PDA

View Full Version : Why SWC?



wtfooptimax200
02-11-2013, 04:16 PM
It seems that SWC boolits are exceptionally popular, why is this? As an example, the h&g 68 is wildly popular for 45 acp but it seems like TC styles may feed better in autos such as 1911s and still have a meplat that will hit hard. So why does the SWC succeed?

Insight is appreciated.

Branden

Love Life
02-11-2013, 04:26 PM
I like them because the cut clean holes in paper and hit things hard.

44man
02-11-2013, 04:30 PM
Exactly! It was a cross between a wad cutter to make round holes in paper and to get longer range while retaining paper holes.
It has a lot to do with appearance of loaded rounds more then anything. Still a decent boolit but not really needed with newer designs. The shoulder does nothing at all on game or to steer a boolit into the rifling.

Love Life
02-11-2013, 04:44 PM
It has a lot to do with appearance of loaded rounds more then anything.


To be honest that is about 80% of the reason I use them. There is just something about seing the SWC that does it for me.

duck hollow pete
02-11-2013, 06:53 PM
As far as the 1911 45ACP goes issue grade needed the round nose to feed, when I got my gold cup(mid 70s) it was cut to feed the swc to cut clean holes in paper for scoring and it also hits hard in any other cal. plus it looks good too.

runfiverun
02-11-2013, 09:24 PM
i always though that big nose hangin out there looked silly and fragile.
i'm more of a rnfp dude but they don't make "pretty" holes in paper...

Love Life
02-11-2013, 09:33 PM
Pretty is important. It has been scientifically proven VIA random posts on the internet that clean holes in paper directly relate to killing power. I read it on the net, that makes it true.

garym1a2
02-11-2013, 10:15 PM
They also tend to hit close to point of aim than most others in 45acp also.
Plus a 200 gr 45 acp uses 30gr less lead than the 230 TC. this gets me 10% more per pot.

runfiverun
02-12-2013, 12:40 AM
maaaaannn now i gotta start all over again, jeez i thought i was finally gettin a handle on this stuff.
now i gotta make things look good too?
how do you get a deer to stand behind the paper??? :shock:

SlippShodd
02-12-2013, 03:23 AM
how do you get a deer to stand behind the paper??? :shock:

Umm, open it to the comics page?
I don't think it's because they look good, because they don't. I've just gotten used to them because they shoot spectacularly well in my 1911s. The only uglier round is this old box of Remington Targetmasters I have. Bleah!
When I was shooting USPSA, the SWC constantly made up the difference in scoring over a RN by cutting the higher scoring line on the target when a less than stellar hit was recorded in an iffy area. That clean-cut, full-caliber hole wasn't just another pretty face.
Not that I would ever blame my meteoric rise to mediocrity on my sloppy shooting.

mike

Hounddog
02-12-2013, 03:43 AM
why SWC?

Why not? Variety is the spice of life as they say. Besides it's not like you can have too many moulds, right?

rintinglen
02-12-2013, 03:44 AM
maaaaannn now i gotta start all over again, jeez i thought i was finally gettin a handle on this stuff.
now i gotta make things look good too?
how do you get a deer to stand behind the paper??? :shock:

I just hand him the Target and ask him to hold it. If he's suspicious, I tell him Does dig modern art.

skandic
02-12-2013, 05:23 AM
I parked my 429-421 in favor of a rnfp dont really like shooting paper and the rnfp is without question the much better looking boolit,
actually probably the biggest advantage for me is using pure ww no tin added the cull rate on the rnfp is allmost none compared to a significant amount of improperly filled out front driving bands with the swc, love my 4 cav brass accurate 44-250-E

wtfooptimax200
02-12-2013, 06:54 AM
When I was shooting USPSA, the SWC constantly made up the difference in scoring over a RN by cutting the higher scoring line on the target when a less than stellar hit was recorded in an iffy area. That clean-cut, full-caliber hole wasn't just another pretty face.
Not that I would ever blame my meteoric rise to mediocrity on my sloppy shooting.

mike

How do they score USPSA? When I shot IDPA we always went to the outside of the grease ring. it was my understanding that the grease ring was full caliber. What do you guys think?

