Yesterday's Weapons Forums

I was bored today and was looking up some reloading data for the following rounds.

For 32 ACP 71 Grain jacke ted bullet, I can use,

accur #2, or #5 or Win231

For 38 S&W, 158 grain lead bullet,

accur #2, or #5

38 Special 158 Grain lead bullet,

accur #2, or #5 or Win231

45ACP 230 Grain Jacketed bullet,

accur #2, or #5 or Win231

Which is better the Accur #2 or #5? Would the Win 231 be better? And then use something else for the 38 S&W?

I was seeing if I could use one power for all.

strangms

txpete,
Thanks for the info, What do you like for 45 ACP?

strangms

_________________
"The great object is, that every man be armed."
- Patrick Henry

"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people's liberty teeth ...... firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. When firearms go, all goes..."
GEORGE WASHINGTON

my go to powder for almost all lead and target loads is universal clays.

GG

_________________
A dart or a sledgehammer What do you prefer?

Old Thor ain't got nothing on me.



Gungrubber

[quote]Which is better the Accur #2 or #5?[/quote]

Two different application spreads. AA#2 is comparable to Bullseye, and #5 is comparable to Unique.

Even though W231 is a ball powder (flattened), it is pretty versatile.

You did not say what weapon you are loading the .38 S&W for. If you are loading for the Smith & Wesson .38/200, most data you find will be way under-powered in propellant change. This is because so many cheap (and therefore possibly weak) revolvers were made in this caliber; purveyors of contemporary data err on the side of caution. Actually, the military cartridge for the .38/200 was different that the commercial .38 S&W. It just that in this country, about all people could get to shoot in the .38/200 was the relatively low-powered .38 S&W. The original British .380 cartridge as used in the S&W .38/200 (and other British service revolvers) was comparable in power to the .38 Special.

Also, the .380 British service cartridge and the .38 S&W are supposed to be of a bullet size to fit a .360 bore, not .357/.358 as is the .38 Special. You can hand load .38 S&W successfully with lead .358 bullets, but if you can get them, usually .360 will give better accuracy.

Not long ago, I miked the bullets pulled from some RP factory .38 S&W loads and they were sized well under .357; no wonder some people report horrible results as to accuracy with factory ammo in this caliber. I have decided that this was another move by the factory to play it safe with old revolvers. If the bullet was undersized, it couldn't build up much pressure.

The 38 S&W is for my "Victory" model. I have mainly shot 38 S&W factory loads from Winchester.

strangms

This is kinda like picking the fly poop out of the pepper, but the Smith & Wesson "Victory Model" is chambered in .38 Special, and the wartime model chambered in .38 S&W (British .380 inch) is commonly called the .38/200. Both revolvers were versions of the pre-war .38 Military & Police revolver. The .38/200 actually came first (in 1938), from British orders before the US became involved in WW2. After Pearl Harbor, the US purchased war versions of the .38 M&P, and these were called the Victory Model. The .38/200's and the Victory Model were made in the same serial number ranges. Early revolvers in this series were blued, then a Parkerized finished was used.

The M&P revolver in .38 S&W/British .380 inch was not discontinued after the war. It was continued in limited numbers as the .38/200 Military & Police, and when model numbers were assigned in 1957, it was called the Model 11. It wasn't catalogued but they were shipped from the factory as late as 1970. Most of the customers for these revolvers after the war were former British Commonwealth nations, like South Africa, India, etc where the caliber was still in use.

The jacketed bullet loads used during the war having the 180 grain bullet were seen in surplus markets here in the US in the 1960's and 1970's. I've fired some of these myself in years gone by and they are not wimpy loads. I'm seeing these being sold as collector cartridges now, since the supply ran out long ago.

The British loaded these with cordite, if I am not mistaken. Some lots of the surplus 180 grain ammo had problems with reliability of ignition, but of course by that time they were fairly old.

I've owned quite a number of the M&P's in the wartime series, both .38/200's and Victory Models. Some of the .38/200's that went to Australia were crudely rechambered for .38 Special sometime over the years. They were clearly marked "Rebored in Australia" and because the .38/200 chamber is larger in diameter, when .38 Special ammo was fired in the oversized chambers it would often split the case.

Not all of the .38/200's were sent overseas to Britain or the Commonwealth nations. Some were retained in the US and distributed for use by defense plant guards, civil defense, and so on. These will still be found with the "US Property" markings on the top strap.

The serial number prefix of "V" that was used on most of the war production revolvers was changed in early 1945 to "SV". This was due to the addition of a hammer block safety to the design. This came about as a result of an accident aboard a naval vessel in Dec. 1944 when a sailor was killed by a bullet fired from a Victory model that had been accidentally dropped.

When I was handloading for the .38/200, I settled on a load of 4.0 gr. of AA#5, using a bullet of 195 grains in weight. This was a .360 lead bullet having a profile that approximated the original British bullet with the long, sloping ogive. Across my chrono, I clocked this load at 690 fps. with no external signs of over-pressure being evident when fired from my revolver.

My Australian issue S&W .38/200 was made in 1945 and has the new hammer block. FTRd in '54.

_________________
"The great object is, that every man be armed."
- Patrick Henry

"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people's liberty teeth ...... firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. When firearms go, all goes..."
GEORGE WASHINGTON