.38 Special - which wadcutter?

[selmerfan]

If you were to purchase a wadcutter mold for a .38 Special, which would you recommend? Not looking to spend a mint, just a good, solid, at least double cavity mold. Are hollow base wadcutter molds even available?

[Dframe]

Yes hollowbase wadcutter moulds are available(look in the group buy section) . I'd check the "for sale" section of this forum. Wadcutter moulds for 38 wadcutter are still quite popular. Perhaps the best of the best is an H&G #50 but you'll find that one very pricey. Lyman, Saeco, and Lee (aluminum) all are available. They're generally available at a reasonable price.

[gefiltephish]

For cheap, the Lee 148 bullet is pretty good. I also have a 155 NOE 5 cav I like a lot better. I have no complaints with the Lee bullet, I just don't care much for the quality of their molds.

[Walter Laich]

My 'holy grail' of 38 wadcutters is Lyman 358101, a 75 gr one that makes the 38 Sp into a mouse-f@rt round. I think NOE makes a copy but it's up there in cost.
Have a Lyman 358405 141 gr wadcutter that does a fine job in the real world

[fecmech]

The H&G #50 and Lyman 358495 are both excellent accurate wadcutters and if a wadcutter is what you want they would be my picks. That said despite what many people think, wadcutters are not the most accurate bullet in .38's. The Lyman 358311 and H&G #39 RN's along with Lee,Lyman and RCBS 120-125 TC bullets IME will outshoot wadcutters at any range you care to try them. They will not however cut clean scoring holes in target paper, that's their downside.

[Tatume]

I have the excellent Lee six cavity mold for 148 grain conventional wad cutters, and have been very pleased with it. The quality is outstanding, and the mold casts buckets of high quality wad cutter bullets in a big hurry. It is worth much more than the typical selling price of $40.

Take care, Tom

[selmerfan]

Well I like the idea of that pretty round hole in the target, but honestly won't be shooting any competition. I've already got a Lee 158 gr RFN mold that should also work well, and several hundred Lyman 358627 SWC PB 215gr bullets from my .357 Max days. I had a guy offer me an H&G #527 10 cavity mold for $285-a little out of my budget...

[ShooterAZ]

I have the RCBS 38-148-WC, and it casts nicely. I agree however with fecmech regarding the RF shooting more accurately (for me anyway). I also have the RCBS 38-140-CM, and these boolits with outshoot the wadcutters all day long.

[Ed_Shot]

I really like my Lyman 358495 but I agree that the Lyman 358311 RN or 358477 SW or Lee 358-158-RF are hard to beat.

[N4AUD]

I have the Lee 2 cavity TL 158 gr semiwadcutter. Works great for me.

[azrednek]

I have the Lee TL 148 WC and an older Lyman hollow based mold. I load them both with anywhere from 2.7 -3.0 grs of Bullseye. Both are very accurate at close range and if there is any improvement with the hollow based in the shot to shot accuracy I haven't seen it on paper.

The hollow based are a real PIA to cast and dropping one vs 6 at a time it is a no brainer. The hollow base mold also has a high rate of rejects.

I've tried both methods, conventionally sized and lubed or tumble lube as cast with both. If there was any improvement of one over the other it has to be very insignificant as I couldn't see it on paper.

In summary IMHO casting with the hollow base is simply not worth the extra work and considerably more time dropping them one at a time or six at a time.

[MT Gianni]

I have owned and shot the LY 35863 a reversible wc, 358495, hb 358395, 358462 and at least one other. I don't think there is an inch difference between the best and worst shooting from my guns. I have stuck with the 495 and the 395 hb for most use. I use the hb only with pure and a low charge of BE, I like the convinence of the double end wad cutter, 35863 but get my best groups with ones that have a nose on the end.

[Cherokee]

My only WC experience is with the Lyman 358495 and it shot well for me. However, I switched to the Lyman 358477 years ago and it shoots as good or better.

[Beagle333]

358432 with a HP pin. Oh yeah.

I like em "Zombie" style.

[azrednek]

I know I'm wondering away slightly from the gist of this thread. For 38 Special I've grown fond of the Lee 125gr RNF. Although not quite as accurate as the full wad cutters I really like its versatility. I can also use the same casting in 9MM with 100% reliability in a semi-auto.

Originally I sized and lubed the 125 RNF .358 for 38 special and .356 for 9MM. My last batch I sized all of them to .357 for use I both calibers. I didn't see any significant drop off in the shot to shot accuracy in either caliber.

The 125RNF makes a wonderful plinking round for either caliber but I'm still stubborn enough when I want to take the time to load for max accuracy in 38 Special. The 148 WC remains my favorite.

I cast the wad cutters with as close to pure as I have on hand. I might add just a touch of tin if I'm not satisfied the mold if filling properly. I have cast the 148 WC's with varying degrees of hardness and in my experience the closer to pure the more accurate. With Lee's Tumble Lube diluted apx 50/50 with paint thinner. Just a light coat works as well as coating them thickly. If I'm packing them away for long term storage. A very light coating of Motor Mica keeps them from sticking together. For what it is worth as it has no effect whatsoever on accuracy. The coated boolits do not smoke as much when fired.

[Beagle333]

Yeah, I only like the 160 version. You don't have to coat em, you can just lube em with TAC#1 and some pop-can checks and light them babies up!


But it sure does make a pretty wadcutter.

[Beagle333]

The 358063 is fun too. And talk about easy to cast!

[tazman]

Now those are some seriously impressive boolits.

[Bullwolf]

I normally load and shoot Semi-Wad Cutters, but I have a gun that is very full Wad Cutter friendly.

So I recently picked up a pair of Lee double ended WC moulds. Both regular lube groove, and TL design. Then cast a few from both to see how they would turn out.

I'm kind of liking the TL version more so far.

The TL WC seemed to be easier to cast with for some reason. Maybe it was the lack of vent lines on the new Lee mould, or perhaps I just haven't quite gotten both moulds broken in yet. To be fair I haven't shot both styles side by side to compare them yet either.

So I lubed and loaded up 100 of the 147 grain TL WC's sized at .358 and I went with 3.0 to 3.5 grains of Bullseye since that tends to be a moderately accurate load.

I roll crimped the TL WC in the last small tumble lube groove, for a loaded cartridge Over All Length of 1.225

The TL boolit just felt right there, even though that was a tad deeper than the 1.265 OAL for the regular (non TL) DE WC boolit's dedicated crimp groove.

Now I need to go play with them some and see how the full WC's shoot compared to my regular SWC load.




- Bullwolf

[MT Gianni]

If your gun allows it I get far better accuracy with FWFL by lubing one groove than multiple grooves.