Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Load work up for pistols/revolvers

I have been reloading rifles for years, but never messed around with pistol cartridges beyond middle of the road 38's that went bang, and were called good enough.

What do you guys do for top accuracy out of your reloads? Do you change powders, change primers, mess with seating depth?

Just looking for tips since I have little experience with finding the best accuracy loads in pistol cartridges.


So far in a 4" S&W m19 the most accurate loads I'm shooting:
158grn XTP w231- 4.3grns, CCI small pistol primer, 38 Spl case.
158grn Berry's Plated, RedDot- 3.2grns, Rem small pistol primer, 38 Spl case.
158grn XTP BlueDot- 10grns, CCI small pistol primer, 357mag case. This groups 3" at 25 yards off of sandbags, factory sights.


Any tips that you would share on finding best accuracy loads would be appreciated.

Most bullets I don't mess with seating depth as I seat to crimp my bullets into the canalure.

Other than that, work up powder charges as you would for a rifle noting which is most accurate. For loads under 7 grs I work up in increments of 0.2 grains. For loads greater than 7gr I work up in 0.5 gr increments. If I'm not happy with the accuracy I'll try a different powder. Starting with a bullet that is sized for your gun, and with a powder known to provide top accuracy is the best starting point.

A good revolver off the bench with a good load will group 1 - 1 1/2" with irons at 25 yds, a very good scoped revolver will group 1/2" at the same distance. I've seen groups tighten up as you reach the sweet spot, and open up as you pass the sweet spot.

Not to be a smart ass but the best way to work up accurate loads is start with an accurate revolver. I've had a revolver that make me tear my hair out trying to get better than 5" at 25 yds, and my scoped 480 was shooting 1/2" groups at the same distance. Having an exceptionally accurate revolver will teach you what you are capable of with a revolver, but then you'll get frustrated with your problem children guns. No amount of load work will turn a 3" gun into a 1" gun. So you need to have realistic expectations.

Try some wadcutters with known good target powders and charge weights in your M19 as a baseline. While mechanically I would think 357 brass should produce better loads than 38 sp brass, the added powder space in the 357 is not conductive to accurate loads with light loads so stick with 38 sp brass for mild 38 loads.

For both rifle and handgun, I have never found anything that affects accuracy more than bullet seating depth; that is your absolutely first stop on the road to better accuracy. For a revolver using jacketed bullets, the next step is trying different bullets/weights to see what your revolver likes. For cast bullets, matching bullet diameter to throat size is like pulling a rabbit from a hat (not always, but almost never doesn't get you at least a little). And then finally, seating primers with absolute uniformity often makes a very noticable difference with rifles, but you can even detect a difference in a good revolver. For an auto pistol it's a waste of time because it's very manual hand work to uniform out a primer pocket just to lose the case on the first firing. But with a revolver using very high quality first time brass it's worth the effort as most revolver brass tends to last a lot of reloads.

Obviously powder weight and powder changes can make a difference, but I personally find changing powders a bit annoying. I tend to pick a powder for a load and just make it work. Powders these days are just SO consistent and high quality that as long as you make a reasonable powder choice. So I tend to just vary charges within the same powder.

I try this or that, find one that works pretty good, and leave it alone. I think that for .38 Special, .357, .45 Colt and .44 Mag, I have been shooting the same loads for maybe 50 years.

Thanks for the info. I'm most concerned about the 158 XTP in the 357 mag. I have it crimped in the middle of the cannelure, so maybe I can bump it lower from there by a couple of 1/100th's, maybe. COL I have been running is around 1.584".

I may try the 10grn of Blue Dot load with a Rem primer just to see if that improves anything.

So far though I really like the size and handling of the 4" k-frame. I'm planning on using it as my hiking/trail sidearm, and seeing if I can get a deer with it this season. I'm also considering the 140grn Barnes to try.

I've been lucky that the 38 loads and the one 357 load that I've worked up all hit very close to POA of each other between 10-25yrds..

And to add to the great info above, I find what powder works for each caliber best...start in the middle range, and tweak from there. Based on case size, find the most efficient powder and work up.

I've loaded for decades and have settled on a few pistol powders that work great in a wide range of cartridges and loads. I simply grab the powder most suitable for what I'm trying to accomplish.

I read in one of the Nosler books one time the bullet was the most important element in accuracy. They sell bullets and would say this but I've found it to be true in both rifle and pistol. Find a good bullet and any number of powders will work. Hasbeen