New member

[Magnum0710]

Hello everyone!
New member here, been shooting for a few years now but just got into the world of reloading. I decided to start with a Lee Classic Loader aka the whack a mole, it's perfect since I live in an apartment and don't have alot of storage room as it is. I was gifted a 38 special kit, it's a vintage one and was missing the priming rod, also needed a few updates so I updated a few parts and got the 357 data and .7 dipper as well.
I've been studying different load data and techniques and watched a very good video on how to use the Lee Classic multiple times over. I will be loading my first rounds some time in the next couple of days. I have clean brass ready to go and 300 Hornady 158 grain semi wadcutters, just have to pick up some powder and primers and get to work!
I think I'm going to start with Unique but in the event my local shop doesn't have it I'm going to bring my load data with me and settle on one or two different powders.
I plan to start reloading other calibers as well but 38/357 was definitely the most important for me since it's my most expensive caliber and a tie for most used with 9mm.
Definitely happy to be here, I'm looking to learn and take in as much knowledge as I can.

[Ranch Dog]

It's great to see that you are getting started. Hopefully, you can find the components you need. Welcome to the forum!

[RBHarter]

Welcome to the forum .

About any of the Aliant shotgun powders will work well in the 38 from Hero to Red Dot . Most everything on the burn rate charts in between and about 3 faster will work as well.

Not that I'm a fan boy or anything like that but Unique is hard to beat as a broad range , safe , functional, literally do it all powder . It has been for most of 130 years basically unchanged . Yep it's dirty and sooty under 13,000 psi . About 15,000 psi it cleans up, and it remains stable up through 40,000 psi . It isn't fussy about how much airspace is in the case . In straight cases it loads from 25APC to 45-120 . Bottle necks have a similar range from 256 Win Mag to 460 Weatherby...... there's probably data for 50 BMG . Of course there shotgun data but only for 20,16,12,&10ga .

[Magnum0710]

Thank you guys!
I stopped before work today and got 100 small pistol primers, 100 small pistol magnum, and 1lb of HS6. I wanted to go with Unique but they didn't have it or any of the other powders I was looking for. It came down to HS6 or Win231/HP38 and the guy talked me into going with HS6. I found a variety of load data for both and think I found a winning combination to start with.
My Lee loader is vintage so I have the old "Special X" dipper which is just a tiny bit more than the current .3cc dipper. If I use the Special X dipper for 38 and the .5cc dipper for 357 I should be in pretty good shape. I do have Lyman data for a 150 grain swc that calls for 9.0 starting for 357 but I'm pushing a 158 grain. The .7cc dipper would bring me in line with the Lyman data but it would be way over the Hogdon data. I would like to try the Lyman load for 357 but I feel like it'd push it too much. The Special X (.32) and the .5cc dippers would give me roughly 4.5 grains and 7.0 grains respectively. The .7cc would give me 9.8 grains which may be too hot for a semi wadcutter with HS6. Unless you guys think that would be acceptable?
I just looked for more data, 158 swc Lyman 4th edition starts at 9.2 and max is 10.2... I might do a test run of .7cc HS6 for 357. It would get me between 1150-1200 fps which is about where I want to go with 357 anyway.
The Hornady SWCs while not hard cast aren't super soft either, between 10-12 bhn, Hornady says they're good up to 1000 fps but I don't think pushing them a little faster at 1100 would hurt.
I probably should've went with the HP38 but worst case I'll run back next week and get a pound of that too.