Is a wadcutter a wadcutter?

[brewer12345]

Has anyone played with different wadcutter molds? I shoot a lot of them and the first mold I bought was a double cavity Lyman 358495 from a member here. I like the mold and the boolits it produces, but a double cavity is somewhat limiting. I have a 4 cavity ideal (don't know the mold number) on the way and am in on the group buy for the H&G50 rerun. Also toying with picking up a Lee 6 banger of the standard lube groove DEWC. This all leads me to wonder: can I use the boolits from these molds interchangeably? They all (supposedly) cast the same weight (except the 358495 - designed to drop at 140 grains and does 147 plus a hair for me), and when I see pictures of the various versions on the web the differences appear slight to me. Guess I will keep the output from different molds separate and experiment to see if they do the same stuff out of my guns, but I wondered if anyone could comment from experience.

[skeettx]

38 Special, light target load, they should almost all shoot the same.
I would suggest a trial when you get all the moulds and post the findings
Thanks
Mike

[Grmps]

The Lee 6 X boolit isn't as pretty ( in my opinion) but shoots the same.

[country gent]

I had a lyman 4 cavity wadcutter mould that cast a 160 grn wadcutter it was a tack driver in revolvers never tried it in the 1911 wadcutter pistol.

[OS OK]

Attachment 209063 Lyman 358091, has a bevel base and taller button top above the crimp groove.

Attachment 209064 Lee 358-148-WC, square base and shorter top above the crimp groove and smaller button.

I had intended to put them in the same box of ready to load cast but they take a different seater adjustment. The Lyman cast 2 at a time and the Lee cast 6 at a time.
The bevel base of the Lyman requires less belling than the Lee.
They both shoot clean and accurate but I like the Lyman over the Lee, the Lyman looks better when loaded...the Lee, not so much, if that makes any sense to you...I'm quirky that way.
Lower velocity, 750~840 FPS seems to keep them in tight groups in my Smith 14-4...sorta like shooting a 'pop gun'!

[brewer12345]

I had a lyman 4 cavity wadcutter mould that cast a 160 grn wadcutter it was a tarck driver in revolvers never tried it in the 1911 wadcutter pistol.

I shoot lots of them because they are very accurate. With the DEWC flavor I suspect they could be driven pretty darned fast in a 357 case. That said, these are target and small game fodder for me.

[tazman]

I shoot a lot of 38 special wadcutters in my revolvers. Over the years, I have owned nearly every wadcutter mold made. None shot significantly better than the others.
More important than choosing a mold or boolit design is proper fit to your cylinder and barrel. The boolit must be a close fit to the cylinder throats and slightly larger than the groove diameter of your barrel.
You can get away with the boolit being a press fit in the cylinder throats but it absolutely must seal the barrel. The boolit must leave the cylinder still being slightly larger than the groove diameter of the barrel to accomplish this.
If the boolit is a sloppy loose fit to the cylinder throats, it may not align correctly with the barrel and forcing cone causing poor accuracy.

[brewer12345]

I shoot a lot of 38 special wadcutters in my revolvers. Over the years, I have owned nearly every wadcutter mold made. None shot significantly better than the others.
More important than choosing a mold or boolit design is proper fit to your cylinder and barrel. The boolit must be a close fit to the cylinder throats and slightly larger than the groove diameter of your barrel.
You can get away with the boolit being a press fit in the cylinder throats but it absolutely must seal the barrel. The boolit must leave the cylinder still being slightly larger than the groove diameter of the barrel to accomplish this.
If the boolit is a sloppy loose fit to the cylinder throats, it may not align correctly with the barrel and forcing cone causing poor accuracy.

I have been happy with the results of sizing mine to .358.

[jsizemore]

Mine cast at .360 and I size to .358. I'm only lubing the groove closest to the base. I'm also only using a starting load in mixed headstamp brass so there's no chance of over pressure. I shoot these in 3 different revolvers and they shoot great. Lot's of fun and your not beating the gun to death.

[tazman]

I have been happy with the results of sizing mine to .358.

I size to .358 also. It just happens that the largest set of cylinder throats on my revolvers are .358. I have a couple of other revolvers with throats that measure .357 and the .358 sizing works well there too.

