38 special jacketed bullet speed

[free1954]

a have 500 158 gr jhp bullets, and a lot of new bullseye powder. the alliant web site has a load for the 158 gr lead swc at 815fps. can I use this load for the jhp's or is that too slow for jacketed bullets? thanks for looking.

[Tuna]

You need a load of at least 750 fps for any jacketed bullet and I would be more comfortable at 800 fps just to be sure it doesn't stick in the barrel. But remember you will not get any expansion of a 158 gr JHP round at 815 fps. The heavier 158 gr bullets need a lot more speed to start them to open up.

[Sunray]

Use a manual. Alliant's site is very decidedly limited in scope.
Handloads.com isn't any better either. No jacketed Bullseye loads at all. One, unverified, .38 +P load at 800 FPS. Mind you, there's an Alliant jacketed 160 grain load there. 3.2 to 3.5 at 802 FPS.
Steve's reloading pages shows 3.1 to 4.9 but without any bullet info other than weight.
There are lots of jacketed .38 loads on Hodgdon's site that run far less than 800 FPS. One XTP Start load at 574 FPS. It's not going to stick anywhere at 750. And that's out of a 7.7" barrel. Friggin' Hodgdon does really odd stuff.

[free1954]

thank you gentlemen for your replies.

[Tuna]

Are you sure that is for a jacketed bullet at 574 fps? Lead I can see, but if a jacketed bullet then someone is asking for trouble especially in a barrel at 7.7 inches.