Help finding a soft shooting, accurate, clean 38 special revolver load

i have shot the Xtreme bullets but with Power Pistol load they recommend.
Now I am back to 148 gr HBWC.

I think 148 WC’s will always be lighter than than the 158’s
And 2.5-2.7 Bullseye and 2.8-3.0 231 have always felt light to me

Your 320 is a good choice as slower powders give less impulse.  The other extreme gives too much unburned powder and erratic pressures.  I don’t have a load to recommend but see their loading data and look at the velocity, somewhere around 650-750 fps. If l were working it l would start around 2.5 grains since faster powders use more and are safe loadings.

james r chapman wrote:I think 148 WC’s will always be lighter than than the 158’s
And 2.5-2.7 Bullseye and 2.8-3.0 231 have always felt light to me

148 WC/HBWC 2.5-2.7 grs Bullseye and 2.8-3.0 231 is the classic PPC revolver loads. Very soft shooting and very mild recoil. Jerry Keffer had a load for WST but I can't remember it.

thank you

I’ve loaded and shot commercially loaded plated bullets like the X-treme plated you have, they can be very frustrating accuracy wise. But it’s what you have.

Prima V is primarily a shotgun powder burning rate is about the same as RedDot, BUT. there’s NO DATA from the manufacturer in pistol AT ALL so I can’t even give you a start.

This leaves Vihtavouri 320 which is your best option I think. Even then the listed loads are higher than you might like… BUT, what I would do is load some of the 158 grain bullets with 4.3 to 4.6 grains of N320. This should keep the recoil down. The 125 plated bullet (Berrys) starts at 5.4, but you might try a down load of 4.6 to 4.8 and see whet you get… but I’d be cautious with that because you might get into ignition issues? Dunno…Anyway heres the vihtavouri pamphlet. https://www.vihtavuori.com/reloading-data/handgun-reloading/?cartridge=41

Hiya,

I use 3g of bullseye with an Acme 105g cast FP in 38 spl for my basic revolver class. It feels like a 22 mag in a K or L frame. 
https://www.grafs.com/catalog/product/productId/75131

I've had extremely good results with 2.7 grains of N320 and 148 grain hollow base wadcutters. Seat the bullet flush w/case mouth and finish with a nice moderate roll Crimp. Easily held 10 ring at 50 yds in my ppc revolvers.