!
 
tiriaq said:
Is a .38Sp case as strong as a .357 case?
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That famous bullet that Elmer Keith designed for the 357, I forget the number, about 158 grain, flat nose, semi wad cutter, was too long to shoot in some 357 magnum revolvers, when crimped in the proper crimping groove.
The S&W 27 and some Colts were some of the popular guns to be so affected by this bullet.
Skeeter Skelton was one time the most popular, and copied revolver writer. He gave two solutions to the long bullet.
One was to use 357 brass and crimp on the shoulder of the bullet, ahead of the crimping groove.
The second option, which was the most popular, was to use 38 Sp. brass and crimp in the proper crimping groove. In all the reading I did of Skelton's work on this, I never read of him mentioning that 38 brass may be weaker. Uncountable millions of 38 brass was used in full loads of 357.
This should put to rest any thought of 38 Special brass being too weak for full loads in 357.
At the time of this I had a Model 27 which would not take the long bullet in the proper crimping groove, as well as a Ruger Security Six, which did take the proper loading of the bullet. I used the exact same charge, full load, of either H110 or 2400 powder and as I recall the chronograph showed virtually the same for either type case.
Bruce
 
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