British Western
Shooting Society

Not as in cowboy builders, obviously...

I've just got my grubby paws on a Marlin .357/38 with an 18.5" barrel for competition use. Having seen the cost of even the most humble .38 special factory rounds I am going to have to start homeloading.

However, I'm assuming that pistol calibre carbines have different characteristics to pistols, so I thought I'd better ask if anyone had any advice as to appropriate powders. I had Bullseye in mind but is it not a bit fast burning for a longer barrel?

If anyone has advice or recipes for both Cowboy  and longer range (out to 50m is probably plenty for gallery shooting) loading, I'd appreciate the help!

Hi Asher, I run a .44 Marlin, but when I used to load 38/357 for pistol shooting, I was very successful with 3gr Bullseye behind a 148 gr bullet.

Best person to ask would probably be Alan Vickers as thats the cal. he uses.

We use

Vihtavuori  N32 C

or French powder Vectan A1

Angel Eyes at July 30, 2010 at 7:27 AM

Hi Asher, I run a .44 Marlin, but when I used to load 38/357 for pistol shooting, I was very successful with 3gr Bullseye behind a 148 gr bullet.

Best person to ask would probably be Alan Vickers as thats the cal. he uses.

I shoot with a Winchester 44-40 caliber Uberti 1873 replica.

And I have a lot of fun with this weapon

My cartridges are Magtech, COWBOY ACTION LOAD

 Goodbye everyone, good weekend and good shot

 I'm retired so I have time

I gotta ask,,,,if you have a Winch 44-40   how come you picked Marlin44mag as your alias?????

Hi Asher,

I have only been shootin Cowboy for 8 months but I am using loads given to me by The Sherrif of Tinstone (Our President) with over 30 years experience in Single Action Shootin.

I use a pair if Ruger Vaquero's in 357/38 and a Uberti 1873 Sporter in 357/38. I was told to try 125grain lead flat points, I use Hawksbury River Silver Hawkes, over 3.5grains of AP50 with Federal primers. I use this in both the pistols and the lever gun and they shoot very well. Silver Hawkes may not be availble in the UK as they are an Aussie Local manufacturer and AP50 is an ADI powder also Aussie made but I an sure it si available most places even if it is marketed under a different brand. These loads are very low, sub 1000ft/sec but of course use care when working up any load. I purchased a Dillon RL550B to do my reloading for Cowboy shootin but of course there are lots of others.

Cowboy shootin is most fun you can have with ya pants on! Good luck and good shooting!

By the way visit us online at http://www.lastfrontier.com.au/ to see some of the Aussie action.

Cheers

Forgot the most important thing of all 38 SPECIAL loads.

Sorry Asher

Hi Asher,

I have been shooting .38 special through my marlin cowboy 38/357 for years.

I find the best load for cowboy shooting is 3.1 grains of GM3 with a lyman 158gr head which I cast myself. This is in a 38 spec case as it give me an extra round in the mag and the air space is less in the case.

The head has no shoulders on it and feeds very smoothly. I can get 5 rounds through in less that 2 sec and hit the target every time

You use comercial head such as those sold by most shops and the load is the same.

If you want to go out to 50 mt then I would suggest that you up the load to 3.5 to 4.0g, but try 3.1 to start with. I works for me.  The other bonus is that GM3 is half the cost of bullseye etc and this also works for me.

If you have any problems getting this materials or getting your gun to work smoothly, give me a ring on 01754 765046 and I can help you out as I am a dealer and gunsmith.

Alan Vickers (Vic)