38 special with 1:10 twist bullet choices?

[ABJ]

My buddies and i are doing a 1911 build in 38 special. We have a 1:10 twist barrel and was wondering if anything other than the 148 wadcutter can be used. I have a Blackmon swage press and .358 core swage die with hollow base punch and can make anything from about 125 grain up to 160 grain. I'm casting my cores using pure lead and my 9mm and 38 molds. Not sure what the best weight for a fast twist barrel would be? Also these have to be flush seated to fit in mag. Thanks for any insight you might have. Tony

[Ben]

1-10 wouldn't be my choice.

1-14 and 1-16 have been the factory choices for many years by Smith and Colt.
I'd think there is a VERY GOOD reason for that.

Ben

[ABJ]

Thanks Ben, A little back story on the 1:10. the reason we are trying this is based on Clark, Davis and Strahan ppc revolver builds from the 80"s. Based on the info i can find they preferred 10 and 12 twist for the 50 yd line with wadcutters. in our revolvers we do get more stable groups at 50 thru our colts(faster twist) than our smith's. At 25 i can see no difference in either gun. On a side note i just yesterday shot 100 rounds of BLL on tl-158 rn. accuracy was same as 45-45-10 and leading in the free bore area of the taylor throat was less than 45-45-10. I used a 1/4 teaspoon per 100 boolits. next week i'll try same test with 1/2 tea per 100. Thanks i love the no smell factor and the fact it stays liquid in a cold shop.

[Bigslug]

The good news is that you have the technology to make the bullets anywhere in your weight range, so you can (and should) experiment a bit. I've got some theories however. . .

I would guess that the guys whose work you are following were using the classic 148 grain approach - those being the main option at the time. Everything I hear about wadcutters suggests accuracy is great to a bit beyond the regulation 50 yards, and then it crashes soon after. The faster twist is probably ramping up the gyroscope to stave off instability on the 148's for a few more yards. I tend to think that using a 1-10" twist but going to heavier bullet, and consequently slower speeds, would drop you back down to about the same stability level you started with. Lighter may offer some advantage. Only one way to find out though. . .

[Forrest r]

I have/shoot a couple of custom 1 in 10 twist bbl's for 357's. They are excellent bbl's for 148g to 160g wc's, and my favorite anything 158g and heavier with full house loads. Allot on 9mm bbl's are 1 in 10 twist now & they have no problems using/shooting light bullets @ high speeds.

[MtGun44]

Should work well. A friend that is a real expert on .38s in PPC and Bianchi says
the factory twists are too slow. I don't remember what he uses when he rebarrels,
but definitely faster than factory.

Bill

[fecmech]

The twist thing can be strange at times. I know the 10" twist was made specifically for wc's in some of the PPC and Bullseye guns and works well for the low velocity thing. I shoot the H&G#50 WC over 3.1/BE out of my Rossi lever with a 30" twist and it will make consistent 50 yd 10 shot groups of 1.5-2" all day. They are running right at 1000fps out of the 24" bbl but that's still not much RPM for stability, it amazes me that they are that accurate.