38 Super question

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  • joshualee49

    Sharpshooter
    Rating - 100%
    9   0   0
    Jun 12, 2012
    572
    18
    Gas City, Indiana
    Afternoon guys,

    So, a rather concerning thing has happened this afternoon, and I wanted to run it by the collective experience of the board and see where it lands...

    A little foreground - after many, MANY years of personal disconnect, my father and I have recently reunited - primarily centering around our mutual love, appreciation, and respect for the shooting sports and for guns in general. I just spent a few hours this afternoon at his place and we (read:he) worked up a few loads for my new Colt Gov't in 38 super. He was using a RCBS Rock Chucker. He has reloaded many many years and while I don't doubt his abilities in the slightest, the finished product from today's exercise has me a little worried. Suffice it to say, I don't plan on shooting these test loads until I do some research.


    The components: Brand new nickel starline brass, Remington 130gr FMJ RN projectiles (Midway SKU#671905), Winchester WAP (Yup, he is old school), and Winchester SPP's.


    So after sizing, priming, belling, and charging the cases, he set the seating die up using a standard PMC FMJ factory 38 super cartridge as a template. Upon seating his first bullet (which is a RN, and is not nearly as tapered as the PMC round used for the template) down to the recommended 1.275", we found that it would not chamber in my barrel. In fact, the rim of the case protruded quite a bit above the hood of the barrel when seated in the chamber as far as it would go. So, he proceeds to drive the bullet down until it will seat flush with the hood. What resulted was a cartridge with an OAL of 1.195". Now, I am just getting started in reloading, but it seems to me that a bullet depth like this will drastically increase the pressure and, quite frankly, I don't want to put them through my brand new $1,000.00 gun. I told him I wanted to research the condition of the rounds before firing them. We loaded up 5 test shots at minimum charge, and 5 shots at increasing intervals of .2 grn until reaching max charge with the idea being we shoot from a rest and see which ones group the best. (Charges were 6.3 - 7.3). As it stands though, I'm very leery about even chambering one of the lightest charges. I have tried to research on headspace, as well as try to determine the exact OAL that the cartridge will contact the lands of the rifling. Lots of great info on rifles out there, but drastically less on pistol calibers....My ultimate goal is to work up a hand load that is perhaps a few thousandths shy of contact with the rifling with the hopes of obtaining the most accuracy potential. Please take a look at the photos below and let me know your thoughts. I have no problem discussing further with my pop, and plan to do so after getting some feedback. The net seems to be a wasteland when it comes to certain topics of hand loading.

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    mssmith44

    Marksman
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Dec 21, 2011
    260
    18
    Your Dad sounds too much like me. I loade a lot of 38 super with WAP and I stll have several pounds of it.
    It is currently available as Ramshot sillhouette.
    I use WSF now for 38 super and 40 S&W

    Going back to my records I loaded a little more WAP than yours with 130 grain bullet.
    Mine is a fully supported ramped barrel
    I didn't use 130 grain too much but 124 and 115
    The overall length for the super is set by how your barrel is chambered.

    The technique I use for determining overall length is to drop a bullet into the barrel
    Measure from the back of the hood of the barrel to the base of the bullet.
    Then add the length of the bullet to that measurement.
    Max length determined. And after several thousand rounds it does change.
    The max length changes with the bullet profile.
    When I loaded a 160 grain bullet the max length was shorter than yours.
    For my magazines a 1.250 was about as long as it would tolerate.

    Another thing that I noticed about 38 super is that the dies for reloading are very important.
    I tried lee first. They didn't size small enough to hold the bullet. Remember this is 20 years ago.
    Hornady titanium nitride dies leave a ring on the case just above the base.
    I use Dillon dies now.

    Good luck with the super. It is a great cartridge.
     
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