.38Spl - reversing 147gr. bullets and using as wadcutters?

[6string]

I'm reminded of a series of articles that Al Miller wrote for Handloader Magazine back in 1971. The general topic of the series was 38 Special handloading practices for bullseye competition.
As an example of the worst he'd ever seen he related an example of a guy who backwards loaded some SWCs when he discovered he'd run out of wadcutters, right before a match. Al described, with no small amount of humor, how the guy's targets were just full of keyholes randomly splattered throughout the target.
Needless to say, the fellow lost the match...

Maybe some folks don't care, and are happy with "minute of trashcan" accuracy at 7 yards.

Just sounds like a waste of time, powder, and primers to me.
Why not just give them away?

 

[growr]

I have been using 147 9mm TC bullets ( in my .38 Specials) in SASS for years....In the lever gun they feed like butter!!

Several have asked me about that at the loading table....many have since tried it and found that they feed just as I told them (and showed them). The Truncated cone feeds into the rifle breech SO nice!

Randy

 

[DWalt]

As I earlier stated, I have tried reversed loading of 158 grain SWCs. They do work, and I didn't get any keyholing. But they didn't group as well at 25 yards as regular wadcutters.

"Al described, with no small amount of humor, how the guy's targets were just full of keyholes randomly splattered throughout the target. Needless to say, the fellow lost the match..."

I have to whistle a giant BS on that tale. I guess that guy is supposed to be a gun writer. Most of them are experts at making things up.

 

[Rule3]

I never let die adjustment stop me from trying different bullets and loads, lot's of people will bad mouth a single stage press but this is exactly where they shine .
I have two bench mounted single stage presses , two Lee hand presses for mobility and one Lyman A-A Turret that mostly loads 357 magnum.
The single stage isn't dead yet to us who load lots of different things.
Believe it or not most of my handgun reloading happens with the Lee Hand Press , They are very ...handy !
Gary

But that die adjustment is soooo much trouble.


Gryff
"Bingo. I have my current setup dialed in for competition loads, and really don't want to futz with it just to load up a few hundred rounds of play ammo, and then futz with it again to get it back to where it needs to be for my competition ammo."

The amount of time and effort to post this thread and take a picture, the OP could not turn the seating die knob a bit??

 

[scattershot]

Seems like the long way around the barn to me, too, but he asked.....

 

[Bronco89]

I have reversed 158 grain SWC bullets for use as wadcutters. It works OK, but regular wadcutters are a little better. Best idea is to load up some and see how they perform for you. Or load them unreversed.

Do you use regular158 data and C.OL., just with thr bullet backwards?

 

[86ed]

Late to the game here, but I've done exactly this with Berry's Plated 9mm 147 grain RNs @ .356 with 4.0 grains Unique out of the 686. No keyholing or leading/fouling. It did make pretty almost WC-like holes in the target. The loading was really soft and rather under pressure, I had blackened case mouth exteriors (not enough expansion) and they shot smokey; Unique doesn't seem to like low pressure so much. The neck tension was lacking and some of them I had to pull as the projectiles quite literally fell to the bottom of the case with some headstamps. Basically, not a recipe for consistent velocity. Your .358 bullets should give decent results.

I shot about 200 of these, my forcing cone is still razor sharp. I would expect that at the 1000s of PSI cartridges launch at, high velocity gases will go anywhere they can and the shape of the rear of the bullet isn't of much consequence in the grand scheme.

No bench/rest shooting. Unsupported at 10 yards. I'm not a great revolver shot. They shot good enough for minute of pie plate accuracy.

They do look cool though!

 

[mike campbell]

No free lunch. Resize and shoot like intended, melt and re-make, give away, throw away - but, you will always remember screwing up your gun long after the bullets are disposed of.... I HAD a 5” model 10 that I tried some reloading shortcuts on many years ago. I bulged the barrel and blew the top of the cylinder off with 2.7 gr of Bullseye...

How do you know it WAS 2.7 grains of Bullseye?

I'm saying it WASN'T.

 

[Wise_A]

(1) Adjusting dies is not hard.

(2) Pie plates at 10 yards prove that the bullet made it out of the barrel. Nothing more.

(3) Using inaccurate ammunition only reinforces bad shooting.

 

[86ed]

(1) Adjusting dies is not hard.

(2) Pie plates at 10 yards prove that the bullet made it out of the barrel. Nothing more.

(3) Using inaccurate ammunition only reinforces bad shooting.

Pie plates without keyholes does at least show you're getting some spin stabilization and defensive level of accuracy. For me, they shot about what I can do with factory 38s.

I don't think there's any evidence of inaccuracy of reloading reverse projectiles, in and of itself, due to the cartridge in the OP or my case.