Reloading .38 Special LBR Vs Win 94

[Airways]

Ive been loading for some time and was wondering if I should load differently for a .38 LBR Taurus than a Win 94AE, due to lower barrel

[DedIdick]

I use about 6-7 gns Unique behind a 158 gn lead fprn bullet.
Suppose it will depend on what distance you're shooting. This load suits my rifle to 100 m.

[Turnup]

Bearing in mind that these are pistol cartridges, both the LBP and the ULR have barrels much longer than normal for a pistol.

The precise load which will suit these depends on what use you intend to make of them. If you want ultimate Mv then use can be made of the additional barrel length to accelerate the bullet more. If you want ultimate accuracy then some experimentation with light loads will probably show that they each like a different load although you might be lucky and find something which suits them both.

For best accuracy I found that I need a little more powder in my Taurus LBR than in my Marlin, which was not what I was expecting. I don't think it is possible to be dogmatic about loads, experimentation is everything and individual barrels differ even between examples of the same gun.

[Airways]

Currently shooting at 25 meters. Not sure my shooting is up to determining the most accurate load. I have a variety of powders. Nobel 1,2 & 3, VV 310 & 320 also bullseye.

[1066]

My "accurate" load for my Win 94 AE (.357) is 4.5 gn Unique, 158gn soft cast bullet in a .357 case gives about 1,000 fps and gives C-C groups of less than 1" at 25 yards from the bench.

About 3.3 gn Bullseys was always a fairly standard load with lead bullets. If the shots are spraying about at 25 yards I doubt if tweaking the powder load will help much - I would be looking at bullet size and testing from a really sound position with sandbags.

If you're shooting lead bullets keep your velocity down (leading) and make sure you are staying within range limits.

[Richard52]

I've had a .357 Taurus for about 15 years, and my accuracy load is 2.5gns of BA10 behind a 158gn T/C bullet (mine doesn't like a round-nose bullet) using reasonably new .38 brass. If BA10 isn't available, then 2.6gn of CSB5 works well too. I put in a 113 in Multi-Target last time I shot it.