Branden

1Shirt
02-12-2013, 11:12 AM
I think it is easier to score clean cuts from WC/SWC's. SWC's are pretty, and in todays vernacular, kind of Cool looking.
1Shirt!

fouronesix
02-12-2013, 12:29 PM
I think the reasons SWCs are popular are that they tend to shoot well and by basic design are "chamber friendly" in most chambers- where some full diameter nose designs can present a problem. Obviously there is no such thing as "one size fits all" but the SWC is easy to seat to correct depth for most applications.

fredj338
02-12-2013, 02:40 PM
A TC will feed better but not make that nice round full caliber hole. For most of us, reliability trumps nice clean holes.

44man
02-12-2013, 03:47 PM
I still like the SWC and shot them many, many years.
It was only the very fine edge in accuracy that I learned a revolver is capable of that made me change. It really only amounts to an inch or two inches at 50 yards.

Love Life
02-12-2013, 05:00 PM
maaaaannn now i gotta start all over again, jeez i thought i was finally gettin a handle on this stuff.
now i gotta make things look good too?
how do you get a deer to stand behind the paper??? :shock:

Hehehe. I don't make the posts, I just take them as gospel with no further research of my own conducted. :mrgreen:

If I shot as well as some of the forum members then I would switch, but for me the groups stay pretty much the same. Well except in the 38 special at 50 yards. In that one the Lee 358-125-RNFP wins out hands down over SWC.

I use lies and disinformation to get the deer to stand behind the paper. Works every time.

10mmShooter
02-12-2013, 07:28 PM
If if was good enough for Elmer its good enough for me :)

runfiverun
02-13-2013, 01:22 AM
is the keith boolit a swc ??
or is a full wadcutter with a bump on the nose a swc.
maybe that's just a unidirectional wadcutter.

MtGun44
02-13-2013, 01:42 AM
Sorry, your basic premise is false. How can a TC feed better than 100%?

A H&G 68 loaded properly will feed 100%, from many decades of personal experience with
hundreds of thousands of rounds in many different PERSONAL pistols and observations of
many millions of them downrange with very, very few issues issues and none that were related
to the boolit design.

And they do cut nicer holes.

Bill

Willbird
02-13-2013, 01:59 PM
Well for one thing as a machinist I can see that the nose punch used to make the swaged versions would be far stronger than a RNFP shape. I have recovered fmj semiwadcutter from the dirt at camp perry. The nose punch for a RNFP would come to a razor sharp edge. It would also be far easier to grind a mold cherry to that form than a RNFP.

Bill

facetious
02-14-2013, 06:29 AM
A long time ago I read that the nose was for "form stability". That a wad cutter would become unstable past 50yrd's but that SWC would stay stable at long range. But I have never seen form stability explained . Way would adding a nose to make it longer make it more stable?

DLCTEX
02-14-2013, 07:01 AM
By shifting the weight to the rear the boolit is more stable. Hollowpointing has the same effect.

hermans
02-14-2013, 09:34 AM
I just love them, because they just look soooo nice. Also in IPSC/USPSA style shooting, if the Range Officer needs to make a call on a "close to the line" shot, they all tend to make the call more easily in your favor if the hole is that perfect round cut made by a SWC like a H&G 68 or clone.

10mmShooter
02-14-2013, 09:05 PM
I mean look at that beautiful 250g Keith SWC...its dead sexy :) also the little 100g .32 SWC are nice too... you just cant beat the .44 SWC :)

61278

SlippShodd
02-14-2013, 10:38 PM
[QUOTE=10mmShooter;2059864]I mean look at that beautiful 250g Keith SWC...its dead sexy :) also the little 100g .32 SWC are nice too... you just cant beat the .44 SWC :)

I should amend a previous statement about SWCs not being pretty... I don't own any other kind of mould for pistols -- I've got one WC and a whole fleet of SWCs in various calibers and I wouldn't have it any other way (well, I could use an RNFP for .45 Colt cuz my SWC doesn't work for sour owl poop in a lever action)...BUT, I've always thought the thousands upon thousands of .45 ACP rounds I've loaded look a little... funny. I've gotten over it. The classic 230 gr. RN load is the profile we associate with the round, but I haven't fired one of those in decades. I keep some around, but all my guns shoot the SWC nearly precisely where I want it, it's lighter (which saves alloy), faster (which ups its downrange potential) and I just won't change my mind about its efficacy.
And the 429421? The handsomest round ever loaded.

mike