Wadcutters for self defense

[hiddencreek]

Any thoughts on wadcutters in snubbies for self defense?

Thanks
Hiddencreek

 

[colt_saa]

Welcome to the Forum

Any thoughts on wadcutters in snubbies for self defense?

Thanks
Hiddencreek

It beats leaving the gun empty

Go out and buy yourself a 20 round box of premium defense ammo from ANY of the big manufacture's

Your life is worth the $30

 

[bigggbbruce]

wadcutters do a fine job. Cut a nice hole.

 

[Otreb]

A hardcast Wadcutter driven to better than target velocities might be an improvement over rnl, but aside from the shootability benefit of a target WC, they are IMO too slow and too soft for SD applications. They're hard pressed to get low 600fps...not fast enough to reliably break major bones that protect the spots you want to hit.
I guess they are better than nothing of course, but there's a lot of better choices.

 

[Florida J Frame]

Why, when there are so many better choices? PDs that still allow .38s almost all use Speer Gold Dot SB +P. There must be a reason. Like Colt saa said buy a box of almost any modern SD ammo.

 

[Shark Bait]

If you mean Buffalo Bore hard-cast wadcutters, they would do a decent job. But those can cost more than good defensive loads.

 

[CTG_COLLECTOR]

WC ammo is for target shooting. SD ammo is for SD. Never confuse the two.

 

[ColbyBruce]

I had to shoot a raccoon a few years ago with a .32 S&W Long. Six times. The first four shots were LRN and did little more than anger this monster. The next two rounds were WC and they had a profound effect. This animal was huge, about the size of a first grade child. I am not positive it was rabid, but if not, it should of had the sense to wipe the foam off his mouth and stand up straight.

 

[ralph7]

Shot placement is king.
If you could make a face shot under pressure, a target wadcutter could be more decisive than any exotic round in the torso.

 

[Steve C]

IMHO the WC no better than any solid with more negatives due to difficulty in speed loading due to their profile. The WC is specifically designed for low recoil target shooting to cut a clean easy to score paper punch hole in paper targets. Not that they won't kill or injure but if they where a better choice than HP ammo or even LRN or SWC's they would have been sold for SD ammo and been official ammo issued by thousands of police departments when they used revolvers. Personally I'd rather use a LRN or SWC that reloads quicker for carry than a WC bullet if they where the only choices available (otherwise a good HP).

The flat nose stirs peoples imagination but imagined results does not equal factual actual results. Tests on Youtube pretty much show an over penetrating solid that produces a wound track as other solids and non expanding JHP's. When someone has collected results from some defensive shootings showing equal near same results as readily available JHP's I may change my mind.

 

[SilentKnight]

WC is not recommended over SD ammo. Your life is worth a few bucks. Buy good carry ammo.

 

[Nevada Ed]

There is a balance of energy and recoil in all loads for each caliber.
It come down to how much recoil or energy you can handle.

In the little 38 special in my "Steel frame" J frame that hits 21 oz. of weight.......... a lot more than the Air light 15 oz. 442

a 148gr wc at 775fps and 197 ft/lbs of muzzle energy has 3.99 of recoil energy, which is the most the lady's in the family like.

the 110gr JHP at 950 fps has 220 ft/lbs of ME with the same recoil.
the 125gr JHP at 880 fps has 215 ft/lb ME with 4.33 of recoil.

All these loads to me are............Minimal for a SD load out of a 38 snub nose.

If you can go to a larger bullet or caliber, you are much better off and the odds improve for you or family members.

Just go with the biggest, meanest load that works for you.

 

[shotgun693]

If you load WC a bit to hot, sometimes the skirt will separate and remain in the barrel. It the late70s, before really good HP pistol ammo we tried everything. WC loaded nose first or base first. It just did not work out.

 

[Dave_n]

On the other hand, the Webley 0.455 "manstopper" was a hollow nosed WC that was around 250 grains and 600 fps. It was rather effective!! Dave_n

 

[Shooter6br]

Read this by Ed Harris Ed Harris: Revisiting The Full Charge Wadcutter. – www.GrantCunningham.com

 

[Geo. T.]

Factory wad cutters are a bad choice and the Texas DPS strongly advise against using hand loads in your carry pistol. There is a smaller chance of getting charges filed if you use factory ammo. The example they used was "He loaded up killer bullets and went hunting". I second the box of factory hollow points.

 

[moosedog]

Wrong bullet design for the job. Can't push them fast enough.
The "full caliber hole" idea is nice, but you can accomplish the same with a sharp shouldered SWC and even get those in HP configuration.
The new self defense rounds in JHP just can't be outdone by a lead bullet anymore.

 

[wogentry]

Target wadcutters--no. Buffalo Bore Standard Pressure 150r Hard Cast Wadcutters---yes. Accurate as all get out in my snub and 4 inch Model 10s and pre-10 out to 25 yards. Hits with a solid thump. Chronograph results that I have done and others I have seen printed on this forum show velocities pretty well match whats on the box/website.

Expensive--probably. But to me well worth with. Bought a couple of cases a while back and practice with it routinely.

YMMV

 

[rwsmith]

Anybody want to start......

Does anybody want to start the WC turned around backwards debate. (Collective GROAN)

If you ask me, that's what a Gold Dot is, but designed to do the real thing RELIABLY. That's a key word, reliably.

 

[alwslate]

My lightweight J frame mod 37 is loaded with my handloaded 148 gr
hard cast wadcutters. My load is standard pressure but is much faster
than target WCs. Hunters like Ed Harris mentioned above, say WCs
are very effective bullets on live targets.