[azrednek]

Over the years I've tried various 38 wadcutters. They all seemed to shoot the same, no improvement over any of the others including the pain in the donkey to cast hollow base. Being that the TL Lee 6-banger is the easiest to cast with it my preferred. The only improvement I've seen was using store-bought swaged wad cutters from either Speer or Hornady.

[DerekP Houston]

I started with the RCBS 2 cavity 148 wadcutter, then got the lee 6 gang mold and the H&G 50bb. I've used the same light target charges for all of them so far, shoot to same POI in my guns at least. I load the H&G the most these days as the mold is just easier to cast with for me and the bevel base makes seating a cinch. I didn't intend on getting a 50bb but it has worked out well for me.

[David2011]

I have an old Saeco flat based 4 cavity WC mold. The business end is not perfectly flat; it has a slight conical shape to it- just enough to not be flat. It probably isn't any more accurate than any other but it sure casts nice!

[texassako]

Over the years I've tried various 38 wadcutters. They all seemed to shoot the same, no improvement over any of the others including the pain in the donkey to cast hollow base.

Same here. I have several Lyman 4 cavity molds, and usually my old 35891 gets the nod when I run low.

[trapper9260]

I have try out like was stated on here somewhere about use brass that is for WC and see how that went compare to non WC brass and I seen a differents that they shoot better for 38/357 usen the brass for WC. Now I will use the brass that is for WC, now for WC .

[Petrol & Powder]

I fought with the SAECO #053 WC mold for over a year before I gave up and went with the RCBS 38-148-WC.

The SAECO #053 has a single large lube groove in the middle of the bullet and a tiny crimp groove just behind the nose. Like most SAECO products it's beautifully made. It shot well but I just couldn't stop it from leading. So in teams of accuracy, it was fine but in actual use, not so much. It pains me to report this because I like SAECO & Redding gear and have had great luck with other SAECO products.

The RCBS 38-148 drops bullets around 155 grains +/- a bit depending on the alloy. They run around .359" and size to .358" nicely. It is a more traditional WC with three small lube grooves and a crimp groove. It shoots wonderfully, doesn't lead and would be perfect if RCBS would only add two more cavities! I'll probably find 4 cavity mold that has a similar design to supplement the RCBS.

Attachment 209083

[OS OK]

Frankly Trapper...I can't see how 'WC' brass could make any difference in the world. We size, expand/flair, charge, seat and crimp...?...What could a cannelure on the brass do at that point?

[Petrol & Powder]

The WC brass has parallel walls from the mouth of the case down to about the base of the seated WC bullet. The standard 38 Special case is more tapered. Even with the expanding operation, a standard 38 Special casing will likely size the base of a WC bullet down to a smaller diameter. Because the full WC bullet is seated deeper in the casing than a regular bullet, the WC casings prevent the lower portions of the WC bullet from being sized down.

I was a bit skeptical of this as well but older/wiser members of this forum led me in the right direction. The expander on most 38 Special sizing dies will not expand the casing far enough (deep enough) to handle the entire WC bullet and even if it does; the thicker/tapered walls of a standard 38 Special casing will still thwart that effort.

The cannelure is an indicator of WC brass. The real difference isn't the second cannelure but rather the straight walls of the casing near the mouth.

[Rapidrob]

I've been shooting wad cutters out of .38's and .357's since the 70's.
The .38 Special was ideal for me for mid-range match shooting.
Back in the 80's I was issued a 1911 Bo-Mar Bar-Sto pistol to shoot in matches. I had access to a Ransom Rest and I worked up loads for the pistol in .38 Special.
The results showed a slight accuracy advantage to the hollow base wad cutter over the DEWC. The advantage was a group smaller than I could hold on target.
The hollow based WC skirt would swell and obdurate in the bore a little and that was the advantage.
Today I powder coat the DEWC. I'd like to see the results from a Ransom Rest using the PC'd bullets.

[Poygan]

Petrol and Powder, Could this effect be moderated by not seating the WC as deeply? Certainly the pistol could limit this as to how far out the WC could be seated. Additional space and fast powder could offset each other.