Reloading Speer Plastic Cases w/ Plastic Bullets

[RGMJ]

Hi Guys,

I was surfing the MidSouth website and came across plastic cases from Speer for 38spl / 357 mag and 44 spl / 44 mag.

It appears to be shorter than the standard magnum length brass case and is loaded only standard primers (no powder). The bullets are also plastic (seems to be a wadcutter) seated by hand. These ammo are fired only in revolvers.

I looked-up reviews of these products at Midway and most users say its fun for practice indoor shooting to about 25 ft and penetrates cardboard.

Has anyone tried these plastic cases? I was thinking of shortening a brass case and buying only the plastic bullets.

Any information would be appreciated....

[shotman]

the "bullets" will not work in a cut down brass case. the reason the cases are shorter is because the bullet has a step so it can only go to a certian depth. The front part of the bullet is same size as case so it will touch the rifleing . They are not toys they WILL shoot though drywall I know . I dont think it would be good to shoot in the house because the primer has lead in them . The other thing if they hit something hard they ricochet and will break a window I know that too.
The 45cal can be shot in an auto just have to jack the slide

[cajun shooter]

They have been around since the early 70's and can do a lot to help one practice. We had contest with them while I was working at a Gun store. The best rig to use is a very heavy cardboard box and a heavy dowel,maybe 1/2. You drape a rubber car mat over the dowel rod and this allows it to sway and stop the energy of the bullet with out damage. You may also use very heavy towels. Just don't use anything that is tight as the bullet will go through.

[Cherokee]

I've got some of those still hanging around from back in the 70's. Care needed like cajun said.

[Bret4207]

I've "reloaded" thousands of those. I was the only guy in my Academy class that recognized a Lee Auto Prime, so I got to reload while everyone else got to shoot! I had 50 or so that my Dad gave me. If you get drunk and stupid and play with guns you can shoot through your friends hat and leave a nice scar on his head......or so I'm told.

They work good for short range target practice. Prior to those we used wax impressed into the case mouth. Bill Jordan gave us that idea so we could practice our fast draw. Use the plastic cases, as was said, brass won't work.

[Cariboo]

With the 3 sons we probably burned through 10-15,000 primers.
Still have some around but have not shot any for years.
Seems like it was starting to get embarrassing.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I've had some since the 70's also, I keep them in a peanut can. Mine a re .44's and they do hurt if you shoot somebody with them. I have shot them hundreds of times.

Good way to use up extra primers you have laying around, and I used to sit in my easy chair and shoot targets, at 20 feet across the living room.

Usually can't use them as much after you get married.

Randy

[scrapcan]

look up xring rubber bullets. They are used with a primer and brass cases. You may have to enlarge the flash hole but instructions come with them. Also do a search for wax bullets. it works also.

[jmorris]

My brother and I played with them when we were kids in the hall before our parents got home from work, back when kids got real guns for Christmass instead of plastic ones. After we found that they would pass through bluejeans (1st layer of our "bullet" trap after the cardboard box) we knew they were far from toys. Make sure everyone these days understands that these are nothing like the airsoft plastic shooting guns kids have now.

[3006guns]

Ahhh.....the good 'ol Speer Target 38's and 44's (why no .45 Colt?).....a darn good idea. What the instructions DON'T tell you is that they'll break a window quite handily. Don't ask how I know this.

Somewhere in my vast collection of treasures, I have several boxes of "USAC" plastic .38 special cases and plated, heeled bullets. These were made of a "memory" plastic that shrank back to size a few minutes after firing. You then deprimed/reprimed the case, charged powder and seated the bullet with a nifty little palm squeezed reloading tool. They never caught on and I'm a little leery of trying them, given that the plastic is probably 30+ years old, but it was innovative!

[Freightman]

They will go through a 1x4 picket on the fence also.

[MikeS]

As was already said here, look at X-Ring bullets. They're made out of black rubber (look like hollow base wadcutters), and you take a regular brass case, enlarge the flash hole, then push an X-Ring bullet as deep into the case as you can get it, then prime the case after the bullet is seated. These will also do as much damage as the plastic bullets will! They're reusable, and will last a long time. I think being made from soft rubber with a hollow base design, that they would be more accurate than the Speer plastic bullets. It would be interesting shooting the 2 side by side to see which one worked better. One advantage of the plastic bullets is that you have to use their plastic case, and there's very little chance of accidentally trying to load the plastic case with powder, and a real boolit! Because you have to enlarge the flash hole on brass used with the X-Ring bullets, you can't use those cases for regular loads anymore, so be sure and mark the cases somehow so you won't make that mistake somewhere down the road.

[shotman]

The best is the gluelets they work as good and can load in a brass case and just remelt after about 3 times
they did make 45s I bought 3 boxes on here for a buddy. First shot he made last week broke the glass in a $2500 china hutch
he thought a card board box would stop them