[vh64]

I'm trying some autocomp powder with my 38 special as well as accurate no2.
Its all I got as far as powder.

Please...any thoughts or advice!!

This is what I'm going to try:

X-treme 158gr plated flat nose
5gr autocomp
Overall length-1.450
38 special case

I'll be shooting it out of a S&W 686 7 shot .357 mag.
4 inch barrel.

The Lee factory crimp die works really good.
Anyway what do you think?

 

[vh64]

Here's a pic of the bullets

 

[aandabooks]

AA#2 might be a touch fast for .38. There are recipes. My first choice is AA#5. I have no experience with AutoComp.

 

[vh64]

aandabooks
I'm just going to shoot some steel but while I'm doing that I'll check out what this powder will do and how accurate it shoots for me through some paper.

I've read about a number of better choices but until I meet the incredible OZ and get a heart and some powder....Lol

 

[vh64]

Wow!!! This autocomp really drops super consistently through my Lee pro auto disk. The accurate no2 does to but not quite as much as autocomp.

 

[vh64]

I shot 7 rounds of my 38 special/autocomp. Its raining so I can't use my chrono and really check my accuracy but I just couldn't wait. I have a pistol range I started setting up this spring behind my house with fun steel targets and such. It makes it easy to make up rounds and go shoot them then make up some more and on and on. I had to stand in my shed but I wanted to at least see how they felt and get an idea.

The 38's felt really light at 5gr. They all felt consistent and had similar accuracy as my factory ammo shot the same way. But it was weird that they had very very little recoil.

I shot a few 9mm rounds with autocomp also. 4.6-4.8-5.0 gr with an 115 gr plated round nose xtreme. They all felt the same as factory ammo and all cycled good. I'm just going to keep trying different things and having fun.

 

[vh64]

OK I shot some accurate no2/38 special.
3.7-3.9gr. It shot a little snappier but little recoil. When the weather gets better I'll put all these through my chrono and check my accuracy at different yardages. Being new I just like to shoot some of my reloads and hear and feel them. Probably not important to the experienced reloader but I like it. I can see myself really loving trying out different powders, bullets, powder weights and trying to get accuracy and recoil etc. the way I want it and what actually in real life works the best. Eventually I'll have enough experience to make me up some bad arse defense rounds.

 

[JustSomeGuy]

OK I shot some accurate no2/38 special.
3.7-3.9gr. It shot a little snappier but little recoil. When the weather gets better I'll put all these through my chrono and check my accuracy at different yardages. Being new I just like to shoot some of my reloads and hear and feel them. Probably not important to the experienced reloader but I like it. I can see myself really loving trying out different powders, bullets, powder weights and trying to get accuracy and recoil etc. the way I want it and what actually in real life works the best. Eventually I'll have enough experience to make me up some bad arse defense rounds.

And so it begins! This is the way most of us started out. The penchant for experimentation is what keeps some of us constantly trying new things and always looking for the "magic load". Sadly, there is no one magic load, but you will discover a lot of very good ones if you keep going. Just keep good notes, preferably on a spreadsheet, so you can always find what you have done and know what was working for you.

 

[Bopper]

OK I shot some accurate no2/38 special.
3.7-3.9gr. It shot a little snappier but little recoil. When the weather gets better I'll put all these through my chrono and check my accuracy at different yardages. Being new I just like to shoot some of my reloads and hear and feel them. Probably not important to the experienced reloader but I like it. I can see myself really loving trying out different powders, bullets, powder weights and trying to get accuracy and recoil etc. the way I want it and what actually in real life works the best. Eventually I'll have enough experience to make me up some bad arse defense rounds.

Interesting thread. I finally took some time to look in my journal as I was pretty sure I had ran autocomp and #2 loads out of my S&W 438 (airweight snubbie).

Here's what I came up with...

#2 - 3.8 gr
SNS 158 gr LRN
GFL case
CCI 500 primer
OAL 1.455
Average fps - 701

Auotcomp - 5.9 gr
SNS 158 gr LRN
GFL case
CCI 500 primer
OAL 1.455
Average fps - 803

Both loads are accurate (as accurate as you can be sending rounds out of a 2 inch barrel) and had some pretty good snap. Average fps was taken from two 10 round sessions at an indoor range using a Chrony. These are both rounds I keep in ammo can as everyday loads.

 

[vh64]

Thanks Bopper. Appreciate your post!!!

As far as shooting steel autocomp might be fine. It did appear to perform better in my XDs 9mm 3.3....but my little XDs has always ate everything I feed it and always spits the seeds out. At least so far.