Who loads full power wc's?

[mikld]

My "house gun", a 2" .38, is loaded with 150 WC, over a near max. load of W231. Good across the room accuracy (ain't tried them beyond 10 yards) and I'm sure they would be effective. I have some 250 gr., .44 cal. full wadcutters that I've loaded for my magnums, but so far just light loads...

 

[at_liberty]

My 148 WC are loaded with 5.0 gr HS6. I seat to the crimp groove, not flush with the case.

 

[Keith44]

... However, if they were a truly viable self defense load, police departments would have used them as such during revolver days...

According to my father in law, and some other still surviving LEO's who served locally in the 60's the wad cutters and semi-wad cutters were the preferred loads of the officers. The round nosed 38 Special loadings were the issue ammo due to budget concerns. Even with the switch to .357 Magnum revolvers many departments stuck with the less expensive .38 Special round nose issue ammo.

 

[RussellD]

Has anyone used either plated or coated WC to help achieve the increased velocities desired?

 

[Duster340]

Hey Boogawaste,

Not 38's, but I have always had a soft spot in my heart for WC's and load .44 WC .208 grain Lee (throws em at about 213 gr) for use in my Bulldog 2 1/2" barrel and my SBH 7 1/2" barrel. Load them from very light "cream puff" loads up too just under recommended max loads. Was getting some fairly bad leading with the warmer loads. But determined I was not lubing them adequately. Once sorting that out things have been fine. Powders used are Unique, Red Dot, Blue Dot, Bullseye using load data for comparable weight cast bullets. Seating them flush with light loads and extended for heavier loads to avoid compressed loads. Have only punched holes in paper and clay pigeons but accuracy is on par with any of the other of the cast bullets I make. I plan on carrying a few for use on small game that may present a target when working on some woodland property we recently acquired in Northern WI. I see no reason why they will not perform well in that role.

Be well all.

 

[David R]

I have shot rabbits with wadcutters. They make a good hole. If they travel long ways through, meat is no good. They can tumble but just leave more of a mess.

Duster I am in the process of getting a new Bulldog.

David

 

[gwpercle]

The RCBS Cast Bullet Manual No. 1 , shows a maximum load for 38 Special, with their 148 grain cast wadcutter , 38-148-WC, sized .358, with5.2 grains of Unique for 999 fps.
The starting load is 4.7 grains Unique for 894 fps.

My typical load is 5.0 grains of Unique, with any cast bullet from 140 grains to 160 grains. The winner in my limited accuracy testing is the Lyman #358432, 160 grain wadcutter. This is a good bullet for maximum wadcutter loads. Stay away from soft swaged lead WC's they will lead up quick.
Gary

 

[Duster340]

I have shot rabbits with wadcutters. They make a good hole. If they travel long ways through, meat is no good. They can tumble but just leave more of a mess.

Duster I am in the process of getting a new Bulldog.

David

Thanks for the tumbling tip David. As bad as my eyes are, doubt I'll be shooting far enough for that to be a problem LOL.

And congrats on your soon to be new purchase. I can tell you that my Bulldog has exceeded my expectations. So much so that I'm eyeballing a .40 S&W Pitbull to accompany my M&P 40.


Sorry about the thread topic creep Boogawaste. All this talk about WC's has be all jacked up LOL.

 

[Boogsawaste]

Lots more good info! And don't worry about thread drift. Don't mind at all.

 

[WaMike]

I cast a bunch of Lee's DEWC (tumble-lubed) and found them to be very accurate (well, duh) at several different velocities. Since some of them were cast in a fairly hard alloy, I thought I try them with a stiff load of 231. They crono out at 900+/- fps (2" Taurus), 950 fps in my 4" Mdl 10 and 980 fps in my 4" Mdl 586.

I suspect they'd be a very good defense load. I think I've mentioned it before, but they do a great job on my preferred 'bad-guy' testing media: rotten Doug fir stumps (hard outside, softer and crumbly inside). Some slight mushroom, but the rest of the bullet holding together, good penetration.

 

[Boogsawaste]

That's what I like to hear WaMike. Thanks for posting.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Has anyone used either plated or coated WC to help achieve the increased velocities desired?

You mean like these?
Missouri Bullet Company

 

[Nevada Ed]

Ah, about shooting rabbits..............

when you use a bullet that is almost as big as they are, you need to try for head shots,
if you want any thing worth putting into the pot.

 

[David R]

Ah, about shooting rabbits..............

when you use a bullet that is almost as big as they are, you need to try for head shots,
if you want any thing worth putting into the pot.

OK, we were shooting the rabbits with a scoped contender. If they were not broadside, the shot would destroy the rabbit.

One other time it was new years day. The snowshoe Rabbits (hare) were white and the snow was gone. We were in the woods shooting the rabbits with 38s using iron sights and wadcutters. One was using a 22 rifle. We all got our limit.

Head shots are easy with a scope, not as much with irons.

I will be loading those Bayou bullets pretty soon.

I will post results.

David

 

[at_liberty]

You mean like these?
Missouri Bullet Company

Those are still BR 12 with the implied limitations.

 

[bluetopper]

I load DEWC in 357. I buy them sized and lubed about 17 brinnell hardness. Fill to bottom of bullet with 2400 powder. Makes an accurate, very hard hitting round.

 

[Boogsawaste]

Alright fellas, made a BUNCH of test loads last night and went out today to try them out. My best of the bunch accuracy wise were 4.7 unique with the crimp in the first lube groove. This brought the bullet right up to the throats in the cylinder. The groups closed up more than the 4.5 unique set up the same way. However that's as hot as I made them. I just got tired of hand weighing every charge for all these test loads honestly. I might make up some more at 4.9 and 5.1 and see how those go.

These were shot from 10 yards standing unsupported from a model 10, slowish double action.

 

[Boogsawaste]

I load DEWC in 357. I buy them sized and lubed about 17 brinnell hardness. Fill to bottom of bullet with 2400 powder. Makes an accurate, very hard hitting round.

Is this for 38 special? Wasn't sure 2400 worked well for 38's.

 

[Duster340]

Nice shooting Jim.

 

[Drm50]

Hot wad utters

Some time ago I lucked into many lbs. of Win. 630 at auction.
I worked up a load for my 6" m-19 with Lyman#358495 WC
Cast with Linotype& tin, at 20 to 1 ratio. Sized to .358, over
10.5 gr. of Win. 630. Crimped on grease groove. Used CCI
Small mag pistol primer. Bullet comes out at 140 gr. with this
alloy. I've no chrony but calc. this at 1000 to 1050 fps.

Load same bullet for 8 3/8". K-38 with 4 1/2 gr. P-5066 at about
950 fps.

Both loads very accurate. Powder obsolete.