Quote:
Originally Posted by ncbengal
I have used different brands of "hard cast" 158 gr .357 swc bullets in my s&w 686 and Mod 19, both w/6" bbl and in good condition. These ought to produce decent groups from sand bag, which for sake of argument I'll call 2" at 25 yd. Powders range from Tite Group, 231, Universal, Auto Comp, up and down the scale. Never able to achieve better than 5-6" consistently. A change to copper plated or jacketed bullets brought my groups down to an acceptable level. Then I "accidentally" bought a 500 box of softer swaged bullets by Magnus. A phone call confimed these are 9-11 hardness whereas hard cast are 18-19. Another source had suggested Solo 1000 for lead and target use. Having very little published about Solo 1000 in .38 spl cases, I made a horseback guess at 3.0 gr of Solo and made a few. (Found another source that said min of 3.1 gr with 158 gr lead - good guess!.)
Bottom line: These loads will drive nails! Impact is centered with even .357 loads; recoil is lighter than store bought .38's; 5 shot groups 1-2" from sand bag is no problem.
Someone(s) have already said to check the barrel and cylinder bore diameter on my guns, as maybe hard cast bullets are leaking gas; but I figure S&W has had more experience in making gun barrels than I have in measuring, so I'll forego that. Barrel leading seems not to be an issue so far, but we'll watch out and just keep on lobbing those soft bullets into the 10-ring.
|
I use Magnus or Zero bullets exclusively on my bullseye competition guns because of what you've also experienced. If I was able to cast my own bullets I would certainly do it, but don't have the time (or understanding enough wife) to allow that. Shooting the 158 SWC bullet, for Distinguished Revolver competition, either manufacturers bullet performs wonderfully. My stock 14-4 will put 10 shots inside 3" at 50 yards. I've been shooting 3.1 gr. bullseye but have also recently been playing with 3.8 gr. 231. Both loads are running 750-775 fps average.
I've also purchased several brands of cast 45 185gr. SWC bullets to compare to their swaged counterparts and experienced the same thing. The cast bullets couldn't hold a candle to the swaged ones. I saw group increases of 1-2" at 50 yards. I'm certain some folks who cast their own, and even some manufacturers, can produce bullets that perform equally to the swaged but I haven't found them yet.