I use my Smith 52-2 to compete in Bullseye meets (no optics, thank you very much) and, over the years, have found that 2.7 up to 2.9 grains of Bullseye powder is the most accurate in my pistol. I like to keep my brass shortened to an oal of 1.045" (minimum 1.04"-maximum 1.06"). This size will allow me to crimp in the crimping groove but the oal of the loaded cartridge with the standard 148 grain wadcutter bullet will not go past the maximum length of the factory wadcutter round. Measure each case. New and once-fired cases should be chamfered if they require it. I bell the case mouth if I'm using cast bullets-otherwise they won't seat well without digging into the lead base.

For those who use hollow base wadcutter bullets, I refer you to an admonition I came across years ago in the Handloader magazine, published in 1979, where the author of an article recounted the following experience"...Walking downrange to have a look at the target (I found) lying on the floor of my indoor range were the just-fired wadcutter bullets, each with a hole clear through it from end to end...I suddenly realized what had happened. The extemely deep hollow bases had allowed the thin center web to shoot out at higher velocity, triggering the chronograph screens, while the main cylindrical portion of the bullet, acting like a sabot, had dropped off.

"Hard on the heels of that thought came the realization that one of those tubular bullets might have well lodged in the barrel after the escape of driving powder gas through its center hole. Hurrying back to the shooting bench with that dread possibility in mind, I picked up the Ruger and checked the breech. And there it was. The fifth (and last) bullet fired had done just that, its hollow base flared out and wedged in the barrel breech., its center shot out!

"What if that had occurred with the second, third, or fourth shot instead of the last round? I don't know, but in pondering what the consequences might have been, I recalled those reports we've been hearing of late, of quality revolvers blowing up with light target loads with wadcutter bullets.

"There has been the usual nonsensical speculation as to whether the powder detonated in those cases, which didn't make any sense and which I didn't accept. The NRA's recent series of tests disproved that theory. Now I think we know the answer as to what really happened-an unnoticed obstruction in the barrel! No one checks the barrel of a revolver after each shot, yet there's no other way the presence of an obstruction such as this would be known.

"...this occurence should furnish enough incentive (for) makers of hollow-base wadcutters to investigate the possibility of it happening with their product. As a double-check, I reran the same load tests, this time using solid-based wadcutters, and had no trouble whatsoever, obtaining fine accuracy and normal velocities..."

Anyhow, whether you agree with the author or not or whether your experience(s) contradicts his or not, it seems food for thought, at least. Speaking for myself, I have switched from hollow-based wadcutters to solid-based ones, predicated on the old adage:-better safe than sorry.