Meister Bullets .358 105gr. LFN

[chingachkook]

I have a box of 500 of these bullets for my 38 Special revolvers and plenty of Bullseye powder, but I'll be darned if I can find a single recipe in any of my reloading manuals or on the Internet for this combination of components. Could any of you folks please give me some suggestions as to a recipe or where I might be able to find one?

Thank you!

[bmcgilvray]

I've never loaded a cast bullet that light in a .38 Special but it sure sounds interesting, especially with Bulls-Eye.

Here is some load data from the Lyman 46th edition manual. It shows a different and slightly heavier bullet so one would obviously need to work up any loads.

Lyman No. 358425 cast lead, 112 grains
Bulls-Eye powder

Suggested Starting Grains: 2.0

Max Grains: 3.8



The later Lyman "Pistol and Revolver Handbook" from the 1980s lists the following.

Lyman No. 358242 cast lead, 121 grains

Suggested Starting Grains: 2.8

Max Grains: 4.6
+P (their designation) 4.9

An old standby for target shooters is 2.8 grains of Bulls-Eye under a 148 grain hollow base wadcutter so that charge weight or less would surely be safe and mild.


I'd feel confident that your 105 grain bullet could be worked up to 3.8 grains of Bulls-eye. I've used up to 3.5 grains of Bulls-Eye with a 158 grain cast lead SWC bullet. Best accuracy and utility for target shooting would likely be had at something less than that 3.8 grain maximum charge.

The later Lyman listed max charge weights of 4.6 to 4.9 grain charge of Bulls-Eye, as listed for the 121 grain bullet, would also likely work fine with the lighter 105 grain bullet but would likely reach well over 1000 fps. Seems like too much of a good thing to me but I'd be most interested in creating a light recoiling target load.

Start low and work up.

If you come up with a good lightly loaded target round using the 105 grain bullet, let us hear from you.

[chingachkook]

Thanks Bryan and I certainly will let you know if I get a decent load with the Bullseye and this bullet.

The reason why I' m asking and why I bought the bullets is because a while back I read several CB action shooters comments about what an accurate combination this is for both rifle and pistol in 38 Special. Often getting groups of 2" or less at 50 yards in a variety of firearms as long as the velocity is around 800-850 FPS and they said in addition recoil and report was about like shooting a 22 LR. Perfect for training a new shooter. Naturally none of them ever said how much Bullseye they were using and I can't find their threads again.