Henry Rifle Forums

I'm going to be doing some fine tuning of my Lo Pro/Lyman Globe set-up (elevation tweaks, different globe inserts) at a variety of yardages, from 20 to 50 yds.

For this kind of tweaking, will 158 gr Mag Tech in 38 Special tell me what I need to know just as well as .357 flat-nosed (Fiocchi is what I've been using)?

Once I get it all dialed in, I plan to start experimenting with hunting .357 varieties, but one step at a time.

Will the 38 Special do it for me? New to all this rifle sighting stuff.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice, as always!

Not, really. Even at those distances, there will be a noticeable difference in POI height between the same bullet weight in 38s and 357s. Your 158 grain 38s will print lower at those distances than 158 357s. Even if you stay exclusively with 357s and change bullet weights, you'll get different POI heights. 180s will print higher and 125s lower. Decide what load will be your main load and set the sights with those loads, then either adjust the sights for other loads or use hold over or hold under. This is especially important with Skinner rear sights because they have a limited range of elevation. If you plan to shoot 158 357s, use 158 357s for sighting in.

I would sight in with the ammo you are most likely to shoot. If .357 mag then perform your zeroing in with that. In a perfect world you want to ‘stick’ with a load you find groups well with your gun and only deviate if you need say higher end ammo for hunting or a particular shooting sport. Not to ‘muddy the waters’ but I discovered one of my .38 special loads shot nearly the same POA as a .357 mag load I was trying (at 50 yards) but this is not necessarily typical and much further than that would have dropped off dramatically.

Roger all that. I'll get things dialed in with the .357, then go from there. Thanks, all!

Okay, now that I think about this more, it seems like I might as well jump in with whatever I'm going to hunt with.

Sounds like a topic for the Hunting sub-forum.

The other option is to just stick with one caliber and bullet weight. I shoot only 158 grain in .357 through my BBS. Of course, I reload, so .357 runs me almost the same to load as .38. I will use a tad more powder in .357, but it is negligible amount for 50 rounds. It runs me maybe 30 cents more per box. The biggest difference is that .357 brass is hard to come by. .38 is readily available.

clovishound wrote:The other option is to just stick with one caliber and bullet weight. I shoot only 158 grain in .357 through my BBS. Of course, I reload, so .357 runs me almost the same to load as .38. I will use a tad more powder in .357, but it is negligible amount for 50 rounds. It runs me maybe 30 cents more per box. The biggest difference is that .357 brass is hard to come by. .38 is readily available.

Sometimes can't stick with one. I buy my ammo and a lot of times I can't find my preferred load and have to buy an alternate. I have sight notes and adjustments to compensate for the load differences that I keep in my gun case.