Folks could those of you with some handgun experience in the older cases like 38 special, 45 colt, 44 special chime in on how much powder positio effects accuracy or velocity?


Im thinking typical loads of 5-6 grains are not going to take up much room in these voluminous cases. But then you hear the 38 and particularly 44 special being capable of great accuracy.

Powders like Red Dot, 700X, American Select and a few others are very fast but bulky, and decently fill the case even with 6-7 grain loads. Trail Boss is a newer powder that is even more bulky than the ones I listed, but I haven't tried it yet. Position sensitivity doesn't seem to be a problem with any of these.

I’ve not had a problem with position sensitivity, nor would I call a 38 Special voluminous. I typically run Unique, but Bullseye works well also.

Sounds like you’re looking for a problem that doesn’t exist.

I have never worried about power sensitivity in pistol cases.

I have loaded many 10s of thousands of rounds 38's and 357s with a couple of grains of bullseye red dot ect with out trouble.

Some powders like H110 require certain load densities

P Dog Shooter and whelenite, thanks very much. Those fast burning pistol and shotgun powders I guess are made to ignite well in very small quantities.

I had a powder sensitivity problem one time. I loaded 500 rounds of 44 magnum with a 200 grain bullet and standard primer with 5 grains of unique for cowboy action shooting. They worked fine in the summer, but when fall temps hit in Ohio and it was in the mid thirties, I started having lots of misfires. That match, I packed it up and went home after getting a bullet stuck on the second stage. Moved back up to 7 grains (chronos 840fps) in my Vaqueros. Problems gone. So, I would suggest temp can also effect powder position too.

Thanks. I asked as I ran into articles on the internet with guys doing 'powder forward' and 'rearward' tests in these calibres. Aka pointing the gun down to get powder to the base of the bullet, raising it slowly to fire, vs doing the same thing with barrel pointed up, then firing.

Not my data, copied off another site.

357: 4.3 Grs Titegroup - 125 Gr Berrys bullet

Powder Back - Avg 854 FPS

Powder Forward - One shot = 619 FPS (235 FPS difference)(27.5%)