38 HBWCs

[catmandu]

I've seen single cavity moulds for .38 HBWC's. WIth a removable plug.

Has anybody tried these? Are they accurate? At 50 Yrds?

The few responses say that WW is too hard, need to cast pure Pb.
And that accuracy was not anything to brag about.

Stars (which were swaged) or Rem HBWC can shoot 2 In. at 50 yrds
with the right load in the right gun.

Is it worth casting these? Or should I just cast the DEWC's for 25 Yrds,
and practice and buy the HBWC's for 50?

Thanks in Advance,

Paul in WNY

[Leftoverdj]

Paul, cast the DEWC. HBWC are mortally slow. If you get a hundred good bullets an hour, you are flying.

From a scoped Handi, the Lee 358-148-TL WC will shoot into an inch at 50 yards. I simply do not shoot a pistol well enough to see any difference between DEWC and HBWC.

[HORNET]

Paul, Even after you've had a LOT of practice, that hollow-base single cavity is going to give much more variation than those swaged hollow-bases. You can probably find almost as good of accuracy using cast DEWC's and might find that a cast SWC will do better at 50 yd.
That SWC'll be less affected by wind, too. Either one will do well from WW, maybe slightly softer. Those soft swaged HBWC's can cover up some dimensional gollywoggles in the gun though.

[beagle]

The hollow base WC moulds do all right. They shoot accurately and I have about three mould (Lyman 358395) of different vintages and they all cast bullets of a different weight.

Having said that, casting them is work and you have to be very picky about the skirt on the hollow base and have no defects. Normally, this takes a pretty hot mould to get good bullets.

I've made them from WW alloy cut with pure lead and had no problems with obturation or accuracy.

If you shoot a great deal, you're better off buying the HB swaged wadcutters as making your own is kind of a "labor of love" and only for the really cast bullet purist who detests a swaged bullet./beagle

[StrawHat]

Paul,

I shot PPC for years and used a swaged HBWC for two reasons. They cut clean, easily scored holes and I did NOT have to cast them.

What are you using them for? Many have found the SWC to be equally accurate and easier to cast than the HBWC. They just don't cut the same "pretty" hole.

My suggestion would be the Lyman 358156 or 358429. Lee might make something similar in a 6 cavity. Heck, everyone makes some kind of 158 grain SWC.

Good luck