38 wadcutter questions

[Master Tinker]

Years ago I purchased are fairly large quantity of R-P 38spl 148gr HBWC MATCH bullets. These appear to have no lube & do not look they have been sized. They are fairly hard lead with a blackened outer appearance. Does anybody have knowledge of this bullet. They measure .360. Will they require resizing & lubing? The only number I can find on the box is227079-B

 

[glenwolde]

Welcome to the forum!

You don't have too, but here's what I used to do with these:

Dump them all in a towel and roll them back and forth to knock the trash off them. Mine always had a lot of debris from manufacturing. Do this a couple of times shaking the towel out in between.

Then I put them in a coffee can and add a small amount of Frankford Arsenal Silica powder and shake to coat. I can't seem to find this product online right now. But it makes them look like the Hornady HBWC that comes dusted with a white powder. Maybe I have the name wrong. I'll have to look at the container.

But you don't have to do that. You can shoot them bare just as they are with no sizing. Just keep velocities down. I've been trying to get some of those but I think they've been discontinued.


Edit: Got the name wrong... Mica - 4 oz. jar

 

[PPCSHOOTER]

THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE. THEY HAVE A BLACK GRAPHITE LUBE. THE SIZE IS CORRECT. LOAD AND SHOOT THEM AS IS. LOAD THEM JUST BELOW FLUSH, ROLL CRIMP. 2.7GR WST, 2.8GR BULLSEYE, 3.2GR 231. THEY ARE THE BEST ON THE MARKET. NOW THAT STAR CLOSED THEIR DOORS ( YEARS AGO).

 

[glenwolde]

THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE. THEY HAVE A BLACK GRAPHITE LUBE. THE SIZE IS CORRECT. LOAD AND SHOOT THEM AS IS. LOAD THEM JUST BELOW FLUSH, ROLL CRIMP. 2.7GR WST, 2.8GR BULLSEYE, 3.2GR 231. THEY ARE THE BEST ON THE MARKET. NOW THAT STAR CLOSED THEIR DOORS ( YEARS AGO).

So that's what all that "trash" was! Geez the case I opened looked crappy. I guess I re-lubed the lube.

 

[Sevens]

Also a tip if you have never loaded high grade, swaged HBWC:

Do not ever attempt to run these "hot." Due to their physical design, a load too harsh can (and absolutely has, far too many times) blown the center core right out of the bullet leaving the full diameter skirt inside the bore, obstructing the barrel. Another shot behind it bulges the barrel.

I've been trying to get some of those but I think they've been discontinued.

Kind of! Remington no longer markets these but Black Hills packages them in bags of 100 and retails them. They are not low in cost. They are beautifully accurate in a sublime Model 52.

 

[boatbum101]

The late Jerry Keefer used to wash the factory stuff off with gasoline & relube with LLA cut with MS . Mucho mess / work as they shoot just fine out the box . Jerry was a pistolsmith of great talents , machined many of his own parts & had very definate ideas about things . He was also a very accomplished shooter in his own right . I suppose if one wants to replace factory graphite lube , get a Qt of White Labe Lube 45-45-10 . It's 45% Alox , 45% Beeswax , 10% Mineral Spirits . Also works wonders on hardcast commercial bullets with crayon lube that lead .

 

[Scharfschuetzer]

I've shot thousands of 'em for years (as is) with no issues and with good accuracy and no leading. I just wish I could find more of 'em as my stash is near gone. Poor me!

In my opinion, they are the best 148 grain HBWC bullets available.

 

[nbedford]

Years ago I purchased are fairly large quantity of R-P 38spl 148gr HBWC MATCH bullets. These appear to have no lube & do not look they have been sized. They are fairly hard lead with a blackened outer appearance. Does anybody have knowledge of this bullet. They measure .360. Will they require resizing & lubing? The only number I can find on the box is227079-B

I have not shot them, but the Speer swaged wad cutters have the same lube - graphite covering. It never dawned on me to clean 'em. I have just shot 'em. Worry about something else. 2.7 grains of Bullseye does the job.

 

[Sevens]

Precision Delta offers similar bullets and last I checked, they have two options. Nasty gooey black and filthy, or LESS SO for a couple bucks more. Their bullets are decent too.

 

[Engineer1911]

SAVE Your Money

. . . . .I suppose if one wants to replace factory graphite lube , get a Qt of White Label Lube 45-45-10 . It's 45% Alox , 45% Beeswax , 10% Mineral Spirits . . . . . . . . .

Only buy a quart of White Label Lube if you are 21 years old and shoot a 100,000 cast lead bullets per year. BUY THE 1 Pint BOTTLE if you are over 40. I bought my quart about 12 years ago, I know it has been opened and used because the foil seal under the cap is torn. I think there is still 28 OZ left in the bottle.

My bad news is that my grandchildren don't care about guns. They have cell phones and video games.

 

[bluetopper]

Speer HBWC looked just like them, dark and ugly but none shot better.

The Hornady HBWC I always thought had talcum powder on them?

 

[glenwolde]

Speer HBWC looked just like them, dark and ugly but none shot better.

The Hornady HBWC I always thought had talcum powder on them?

I've shot a lot of the Hornady HBWC, which is why when I got my first case of Remingtons I was a bit surprised how nasty they looked. I'm pretty sure the Hornadys are coated with the same Mica powder I posted a link to above. After I dusted the Remingtons with it they looked like the Hornady product.

