75 grain wadcutter?

[Yonk]

Does anyone have any experience shooting 75 grain wadcutters? I think this would be good for 38 short colt loads.

https://www.mattsbullets.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=231

[Mk42gunner]

There was a thread a few months ago down in the mold section about 75-80 grain WC.

I finally figured out how to cast with mine, but life has gotten in the way of testing...

Robert

[Yonk]

Thanks, found that thread. I am probably not going to mess with them.

[PB234]

Yes, shot them cast 100% lead by Matts. Mostly out of curosity. If doing it again I would try something a bit heavier. Also tried lead round balls pushed through a sizer to provide a small flat surface. No reason I can figure to try these again. I was using an old but very decent S&W 38 Special. Really a waste of time providing no reason to use it. If trying something light again something about 100 to 110 grains loaded light would provide slight recoil and probably much better accuracy results. I don't recall anything from the 75 Grain wadcutter and the round balls were completely a waste fo time as far as accuracy.

[frkelly74]

I was loading two roughly 70 gr cylindrical boolits on a 38 special for fun. At the 7 yd range they would impact about an inch apart and be a little high. I think they would be a stopper. I drilled out the cavities in an old broken down mold to make the slugs. It was kind of a hoot to shoot 5 shots and get 10 holes in the target.

[Thin Man]

Back in 1973 I got motivated to start casting boolits for myself. While visiting a LGS one of their clerks told me he was ready to sell his casting tools so he could take up swaging. He had a furnace, sizer and about 13-14 sets of mold blocks. I looked at everything he had for sale and bought all of it for $115. One of those mold block sets was for the Lyman 358101 pattern and it was a 4-cavity mold. I eventually got to using it and learned that it was really slow to get it up to working temperature, but these boolits grouped as well as any other WC pattern. Sizing and lubing them was a pain, got a lot of pinched fingers on those efforts. Have not used that mold for a while but it is still among my favorites. Like any other mold it has its place for when and how to be used.

[gwpercle]

Thanks, found that thread. I am probably not going to mess with them.

A good light weight boolit that is easy to cast is the Lee 358-105-SWC , easy to load in 38 special and works like a charm in a 9mm luger light load .
I cast mine with a 2-cavity Lee mould .
Gary

[Echo]

A good light weight boolit that is easy to cast is the Lee 358-105-SWC , easy to load in 38 special and works like a charm in a 9mm luger light load .
I cast mine with a 2-cavity Lee mould .
Gary

Ditto - I use a Lee 6-banger, and tumble-loob...

[Echo]

A good light weight boolit that is easy to cast is the Lee 358-105-SWC , easy to load in 38 special and works like a charm in a 9mm luger light load .
I cast mine with a 2-cavity Lee mould .
Gary
Ditto - I use a Lee 6-banger, and tumble-loob...

[MT Gianni]

In the 70's Dean Grinnell wrote about using that mold for multiple bullet loads, 2-3 in a 38 and 3 in a 357. Probably the best use is to bet the number of hits on paper with the fewest shots.

[PhatForrest]

A good light weight boolit that is easy to cast is the Lee 358-105-SWC , easy to load in 38 special and works like a charm in a 9mm luger light load .
I cast mine with a 2-cavity Lee mould .
Gary

I started to load these in 38s back after Sandy Hook, to shoot instead of non existent 22lr. They're a hoot, and save your lead supplies.

[Alferd Packer]

I have a 75 grain wadcutter mold to save using all my irreplaceable lead supplies just to shoot paper targets.
They are very accurate with 2 grains of bullseye at 25 yards.
The slow bullet travel down the barrel really teaches follow-thru to the shooter. Any movement after pulling the trigger and your grouping is all over the target.

[Overalls87]

I just ordered some from Matt's Bullets. Are you all loading these 75 grain wadcutters flush?

[rintinglen]

Yes, seat them flush and crimp firmly. I have done a lot of experimenting with the 358-101, 2 boolit, and light trainer loads in the 38, 3 boolit loads in the .357.
For training purposes, I now no longer load anything lighter than 2.5 grains of Bullseye, except 2.4 grains of titewad, which works very well. ( After removing 5 of them from my daughters model 36 barrel, I upped the load a bit.)

The 3 boolit load in a .357 is seemingly a pretty lethal combination. The bottom boolit should be sized .356, the upper two .358, and seated so the case crimps into the bottom band of the top boolit.
The cartridges on the left are loaded in this fashion. IIRC, they were loaded with 4.2 grains of Unique.
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