Speedloading Full Wadcutters

[armed_partisan]

Hi all. Does anybody who has a 358432 mold shoot revolvers in IDPA, USPSA, ICORE, or some other competition? Has anybody tried to use a wadcutter in any sport where reloading is part of the timed event? I wonder if the slightly narrow forward area of the 358432 would make it easier to speedload, as I can't imagine why else it would be a smaller diameter on the nose area. It wouldn't act like a meplat (since the button nose does that) and it probably has no effect on accuracy since it's smaller diameter than the forward driving band. So, while it may sound like a stupid question, I wonder if anybody feels that this particular wadcutter is easier to load quickly than other full wadcutter designs. Any thoughts?

[Artful]

I used to shoot PPC and we had the rear of the chambers cut with a funnel shape to help feed WC's - never cast WC's always bought them back then.

[fecmech]

I shot PPC back in the "Day" with full wadcutters and used Safariland speed loaders. You just need to practice and your reload times will be almost as quick as the 1911's. Their big advantage is they don't have to bring the gun down to reload as you do with a revolver. You should be able to reload and have the gun back up in under 2 seconds from you last shot. Little things matter, count your shots to you don't waste time clicking on an empty chamber. Minimize your movements. When you fire your last shot, unlatch the cylinder with your grip hand then go for the speed loader with that hand while opening the cylinder with the other and dumping the empties. Speed will come with practice.

If your shooting the speed games why use a wadcutter anyway?? I'd shoot RN or TC bullets for them.

[KYCaster]

Speed loading full wadcutters? That's an oxymoron.

Any boolit with a flat meplat or shoulder in front of the case mouth is going to slow down the reload substantially.

There's a lot of difference between a timed fire event that you can practice till you can finish the string in the allotted time and reloading on the clock where every hundredth of a second you can shave off results in a better score.

Best to use a RN boolit with a heavy taper crimp and polish the sharp edge off the chamber.

Every little bit helps.

Jerry

[armed_partisan]

Thanks for the responses. I know it seems dumb, but I like big, wide meplats. Hollowpoints can fail and are very troublesome to cast, but meplats will never fail. I don't shoot these matches to win, I shoot to gain practical skills, which in many of these sports, is an oxymoron in and of itself.

[Matthew 25]

Thanks for the responses. I know it seems dumb, but I like big, wide meplats. Hollowpoints can fail and are very troublesome to cast, but meplats will never fail. I don't shoot these matches to win, I shoot to gain practical skills, which in many of these sports, is an oxymoron in and of itself.

That's some funny stuff right there. Didn't you know you were supposed to kick, scratch and cry for every point and millisecond???

[oso]

I'm currently shooting a Lyman 358087 which also has a stepped nose band. I suspect the step is there instead of crimp groove if you want to do a hair more than remove the mouth bell when you flush seat for a 38 Special semi-auto like my S&W Model 52. Full wadcutters not my boolit of choice for speed loading a revolver. Heck, even a semi-wadcutter can hang up a bit. A little less than full wadcutter can still have plenty of meplat and speed load well like the Lee 358-158-RF.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Back when I shot PPC and also ran the course when not shooting it myself, I seem to recall some very fast shooters using only wadcutters. I cast and shot only Lyman #358429 148 gr. boolets. Other shooters shot flat nosed swaged wc`s again with very fast times. Safariland and HKS speed loaders were the norm, we had 1 shooter that was missing a few fingers from an accident that didn`t use loaders and was just as fast on the loading.Robert

[fecmech]

Thanks for the responses. I know it seems dumb, but I like big, wide meplats. Hollowpoints can fail and are very troublesome to cast, but meplats will never fail. I don't shoot these matches to win, I shoot to gain practical skills, which in many of these sports, is an oxymoron in and of itself.

That being the case why not use the Lee 158 RNFP cowboy bullet, it has meplat and a rounded profile for quick loading?

[rintinglen]

I shot hundreds of pounds of 358-432s back in the 70;s and found them superior to the Cramer 16h (H&G 50, 358-495 type) for speedloading. They did not group as well at the 50 yard line however, and eventually, I gave up on the 358-432. These days I don't shoot PPC, so I load my speedloaders with Mihec 359-640s.

[armed_partisan]

That being the case why not use the Lee 158 RNFP cowboy bullet, it has meplat and a rounded profile for quick loading?

Mostly because I don't own that mold yet. Those NOE 160 WFN's look pretty nice, too, but I gotta use what I got.

[armed_partisan]

I shot hundreds of pounds of 358-432s back in the 70;s and found them superior to the Cramer 16h (H&G 50, 358-495 type) for speedloading. They did not group as well at the 50 yard line however, and eventually, I gave up on the 358-432. These days I don't shoot PPC, so I load my speedloaders with Mihec 359-640s.

Thank you, Rintinglen. That's what I wanted to know. I see 50 yards in Steel Challenge occasionally, but I seldom see it in anything else, which is a shame, because distance is where most revolvers shine.

[Char-Gar]

The folks I know that shot those kinds of games used RN bullets in their speedloaders and chamfered the rear of the charge holes to help with that.

Wadcutters and speedloader should not be used in the same sentence.

[Larry Gibson]

As a LEO training officer back in the day when 99% of LEOs carried .38 SPL or .357s WC practice/qual ammunition was the "standard". When speed loaders came into common use we found slightly beveled chamber mouths and the use of HKS speed loaders worked the best and fastest for the majority of officers. The rounds are loose on the HKS and if they don't drop right into the chamber a slight jiggle would line them up and they'd drop in. I'd guestimate 95% of the officers went with HKS speed loaders. The officers that used the Dades and Safariland speedloaders were the real experienced PPC/TRC shooters. Even many of them converted to HKS speedloaders though for street carry as the competition speed loaders are a lot bulkier.

Not wanting a long winded discussion on what speedloader works best just stating what we found worked best with many LEOs over several years and thousands and thousands of WCs and other ammuntion used in revolvers.

Larry Gibson

[MT Gianni]

+1 for the HK wiggle with wadcutters.

[sagamore-one]

The good people at Hensley & Gibbs offered what they called the "speedloader special" , # 316 which is a 158gr swc with a tapered , slightly rounded nose . I still have a custom matched pair in ten cavity. Kind of a hybred semi wad cutter/ round nose.