Is there a general purpose load for .38 special?

my everyday load would be 4.5gr. Unique under a 158-ish SWC. Loaded at least a short ton of those.

I've always understood that 8.5 gr Unique and a 255gr was an all purpose load in .45 Colt. Something along those lines.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

Colt specs as well as being considered "safe" for Colts and replicas. I shoot quite a bit of that as well.....when I get to shoot these days anyway.

3.5 grains of Bullseye is also a standard load for many years with a 158-grain lead bullet. I always found that load to be more accurate with a round nose bullet. It is my go-to load when shooting old Smith Revolvers.

Bob

I’ve Liao many thousands of that load under any variety of 158-ish gr bullet and also a full wadcutter whether hollow based or solid. I always like it because I can tell non Re loaders that you can get 2000 rounds out of a pound of powder (theoretically, anyways…)

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a 158 grain leaden projectile (pick the profile of choice - RNL, SWC, HP, etc) a bit of Unique or Bullseye - or W231. There are several other powders that work as well, but those pretty much fall in to the "generic 38 SPL load" category. I tried a load of 4227 a while back, something I got off of Taffin's work if I recall correctly, but got a lot of unburned powder and didn't find that it gave me anything else worth mentioning. I just ran a bunch of 158's and plan to load up some over Unique, Bullseye or W231, if time allows. Need to run some 3030 and 45 Colt first.

Thank you gentlemen.

keeping in mind pressure changes with modern powder. John Taffin has a bit of wisdom to share on the .38 Special. Taffin Tests are my go to for wisdom.
http://sixguns.com/tests/tt38spcl.htm

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

"More traditional loads for the .38 Special are assembled with 158 grain cast bullets from Bull-X (102 S. Main St., Dept. AH, Farmer City, Illinois 61842. Phone 309-928-2574.) My longtime standard .38 Special regular load has been a 158 grain SWC over 5.0 grains of Unique. At 850 feet per second, this is a fine varmint/jack rabbit load and certainly much better as a defensive load than the round-nosed .38 Special. The 158 grain Bull-X SWC .38 Special bullet fits the bill nicely."

I follow John Taffin's advice and this is my most used .38 load.

My notion of a general purpose 38 special load is a solid base full wadcutter bullet over 3.5 grains of Bullseye. This is not a +P load, but is on the upper end of standard pressure.