S&W M52 .38 Master question

[got_lead?]

What diameter should I be sizing my boolits for my S&W M52?

The barrel slugs at .355, however, it is a .38 special. The chamber is plenty roomy, I could probably get a .360 diameter boolit to chamber easy.

I am currently sizing at .356, and haven't tried any other sizings. Maybe I should try some .358's. Also wondering about using a very soft lead alloy, the ol gal shoots around 650 fps.

Just wondering if there are any old bullseye shooters out there. There's a lot I don't know about this pistol.
http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z398/1homebrewed/PICT0019a.jpg

Thanks

Dave

[thebigmac]

[smilie=s: Hi Dave; Welcome to "Cast Boolits". I've been shooting the '52 now for over 40
years with the Baltimore Police Dep't. There are eight of us on the team (down
from fourteen) and ALL members use their 52's. There are only 3 reloaders.
For practice we use cast boolits sized at .357; for compitition we use hollow base
swaged boolits sized at .357 also. Three of the eight are Master Shooters.
Missouri (?) and Zero are great, with Zero swaged & Missouri with cast. I cast my
own however. I happened onto @ 35,000 cast boolits sized at .356 and they are
OK for practice. (can't beat the price also). They shoot pretty good at .356 and
I have not seen any signs of 'key holes'. Loaded to @ 675 fps.
Hope this finds your answers. thebigmac:cast_boolits:

[wcp4570]

Sir you have a beautiful Smith. I passed on a nice 52 a couple of years ago and dearly regret that decision. I have a number of Smith autos and revolvers that I enjoy shooting. Hope you get a load figured out and enjoy shooting that smith as much as I enjoy shooting mine.
wcp

[wcp4570]

Dave if you don't know about the S&W forum, it is a good sight for information.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-wesson-semi-auto-pistols/

This sight is another of my frequented sites. I did a site search for "model 52 load" and it gave over 1500 hits on that site alone. Site search is a good way to find info, here is the format that has to be followed when doing site searches. This is what I typed into google.

model 52 load site:smith-wessonforum.com

The first part of the text is what your looking for followed by the word site: then followed by the site you want to search (smith-wessonforum.com). This works with any web page on the internet and you don't have to be a member of the site to get returns this way. It is a better way to search a site than the sites own search function. Give it a try.

wcp

[nonferrous]

I have had my 52 for so long that I am no longer sure that it's my gun, I can't be that old.
Anyway, I have been using up an old stash of professional reloads that I bought in quantity a long time ago. They are almost gone so I geared up to start loading for it. I bought a Lee W/C TL mold, the bullets are plain base.
I have been casting and shooting a lot of 158 gr SWC TL that are sized to.358 for my K38 and 686 Smiths. After I cast a batch of wadcutters, I just lubed and sized them to .358 and they shoot fine.
Try 2.7 to 2.8 grains of Clays or Bullseye and see which works best for you, I think Clays is cleaner.

[got_lead?]

Just out of curosity, what diameter are your M-52 bores running?

[cajun shooter]

Our team used Speer HBWC at .357 diameter. We ordered them by 100,000 at a time. The load was 2.7 grains of Bullseye. If I was still shooting I would do as the other poster and try Clays as it shoots so much cleaner. You can still buy them from several distributors in amounts as little as 100.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I have been shooting the 52 for a long time. I use H&G #251, lube in only one groove and size at .357 when I use commercial brass...e.g. Win, Rem etc. When use mil spec brass (scrounged from the military) I size at .356 because the mil brass is thicker. In terms of performance there is no difference; the grouping is excellent. After trying a number of powders and loadings I found that 2.5/2.6 grains of 700X worked the best for me. A bit less blast, recoil than 2.7 grains of Bullseye and that always helps. LLS