Shooting my 1st handloads...

[Jeff H]

was very uneventful, but satisfying.

38 special loaded with:
158g LSWC
3.5 grains of Bullseye ( although I think it was closer to 3.3 grains. I think the Lee Pro auto disk is metering a little light with this powder.)
Seated to the crimp groove, but the exact measurement escapes me at the moment.

I loaded them up in my .357 Blackhawk (I knew they couldn't hurt that gun, even if I screwed something up) and shot them along with some WWB and they felt identical and were more accurate then I am. Then I tested them in my old 4" 38 special and again they performed exactly like the WWB that I was shooting. Only a whole lot smokier. I guess cleaning your gun a lot more is the trade off for those cheap lead bullets.

Next stop is 45ACP, then .357 (if 2400 ever becomes available locally again )

Using a Lee Classic turret and loving it.

 

[Jim243]

Way to go Jeff - Welcome to the addiction of reloading. You might try W231 instead of Bullseye, less smoke.

Jim

 

[flashhole]

Congratulations. You could have used a bit more words describing the "pucker factor" when shooting your first handloads. Pucker factor is how I refer to that tight butt feeling you get just before you touch the first one off. For me it was a 300 Win Mag. Don't think I'll ever forget the experience.

 

[Sevens]

Yep, we get these "shot my first ever reloads today!" threads on occasion, and many of us reminisce about our own. My first were also .38 Special, in Federal brass, with CCI-500 small pistol primers, Hercules Green Dot, Speer swaged lead SWC bullets, out of a 6-inch S&W 686.

I agree that you'd have to REALLY make some errors to see trouble with .38 out of a .357 Blackhawk. I also agree that Bullseye does often give you smoky loads... sometimes it's the lead & the lube with your cast lead, or a combination of all of it, but I can attest to the smoky nature of Bullseye.

I'm transitioning away from it after many, many years.

 

[BIGR]

Great guys. Sounds like you have the reloading fever now for life. Enjoy reloading and be careful with undivided attention everytime you load.

 

[dwhite]

I like these stories also. I remember my first reloads. 30-06 loaded on a Lee Loader. No powder scale, just the included dipper. I loaded hundreds of rounds with that set-up and load until moving to a RCBS Rockchucker. Finally got a scale and powder dribbler too.

Thanks for sharing.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

Very cool! I just my first reloads last week end. Very satisfying.

 

[Jeff H]

You could have used a bit more words describing the "pucker factor" when shooting your first handloads.

Truth be told, there wasn't really any pucker factor. Out of the few rounds I shoot, I researched the 38 spec to be the easiest to reload then did a bunch of research on the most common loads and compared them with the manuals I had. Then I put them in a big strong gun to be doubly sure things wouldn't go bad. It really was anticlimactic. The bullets just did what they were supposed to do and I was pleased.


On a similar topic, I always thought it was the lube that caused the smoke, but a few recent posts including one in this thread lead me to believe that the powder is as bad and the lube. Is Bullseye really that smokey, or is it a combination of the lube and the powder?

 

[QBall45]

Welcome to the handloaders club!

I to remember the feeling I got when I dropped the hammer on the first round I'd loaded myself. I still get that feeling when I shoot the first of a batch when I've changed the load.

 

[rc]

You may bump your loads up closer to max to eliminate the smoke. If you have soot on your cases your pressures are low and smoke in your face is the other indication pressures could stand to be increased. If you try those over a chronograph chances are the standard deviation it fairly high (above 30fps).rc