Good evening, ok I never been into pistols as well as never reloaded for any pistol cartridges. Have reloaded for rifles for bit. I just want to know which powder would be great for the 38 special, and bullets? Want to use either the 140 or 158 grainers. It's going to be my carry weapon when I'm out in the timber running saws or just exploring. There's starting to be critters with teeth in my area. Always had cougars here. Now the wolves are more and more. Want a load that has good penetration also. It's a 6 shooter. Rock island I believe. I got plenty of brass, git the dies to. Just haven't bought any powders or bullets or primers yet. There not hard to find here in my little town. So whatever you all think is the best for stopping power just incase.

Any pistol powder will work well in .38 Special for practice. You need to determine what bullet suits your needs and at what velocity. Data is all over, some, like Hodgon are free on line.

Mike

Welcome to the fun world of .38s.

As Mike said decide which bullets you may need.

I cast with a Lee 158gr SWC with range diggings for metal. They come out at 147gr.
perfect for plinking and practice by the buckets full. Great load for this and teaching women and kids is Red Dot 3.5 to 4 gr. Depending on the gun you can load some more powder. How much depends on your gun and the loading book or tables. Red Dot is cheap and much less needed compared to many others.

Have fun, get into casting isn't very expensive.
Ask around you can find others doing the same things.

George

The 38spl is a easy cartridge to load for.

I would load a 158gr SWC to around a 900 in a modern handgun. Older non +P rated handguns keep it under 900fps

4 inch barrel or longer.

I have used up kegs of Red Dot in mine.

For pure shooting pleasure a 148geWC at around 700fps.

I find shooting them to be as nice as shooting a 22.

The more modern powders might be easier to fine.

I never used them as I have a few kegs of red dot.

Unique or Bullseye.

All of the powders in .38 special will be on the faster side.

Your bullet choices do make a bit of a difference.

For potentially defensive uses I would want something that will hold together better, so a good JHP or a hard cast lead bullet.

One big issue with the .38 is that it has a very large case for the pressure levels it is supposed to be at. You need to be very vigilant about double charges especially with fast powders.

As to what I use, as I also reload shotgun, there are a large number of those powders that work with the .38, and for most plinking type loads I use whatever I have sitting around from shotgun loading- anything from Red Dot, Clays, Green Dot, Blue dot, Longshot, 700X/800X all work - some better than others. By better, I mean both efficiency (velocity per grain) and how clean they burn.

When I want accuracy loads I typically go to Bullseye, or Unique with heavier bullets.

Lately, with Alliant being hard to find, I have used titegroup a bit. Its touchy- I would not try and push velocity with it, but the same is true of bullseye.

bulls-eye will load a lot higher than you think it will.

just me but if something wanted to bite me I wouldn't be using a 38 special.
[that's around here indicates large 4 legged animals with big teeth]

anyway..
you can run it's loads up high enough to dismantle a not so good gun, or to perform spectacularly in a well made one.

I wouldn't bother so much with the real fast end of the powder spectrum.
slow powders work just as good at 19-K as they do,,, and push on the bullet longer.
yeah, even in a 2" barrel, it's just how expansion works.

big case, and can be little powder - i'd go with the slowest/case filling, as you are new to reloading - and inspect EVERY case before seating the bullet -

when it doubt, dump it out!
been reloading for several decades, and that's still my motto