What alloy for 38 HBWC?

[L1A1Rocker]

I received Miha's beautiful 38 HBWC mold the other day and was wondering about a good alloy for it. I'm sure 50/50 WW and roofing lead would be good but what about something a bit softer. . . say 25/75 WW to roofing lead?

What have ya'll had success with?

[beladran]

i cranked out a ton already with some left over hardball alloy and they shot like a dream!!

[L1A1Rocker]

i cranked out a ton already with some left over hardball alloy and they shot like a dream!!

Not really sure what "hardball alloy" is. What do you think of my ideas for alloy?

[sargenv]

hardball alloy = 92-6-2 IIRC

[beladran]

i dont see why your alloy wouldnt work

[Cowboy T]

I haven't shot HBWC's, but even pure lead should work fine as long as you don't put too much oomph behind it to break off the hollow-base part and leave it in the barrel. Soft lead will obturate and seal very well against the rifling. Such lead does *great* in .45 Colt.

[uscra112]

Depends how hard you want to throw 'em, esp. if it's a hollow-base. High muzzle pressure will distort the base on exit, and send 'em off to Heaven-knows-where if the alloy is too soft. Been there, done that, even though I knew better.

But using the canonical target load of 2.7 grains Bullseye, the alloy can be pretty soft. 25% WW and 75% pure lead sounds good. If you want to get more horsepower, make 'em a lot harder. Like straight WW.

[L1A1Rocker]

Thanks for the reply's folks. The reading I've done on the old loads said that 770 fps was a very accurate target load so I think that is where I'm going to start at. I'm not looking to make any "thumpers". I'm looking for a nice soft target load for my 6 inch Model 19. I'll prolly use .357 cases but load to 770 fps and see what kind of accuracy I get. Do ya'll think the 25/75 allow would be OK for that?

[uscra112]

Yup. Load the HBWC flush with the case mouth, light crimp. 2.7 grains of Bullseye, Remington 1 1/2 primers, and you should be good to go. Make sure you size exactly to your cylinder thoats or .001 over, and expand your cases so the boolit slips in smoothly and fairly easily. Tight fit will size the boolit down more, and that light load may not be able to expand it enough to avoid gas cutting. If you do get any leading in the back end of the barrel, up the charge by .1 or .2 grains, or go to a faster powder like Red Dot.

[badbob454]

whatever you have the most of if you have a lot of soft leaD USE 3/4 SOFT LEAD AND 1/4 COWW IF YOU HAVE MORE COWW'S USE 50/50 38 SPL WORKS BEST WITH SOFTER LEAD UNLESS SHOOTING AT +P+ VELOCITY'S IN A 357

[Boolseye]

Do ya'll think the 25/75 allow would be OK for that?
more than adequate for that.

[David2011]

Speer's swaged .358 WC boolits are dead soft. I shot countless of them before I started casting back around 1980. We used to load them as light as 2.3 gr Bullseye. They don't need to go very fast. Loaded backward they expand vigorously at low velocities.

David

[uscra112]

In .357 cases you will need 3.0 of Bullseye to get 770 fps, assuming you seat flush with the case mouth. I gave you my .38 special load.

[Echo]

Yup. Load the HBWC flush with the case mouth, light crimp. 2.7 grains of Bullseye, Remington 1 1/2 primers, and you should be good to go. Make sure you size exactly to your cylinder thoats or .001 over, and expand your cases so the boolit slips in smoothly and fairly easily. Tight fit will size the boolit down more, and that light load may not be able to expand it enough to avoid gas cutting. If you do get any leading in the back end of the barrel, up the charge by .1 or .2 grains, or go to a faster powder like Red Dot.

What he said...

[blackbike]

pure soft ain`t to soft, don`t go softes, ha ha, no need to go much harder, HBWC, max 800fps. 357 case little more powder for same fps. now just geterdone