This past weekend I picked up my first reloading outfit. A Lyman T-Mag II and all the goodies to go with it. I plan on reloading .38 Special to start. The only small pistol primers the store had in stock were CCI magnums. The guy said magnum primers can be used if I pack off the load some. He also sold me Hodgdon TiteGroup powder. Is there a percentage I should pack off the load? FWIW, I'm using 158gr bullets.

Have you ever brought .38 Mag ammo? Magnum primers in magnum loads only Like 357 Mag?

Magnum primers will work fine for .38 spl loads, they are usually not required though. Mag primers do not always increase pressure or velocity but sometimes increase consistency in velocity from round to round.

You don't say what pistol you plan on shooting these loads in. If it is a .357 mag pistol you can safely use any published .38 spl load regardless of primer. The .38 spl is such a low pressure cartridge that if you use published loads that stay within the pressure limits of standard to +P you will not see any "pressure signs". The .38 spl maximum pressure at around 50 to 60% of the .357 mag.

If you are going to shoot these loads from a new +P rated pistol or a full size revolver like a K frame Smith or steel frame Colt I'd suggest a standard pressure load with nothing heavier than 3.8grs of Tight Group for Lead or 3.9grs for Jacketed bullets. See the data from Hodgdon's online manual in the attached picture. Note that Hodgdon's velocity data comes from a 7.7" test barrel so real world velocities will be 150 to 250 fps slower depending upon revovler and barrel length.

Reduce to the start level if using an older alloy framed pistol or for light loads if recoil sensitive.

This is for blasting ammo, if you want best accuracy you'll have to work the load up or down between the start and max to see what shoots best in your revolver.

I work in a gun store that deals with reloading, so I always tell begainers to keep it safe.

We had one guy putting 7.0 grs of unique in 45 ACP ammo. I'm amazed he didnt blow the gun up.

Good info since I have some SP magnum primers and a 357 that my daughter shoots 38's out of.

One note on the posted data above, it's for a 38 with a 7.7" barrel, WOW. Never seen one of those. Most will probably be lower in FPS with the typical 4-6" barrels.

Magnum primers won't hurt the gun at all with target loads.

quote:

Originally posted by DOUROS81:
I work in a gun store that deals with reloading, so I always tell begainers to keep it safe.

We had one guy putting 7.0 grs of unique in 45 ACP ammo. I'm amazed he didnt blow the gun up.

7gr of Unique may not even be a max load depending on bullet & OAL. With a 185gr bullet, that is quite a mild load.
Using mag primers can be fine or raise pressures, just depends on the load, powder type & cartridge.
Why gunstores keep selling newbs TG is beyond me. IMO, way too fast & way to small a powder charge in the case. Put the TG on a shelf & save it for later. Buy a # of med. buner rate powder like Unique, WSF or Universal. Load 1000rds w/ that & get a feel for the process, then if you want to trot out TG, go for it. You can barely see the max charge of TG in a 38sp case, not for me thanks. I also would not want to fire those up w/ mag primers as TG, Clays & other uberfast pwoders get weird near max pressure. If you stay @ starting charges w/ mag primers & TG you'll be safer, but just a bad combo. Your gunshop guy should be fired flogged.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: fredj338,

Thanks for the input guys!

The gun is a S&W 327 TRR8 .357mag 5" barrel.

I ordered some Federal SP primers from Natchez's last night. I'll just hold off on loading until I receive them next week. Tonight, I'll see if the other local gun shop has some slower burning powder. Eventually I plan to load some .357mag rounds so the SM mag primers won't go to waste.

you can use them ok I drop 1gr for the mag sp an sr .the small rifle and small mag pistol is about the same . Titegroup is ok, meters well in the small charges .
you cant interchange the large rifle and large pistol but the small are same size[height is different on large]