The Remingtons looked so nasty I didn't want to run them through my dies. I didn't go as far as washing them with gasoline but I agitated them around enough to knock most of it off.

 

[glenwolde]

Also a tip if you have never loaded high grade, swaged HBWC:

Do not ever attempt to run these "hot." Due to their physical design, a load too harsh can (and absolutely has, far too many times) blown the center core right out of the bullet leaving the full diameter skirt inside the bore, obstructing the barrel. Another shot behind it bulges the barrel.


Kind of! Remington no longer markets these but Black Hills packages them in bags of 100 and retails them. They are not low in cost. They are beautifully accurate in a sublime Model 52.

Yeah, Midway shows the bulk Remingtons as discontinued and that's what I've read around the Interwebs for some time. I don't shoot a lot of them anymore but do like 500 a year or so. I usually just pick up random boxes of 500 Hornadys at retail when I see them at a decent price. Maybe if things get back to "normal" I'll try a box of the Precision Deltas.

Mostly I'm sticking to polycoated cast SWC's these days. But use some HBWC for old time's sake.

 

[boatbum101]

Watch the Precision Delta some are undersized & will lead , plus they will not group @ 50yds . Many PPC shooters use them , so maybe I got a bad batch . FWIW undersized in both 38 & 45 . Still shooting them up at 25yds or less . At that range a good shooter can clean a target shooting rocks .

 

[Nevada Ed]

The Reminton bullet shot great but it did have a LOT of "Bear grease" all over them, that was a problem after loading a lot of them with your hands and equipment.

I never shot the Hornady bullet but I did like the Speer, when I did later buy them, when I could not find any Rem. bullets.

I also stocked up with the BBwc style from other companies that had a much cheaper price, even though the bullets were a lot harder in makeup
but could be pushed faster, if needed, in my M686.

 

[glenwolde]

The Reminton bullet shot great but it did have a LOT of "Bear grease" all over them, that was a problem after loading a lot of them with your hands and equipment.

I never shot the Hornady bullet but I did like the Speer, when I did later buy them, when I could not find any Rem. bullets.

I also stocked up with the BBwc style from other companies that had a much cheaper price, even though the bullets were a lot harder in makeup
but could be pushed faster, if needed, in my M686.

I could never get the cast wadcutters to shoot well with the standard light HBWC charge weights. Once I upped the powder charge to something more in the standard velocity range they shot fine.

 

[4barrel]

I could never get the cast wadcutters to shoot well with the standard light HBWC charge weights. Once I upped the powder charge to something more in the standard velocity range they shot fine.

My cast wad cutters like the 800-920 fps range out of a wheel gun. You have to keep the hbwc under about 780 to be accurate.

 

[Master Tinker]

Thanks guys this helps me a lot. Will try about 50 dry & see what happens. I don't think I am going to need all that I have & probably will post some for sale after I try these. That will be at a later date

 

[Sevens]

I'll ask what I think many of us are wondering...

-HOW- many of these do you have?

 

[9146gt]

Precision Delta offers similar bullets and last I checked, they have two options. Nasty gooey black and filthy, or LESS SO for a couple bucks more. Their bullets are decent too.

Jim Russell at Star made the bullet molds for Zero and Precision Delta.
Tom

 

[CWS&W]

The 45acp precision delta fmj do not work well in my 1911, I always end up with lots of carbon fouling in the rifling. It never happens with coated lead.

Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk

 

[gregintenn]

The graphite lube on them is basically pencil lead. It is nasty, but man you have a prize. Those things shoot great!

 

[AzShooter]

Thanks guys this helps me a lot. Will try about 50 dry & see what happens. I don't think I am going to need all that I have & probably will post some for sale after I try these. That will be at a later date

Shoot them all! These days there are problems finding bullets so keep them and have a good time shooting.

The wadcutters are very accurate with the right load and you can see your hits easier. I'm an old USPSA shooter with the revolver. I use the full wadcutter for practicing my reloads. If you can do a full wadcutter imaging how much faster your reloads will be with LRN.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

Precision Delta makes a 148 gr HBWC Match Lube bullet that sounds exactly like what you have. It looks like this:

You said yours were hard. These are not. I tested the hardness at Brinell 9.8. I just shot some today. I bought 1000 before I started casting my own. They are great for plinking low velocity 38 Sp. loads. 3 gr. of bullseye or 2.5 gr of Trail Boss makes a nice soft accurate load for punching paper.

 

[glenwolde]

Precision Delta makes a 148 gr HBWC Match Lube bullet that sounds exactly like what you have. It looks like this:

You said yours were hard. These are not. I tested the hardness at Brinell 9.8. I just shot some today. I bought 1000 before I started casting my own. They are great for plinking low velocity 38 Sp. loads. 3 gr. of bullseye or 2.5 gr of Trail Boss makes a nice soft accurate load for punching paper.

Compared to the Remingtons those look like they've been sterilized.

 

[nbedford]

My cast wad cutters like the 800-920 fps range out of a wheel gun. You have to keep the hbwc under about 780 to be accurate.

My home cast Lee .358" 150 grain button nose wad cutters run an average of 734 fps over 2.7 grains of Bullseye. And they are very accurate