I got a Charter 38 recently and I wanted to see if I could make some handloads using just what I have on hand. These Berry’s bullets I use in both 9mm and .380 they are a couple tho undersize but I was curious if I could make ‘em work.
My first attempt revealed that Remington 38 spl brass didn’t have enough neck tension to hold. However every other case I had tensioned just fine. I loaded this deep as I could on top of 3 grains of Titegroup. A recipe I have used in 380 with good effect.
Loaded 5 up and shot em. Realized that there was so much empty volume that they had become orientation sensitive. Primer pushed the bullet out the barrel two times. Managed to find this fella on the ground. Note my crimp was not too excessive as to ruin the plating.
The other 3 shots I tipped it back and they fired just fine. Fairly mild. Upon inspection I found that the burn kinda sucked, lots of powder left over.
So my second go was to load the bullet upside down sort of like a full wad cutter. They turned out pretty good.
All five of these fired even when I tipped the powder forward. Accuracy was okay ish… except for this strange flyer. Shots taken at 7yds.
I even dressed a couple of water jugs up in flannel and shot them to see if the hollow base would expand.
Cut a clean hole through jug 1
Exited jug 2, hit the 1/4 inch OSB and fell to the ground. Not very impressive energy transfer like I was hoping. Seems lethal though. Managed to recover it. You can see my crimp on this one as well
Although these loads do work…. I’m very unhappy with using Titegroup in this recipe. Too much case volume and the burn sucked even with the upside down load. Looking to try some bullseye next to see if it will make a difference.
I’d be glad to read your favorite 38 standard pressure loads down below.
My first attempt revealed that Remington 38 spl brass didn’t have enough neck tension to hold. However every other case I had tensioned just fine. I loaded this deep as I could on top of 3 grains of Titegroup. A recipe I have used in 380 with good effect.
Loaded 5 up and shot em. Realized that there was so much empty volume that they had become orientation sensitive. Primer pushed the bullet out the barrel two times. Managed to find this fella on the ground. Note my crimp was not too excessive as to ruin the plating.
The other 3 shots I tipped it back and they fired just fine. Fairly mild. Upon inspection I found that the burn kinda sucked, lots of powder left over.
So my second go was to load the bullet upside down sort of like a full wad cutter. They turned out pretty good.
All five of these fired even when I tipped the powder forward. Accuracy was okay ish… except for this strange flyer. Shots taken at 7yds.
I even dressed a couple of water jugs up in flannel and shot them to see if the hollow base would expand.
Cut a clean hole through jug 1
Exited jug 2, hit the 1/4 inch OSB and fell to the ground. Not very impressive energy transfer like I was hoping. Seems lethal though. Managed to recover it. You can see my crimp on this one as well
Although these loads do work…. I’m very unhappy with using Titegroup in this recipe. Too much case volume and the burn sucked even with the upside down load. Looking to try some bullseye next to see if it will make a difference.
I’d be glad to read your favorite 38 standard pressure loads down below.