Anyone have a recipe for shooting 148 grain hard cast DEWCs in .357 cases with 2400?
Anyone have a recipe for shooting 148 grain hard cast DEWCs in .357 cases with 2400?
Last edited by Thomas Traddles; 04-13-2015 at 07:31 PM.
I load .38 special pretty low, can barely see the powder - 1.7 - 2.0 grs. Titegroup, W231 and 700x. Velocity at 10' is 575fps (1.7 700x) for the slowest and 625fps on the high end (2.0 Titegroup).
My buddy's wife loves the super light ones and nicknamed them 'cream puffs' - like shooting .22's.
I loaded an RCBS 38-148-WC over 10 and 10.5 grains of 2400 in starline brass and tested them out last week. The 10.5 grain load was very accurate from my 4 5/8" barrel NMBH. I don't have a chrony, but I am thinking that the velocity was between 1000 and 1050 fps. The cases were easily extracted and I saw no other pressure signs. I'm going to give it another try soon to make sure it was not a fluke. Generally, I load these bullets over 3.5 grains of Bullseye or Red Dot in .38 brass. These are "cream puff" loads in the NMBH. They give some stiff recoil in my LCR.
I have the M&P 358395 HBWC mold to feed a S&W 52. Since these bullets are loaded flush with the case mouth I assume it would be advantageous to use WC brass.
I have a lot of 38spcl. brass how do you tell if it is WC brass?
The .38spcl. WC brass will have a single distinctive cannelure in the middle of the case, or two cannelures spaced around the middle of the case. Yes, there is a true benefit if you are using real soft alloy, as I do (only soft SOWWs with 2% tin). Not sure of the benefit if you use hard lead.
I tried out shooting the light load with wadcutters. They were extremely pleasant to shoot. The only drawback I found was that they didn't hold groups beyond 20-25 feet in my guns. Probably has to do with the twist rate of my barrels.
I bumped up the powder charge a bit and got much tighter groups. I feel confident with the ammunition out to 25 yards now.
3.0 grs. Bullseye or 3 grs. Clays. Don't know the speed, both just work for plinking or more serious target work that I am capable of.
For many decades the standard bullseye combo was a 6" Model 14 Smith, a 148 HB wadcutter and 2.7 grs. Bullseye.
Great thread sticky maybe? I just picked up an old Taurus model 82 made in 1994. The only other 38 special I have is a S&W 10-5 which is the safe queen. So I now have a 38 I can shoot. My go to cast bullet for 357mag is the 358477 SWC so the WC got relegated to the women and children category. I have a few hundred WC I had cast up at a friends house years ago and are now itching to try them for both target and general purpose loads. I will have to also revisit E. H. Harrison Cast Bullets. Which had numerous articles on 38 special. I wonder how much history and data that the NRA put into that book years ago that has been lost and/or forgotten. I my search for bigger. faster, newer, better I basically skipped over 38 special articles.
http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/Cla...tBullets-s.pdf
I am glad to see this thread alive and still kicking.
I will just add the following;
1. Like others I think the 38 wadcutter is a 50 to 60 yard deal with accuracy falling off after that.
2. I have pushed the SB wadcutter up to 1,100 fps in a 357 Magnum and accuracy held up just fine. I keep a mess of them loaded to this speed for use in my Smith Model 19 in the field.
3. Factory match/target loads are held to about 700 fps +- not because they are more accurate at that speed, but because of the light recoil which helps folks handle the revolver better in a match. A WC going several hundred fps faster is just as accuracy or perhaps a smidge better.
Disclaimer: The above is not holy writ. It is just my opinion based on my experience and knowledge. Your mileage may vary.
3.5 gr Bulls Eye or 4.5 grains of Unique is the all time standard load for the .38 Special. with bullets of 148 to 160 grains.
Many years ago 2.7 grains was the favorite of the Bulls Eye target shooters.
I use the 148 grain wad cutter almost exclusively and this is what I have found.
2.7 grains will tear the paper and will not cut clean holes at 25 yards with an occasional oval shaped hole. An occasional complete tumble at 50.
3.0 grains will give good accuracy and round holes at both ranges. It will cut clean holes at 25 yards but will still tear the paper at 50 yards.
3.2 grains will give good accuracy and nice clean round holes at both distances. I get around 1" 6 shot groups at 25 yards and around 2 inch groups at 50 yards.
( That is with a scope. I can't see that good with my naked eye balls.)
First reload: .22 Hornet. 1956.
More at: http://reloadingtips.com/
"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the
government take care of him better take a closer look at the American Indian."
- Henry Ford
148 grain wadcutter over 2.9 grains of 700X in my S&W Model 64, 4" barrel, gets me 692 fps. Very nice load that shoots well easily out to 50 yards.
Hick: Iron sights!
Three grains of Bullseye brought home a lot of rabbits in the Security Six.
~ four hundred seventy seven miles per hourHow fast do you push your .38 Special Wadcutters?
700 foot/second = 477.272 727 27 mile/hour (mph)
A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.
I do not load much in the way of wad cutters any more. Most times if I do load them, it is for teaching absolutely new shooters to handle a revolver. However, I actually prefer using the 158/162 SWC as it loads easier with a speed loader and can be loaded to comparable velocity and recoil.
Ed
"Let us speak courteously, fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready."
Teddy Roosevelt, May 13, 1903
I load the Lyman 35891 (not 358091) with 3.1 grains Bullseye for a very consistent 712 fps in my S&W 637. Very accurate, easy to shoot, and gel tests indicate mild wadcutters actually penetrate quite well when fired from a snub nose, even compared to pricey JHP's.
Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.
1200 fps out of a Ruger GP100. 900 fps out of a Rossi 352.
I load Hornady or Speer swaged HBWC bullets for summer carry for my wife's snubby 38. It's a light load, but the very soft bullet will expand because I load it backwards making a big hollowpoint. That's an idea I got from a Skeeter Skelton article many years ago. It's so pleasant to shoot and so accurate, I like it in my 6" Model 19 for practice and rabbit shooting.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |