What's Your Least Favorite Wadcutter?

[KVO]

With so many polls asking for "the best" or "favorite" I thought I'd like to see what wadcutters everyone out there likes the LEAST and don't shoot for beans.

To my mind there is only so much variation to be had in a grooved cylinder and they all ought to be about the same. Experiences?

[Winger Ed.]

I've only had two, a Lee and a RCBS that I loaded for a S&W Model 52.

It might be my imagination, but the Lees printed groups that seemed to be microscopically better.

[USSR]

The ones you have to buy.

Don
260157

[Mitch]

MP HBWC shoots the best but is the one i like casing the least.

[JeffG]

Loaded question. I started with the Lee 6 cavity 358-148-WC. Not the easiest to cast with, fill out wise and was borderline small with my alloy, but shoots fine

Next, the NOE 360-155-WC. I like the square base but not the easiest to cast with due to square lube grooves and getting good fill. It also shoots good.

Finally, a new MP Molds 359-148-DEWC. Casts pretty easy. Unfortunately, just got it so haven’t shot it enough yet to form an opinion.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I had a Modern Bond 2 cavity, that were two different weights, both were WC. The mold was tough to cast with, and I didn't like the doomed button nose design.

I've have a couple different Lyman's, a RCBS, a MP, and a couple different NOE WC molds, as well as the Lee TL...those all had there issues for me. I finally settled on using a Lee 6 cav with traditional lube grooves.

[gwpercle]

Double ended wadcutters with a bevel on both ends .
I want a wadcutter to have a front (nose) a crimp groove and a flat base .
Least Favorite : Lyman #358063 , Lee #TL358-148-WC and
RCBS #38-148-WC...hate em.

Favorite : Lyman #358432 (160 gr.) and NOE # 360-160-WC PB (360432)
I know you didn't ask for favorites but I couldn't resist listing them ...cabin fever has set in .
The NOE design is awesome .
Gary

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm not sure it qualifies as my least favorite but the one that gave me the most grief was a SAECO #053.

That bullet has a single grease groove between two fairly large driving bands. It is a wadcutter with a plain base. It would shoot ok but it leaded the bore.
After a LOT of experimentation with alloys, sizing, lubes and loadings I finally found that if I pushed it really hard (+P levels), it wouldn't lead the bore.
It became my full charge wadcutter bullet. Because the nose of that bullet is distinctive, it is easy to distinguish it from my other wadcutter loads. I load that bullet in nickel casings and between the profile of the bullet nose and the nickel case, those rounds are easy to identify.

Honestly I'm still not sure I will keep that mold. My RCBS 38-148 WC produces a wadcutter that is far less picky and just as accurate.

[Dapaki]

OOPS! I read the OP wrong!I have several and they all shoot well from my Dan Wesson but I have to say, the LEE TL358-148WC 6 cavity mold drops upon opening, fills out nicely when hot, PC's well in a heap following Elvis Ammo low temp Ford Blue instructions and shoots with no fliers. 3gr Red Dot in .38 WC brass gives me hole in hole from a steady rest at 25 yards.

[la5676]

I like the Lachmiller 358-148 3 cav only slightly less than the 4 holer Saeco 050 I have. I love the button nose of both, and the flat bottom, but I just prefer the lower protrusion of the 050 from the case. The 050 has three grease grooves plus a crimp ring, leaving barely 1/8" of the button end sticking out of the case. The Lachmiller has two lube grooves and a crimp ring, leaving about 1/4" of button above the case.

[Walks]

Lyman #358063
Any double ended WC.

I'm with gw

[tazman]

I don't have a least favorite. I have several that I no longer cast and use.
I have tried 11 different molds from nearly all manufacturers. Lee, Lyman, RCBS, H&G, NOE, and some others I don't remember the names of.
I chose the ones to keep due to ease of casting and ease of seating in the case. One of the main selection details was having them drop from the mold the size I needed them to be without running them through a sizer. Often I will tumble lube them.
All the wadcutters I have tested shot the same for me. None shot worse or better than the others. All shot extremely well.
The best trick for getting them to shoot their best was to size them for a slight push fit in the cylinder throats of my revolver. I then seat them long in the case and crimp in a lube groove. This allows the front of the wadcutter to enter the throat and be held in perfect alignment when it is fired.
It makes loading them a bit of a hassle due to having to push each case into the cylinder but is is VERY accurate. Because of the hassle, I don't do it much, but it does work.

[mdi]

I can't think of a 38 cal. wadcutter bullet I don't care for, but there is a mold I'm not real fond of. I have a Lee mold that drops button nosed wadcutters consistently and with ease but I have an old Ideal/Lyman mold that takes a bit more work to get good consistent bullets from. I don't load my DEWC/Button nose wadcutters flush so that's no problem and one of my house guns HD loads is the Lee wadcutter loaded over a max. charge of W231. My shooting of wadcutters in my revolvers has been mainly for easy trigger time, as all are more accurate than I can shoot...

I was looking for a mold for 44 caliber wadcutters, similar to the bullets Matt's Bullets offers, but $$$ and a loss of interest for a seldom used bullet changed my mind...

[Mk42gunner]

My least favorite is a single cavity Lee for a 75-80 grain WC. The boolit looks like two aspirin tablets glued together.

It may shoot like a house on fire (don't know haven't shot any), but it is a PITA to cast. The cavity is so shallow that it needs a slow fill or the alloy ricochets off the bottom and tries to exit out the sprue hole.

Robert

[Mytmousemalibu]

Don't care for any of the store bought swaged, knurled, dry "lubed" bullets. Good for leading up barrels in my experience.

[NoZombies]

I had a Modern Bond 2 cavity, that were two different weights, both were WC. The mold was tough to cast with, and I didn't like the doomed button nose design.


I've got a 2 cavity MB type 3 WC mold that makes a beautiful bullet that shoots well.. but is one of the worst molds I've ever cast with. The design lacks sufficient draft for easy bullet drop from the mold. Deep lube grooves with narrow driving bands between... All adding up to having no sweet spot. It's a frustrating mold to cast with, and It's the only mold I've ever considered using as a hammer, just out of spite.

[KVO]

Reading over this and several other WC threads a common theme seems to be that the Lee standard lube groove design is (perhaps begrudgingly to some) a pretty good choice even up against some of the premium mold choices.

I'll throw in my vote- Before I started casting I bought some Laser Cast 148gr DEWC. These were my first WC experience and scared me off of them -and cast bullets altogether- for years! Didn't shoot any more accurate than anything else I was loading at the time and left a small lead mine in my barrels. If I knew then what I know now...

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've got a 2 cavity MB type 3 WC mold that makes a beautiful bullet that shoots well.. but is one of the worst molds I've ever cast with. The design lacks sufficient draft for easy bullet drop from the mold. Deep lube grooves with narrow driving bands between... All adding up to having no sweet spot. It's a frustrating mold to cast with, and It's the only mold I've ever considered using as a hammer, just out of spite.

I wasn't that experienced when I bought that MB mold, so I didn't know what to look for, but everything you say, is probably the case with my mold as well. I was quick to sell it...kind of wish I kept it, as it was a rare and unusual mold.

[Green Frog]

Without a doubt, my least favorite wad cutter bullet is the one that lands in the 7 ring (or worse) on a B-24 target. The closer to the X-ring they go, the more favorite they become. :mrgreen:

Froggie

[fcvan]

I had a buddy I used to cast with and he had the Lee 2 cavity. We swapped some boolits (I had a mold he didn't have yet) I loaded them long in 38 cases for a S&W M13 so the front of the boolit was centering in the chamber. They shot quite well but I just wasn't enthused enough to buy that mold for myself.

The PITA wadcutters I cast were using a Lee C358-158 SWC HP. I took a bollit and cut it down at the lube groove and seated a check. That shorter boolit placed on the HP pin, depending on which groove I used, either cast a 25 gr or 40 gr WC with the mold.

Every time I cast, I would have to put the spacer boolit on the pin quickly before the mold cooled to much. I worked it out eventually. The last time I cast those they were for a buddy who had injured his wrist and during recovery he couldn't handle any recoil. Those little wadcutters helped him keep shooting with mouse-fart loads. PITA to cast but for my buddy it was worth it. BTW, he's back to hand cannons again but they still retired him.

[Doc1]

Not mold-specific, but type specific: Years ago I bought 25,000 .357" HBWCs from an estate sale. I traded and sold most of them, but kept enough to use for the rest of my life (because I don't shoot that type very often)! There's nothing wrong with the bullets for their intended use - bullseye shooting - but the design is somewhat limiting, as you can't safely load them very hot. As I'm sure most of you know, hot loads risk skirt separation of the hollow base.

The solid DEWCs suffer no such restriction and can be loaded as hot as any other cast bullet, if you so desire. As far as accuracy goes, the HBWCs supposedly have the advantage of the hollow base expanding to better conform to the rifling. This may well be true, but my own offhand shooting experiments show no difference between DEWCs and HBWCs. My apologies to the bullseye shooters who use HBWCs as this probably illustrates my own limitations as a marksman, rather than any limitations of the HBWC bullets.

I've been using the HBWCs - appropriately loaded - in my Cowboy Action Shooting matches and they've performed well; I have no complaints. I will simply offer that if I'm going to use a true wadcutter, I prefer the solid DEWCs as they offer a lot more flexibility in loading. As a side note, I'll offer that IMHO, a hotly-loaded DEWC is nothing to sneeze at as a defensive load.

Best
Doc

[tazman]

I can understand the search for ultimate accuracy. I have searched for it for years and continue that search. The most accurate load for a handgun will shoot to your capabilities no matter what those might be. A poor load will most likely not.
The thing becomes, how much aggravation are you willing to put up with to achieve that absolute best accuracy?
I need practice with a load that shoots well to improve my skills. Shooting the absolute most accurate load will not help that significantly. My skill level isn't high enough to tell.
I will give up a bit of accuracy that I can't notice anyway, for a less expensive but good load that I can shoot often and so increase my skills.
That is why I use boolits I cast myself for nearly all my shooting. I get really good accuracy. Much better than what I can shoot without a rest(this has been proven many times). It is almost certainly not the best accuracy I can get from any given handgun with a tailored load. It is, however, more accurate than what I can shoot without a rest and is a good indicator of what I am doing, good or bad, on a given day.

[quack1]

I'm with walks and gwpercle, Lyman 35863. The mold cast beautiful bullets, but no matter what I tried, they shot terribly.

[Walks]

Funny thing, when I think of W/C's I only think of .38cal bullets.
I've had a Lee #429-208-WC 2cav for 30+yrs. In fact last year I bought a 6cav that was an earlier group buy here, from another member. Great Bullets. I used them in .44Spl for Cowboy Shooting, and putting clean holes in paper.

And the Saeco #453, a 225gr W/C for the .45 Auto Rim. It was a great mold, I really miss it.

Think about another.45Cal Wadcutter, N.O.E. makes some nice one too.