Seating a dewc long in a 38 spl case

[RU shooter]

I was loading some dewc bullets last night , first one I seated I still had the dies set for seating these in 357 mag brass to the crimp groove and the front band just touched the cyl throat . Since I'm not real versed in loadingfor a wheel gun is there any pluses or minus seating these in the 38 special case long so that front band in just starting into the throats like the mag length load. Seems to me just like a rifle there would be less jump to the throat??

[Maven]

RUs, I tried that in the past with non-DEWC's in both the .38Spl. and .357Mag. and was quite disappointed with my results. Yesterday I decided to try the RCBS ~148gr. WC (button nose) seated almost flush with the .38Spl. case (2.9gr. CLAYS) and taper crimped and was very pleased with them in my S & W Mod. 10 (heavy bbl.). Btw, I seated those WC's normally and reversed (tumble lubed in both instances) and could see no differences in accuracy. Hope this helps!

[Outpost75]

In revolvers seating DEWCs out far enough to enter the ball seat of the charge hole improves cartridge alignment and reduces jump. It also lowers loading density, so will reduce pressure and velocity. It is OK to increase the powder charge by 0.2-0.3 grain when seating a DEWC at 1.25" OAL in .38 Special cases, vs. flush-seated at 1.16".

Only caveat is that the exposed driving band must be sized to enter the cylinder throats, so that rounds seat fully, otherwise you may get misfires or hard cylinder rotation if rounds are a forced-fit into chambers.

[tazman]

Outpost75 is correct. I have loaded wadcutters in this manner and it did improve accuracy in my revolvers. I sized the boolits for a snug fit in the throats and had to press the cartridges into the cylinder. Not a hard push, but they don't just fall in.
You can't do fast reloads this way but the accuracy is good.

[Tom W.]

I had a S&W model 19 and tried that with a Lyman DEWC that I traded for. I will say that it didn't help me out at all.
Seated flush it did just fine.
YMMV.

[RU shooter]

Thanks all , I guess I'll find out tomorrow when me and the mrs hit the range . I loaded them and some Lee 158 SWC over 3.8 grs of BE the .357 brass I loaded to 4.0 grs , I think she's more excited to go than I am :)

[Forrest r]

Years ago testing/looking for target loads in a 624. Bullets were seated at different depths along with lube in both lube grooves, 1 groove along with different stages of tl lube.
https://i.imgur.com/VorIu2C.jpg

My 1st mold was a h&g #50 6-cavity. Got the best accuracy out of them by lubing the bottom 2 lube grooves and loading hem long. Started doing this in 1985 and still do it to this day. h&g #50 loaded long & mihec 640 loaded long/crimped in the bottom lube groove. Both bullets are seated in 38spl cases.
https://i.imgur.com/Daxlniz.jpg
Not hand/cherry picked by any means. Nothing more then the actual test targets used to test those reloads pictured above. 6-shot groups @ 50ft.
https://i.imgur.com/vrmI4za.jpg

[crankycalico]

you have a .357 and want to load DEWC in .38 cases.....


Well you can but its a lot easier and more sensible to use a .357 case.

[Forrest r]

you have a .357 and want to load DEWC in .38 cases.....


Well you can but its a lot easier and more sensible to use a .357 case.

Well of course it would. You know anywhere were I can get once fired 357 brass for $.02 apiece? Then after I load up a bunch of "357" only dewc's in the 357 cases I can start over and do the same thing for my 38spl's using 38spl brass. That way I can have 2 different loads instead of 1 load for both the 357's & 38spl's.

[Petrol & Powder]

I experimented with loading solid WC's long for the reasons Outpost speaks of (less bullet jump and better alignment) and in the end decided that any slight accuracy benefit was negated by the extra work. If you are only loading for one revolver, it may work better but I had problems with the seating depth and variations in chambers between different revolvers.

Now, to be fair, only some of those rounds were assembled with DEWC's and most used hollow based WC's. When I conducted those tests I wasn't casting and I was using commercially produced bullets.

AND, like Outpost pointed out, you need to increase the powder charge slightly to compensate for the increased case capacity when the bullet is seated long. In the end, it just wasn't worth the extra effort. I returned to seating HBWC flush with the case mouth and solid WC's to the crimp groove and never went back.

[crankycalico]

Well of course it would. You know anywhere were I can get once fired 357 brass for $.02 apiece? Then after I load up a bunch of "357" only dewc's in the 357 cases I can start over and do the same thing for my 38spl's using 38spl brass. That way I can have 2 different loads instead of 1 load for both the 357's & 38spl's.

I haven't bought pre used brass before, but my shooting needs are simple and I can still get starline for 17.99 per hundred at midway so I don't worry about it.

[RU shooter]

Well I tried them out today at the very crowded indoor range( hate shooting inside ) All three loads shot about the same maybe if I shot them off a rest I could have seen some difference . So to simplify things I'll just leave the die set to seat them to 357 length . I only have one revolver to feed so no worry about getting things messed up .