Wadcutters for critters...How far?

[AZMark]

How far is the limit for shooting wadcutters effectively against critters that might show up at my place? The biggest animal I'm likely to see is one of our small AZ coyotes, maybe 35 lbs., but the likelihood of that is kind of slim since they're so skittish. Could happen, though. We do have some mutant jackrabbits that are bigger than our pug for sure, have no idea what they might weigh.

I just looked in my loading manual and have a recipe that is supposed to push a 148 gr WC at 900 fps. Don't know the length of the test barrel, but I would shoot it out of a 6" GP100.

[Dale53]

Most revolvers will shoot a full wadcutter well until slightly past 50 yards. I often use wadcutters in .32, .38, and .44 for edible small game. They have maximum punch without damaging a lot of meat. Just a hole through and through. If I am not close enough to shoot them in the head, I shoot them through the lungs. Instant "stop" and NO damaged meat. The family appreciates that (for some reason they complain about picking shot out of their teeth when eating shotgun harvested game[smilie=1:).

Dale53

[JIMinPHX]

What Dale said sounds about right. If you go to semi-wadcutters & push them a bit faster, you can squeeze them out to 100 yards without too much trouble though.

Also, it don't take much to knock over those scrawny little desert 'yotes. They're not nearly as tough as their monstrous cousins back east. (I am assuming that you are talking abut the 4-legged variety).

I thought that you guys had a fair supply of cats down there too? Are they not in your area? You're outside of Sierra Vista, right? The big cats are a different story. They don't fall over & play dead so easily.

[MtGun44]

Never tried long range with WCs, but have read many times that they tend to go unstable
after around 50 yds. May have to do with the twist rate as most were referring to .38 Spl
in a S&W revolver. If you have something else, with diffrent twist and bbl length, you should
try it, may get different results.

Personally, I'd go with a Keith 358429 in .38/357 or 429421 in .44 and say good enough. Either
is stable to as far as you can hit one.

Bill

[HeavyMetal]

I wonder if he can fit a 358429 in his gp100?

If the wadcutter mold is all ya got, or your using store bought WC's, I'd wait for them to be closer.

Now if your figuring on using this as an excuse to buy a mold or two I'd suggest either the RCBS 357 150 gr SWC and have one hole HP'd by Buckshot or Lyman's 9mm HP mold and use them as cast, mine fall out at 358, This is a 125 grain boolit and in a six inch barrel you might make 1000 FPS.

Now I thought the gp100 was a 357 magnum revolver? If you get the 9mm mold and load 357 brass you can get this into low 1350 fps range which will not have a ton of recoil and will shoot pretty flat to 75 / 80 yds!

One of the guys I work with has a Python 6 inch and this 9mm boolit really shines in his gun.

[shotman]

Try them at 50yds and you will see a 10in group. They do pretty good to about 75yds in a rifle We load a 357 to max. I am talking a GC type load . They will blow a turtle to mush and about 20ft in the air

[Rodfac]

Shotman....Whew....great avatar....is that you? Rodfac

[NHlever]

I've shot a lot of smaller game up to the size of porcupines with .38 Special 148 gr. wadcutters. They worked fine up to the 25 yards, or so that I used them. I don't think I'd try one of our big eastern coyotes at 50 yards with them! I would try a woodchuck at that range if I knew my gun shot them well enough. (Edit) and I felt I was shooting well enough that day. :D

[leftiye]

If you use a wadcutter that has a nose on it it will lessen the propensity of a wadcutter to destabilize as it slows down - dramatically. Lyman even made some that looked like full wadcutters with a semiwadcutter nose. Higher velocity will deliver longer range too. How about ground squirrel at sixty yards (yep, it did happen)? Hot load of bullseye in that case.

[9.3X62AL]

Leftieye et al--

I have one of those button-end wadcutter moulds by Lyman, and I don't think I've heated it up in 15 years or more. It's a #358432, and has a nominal weight of 160 grains. IIRC, they were close to that weight when cast of straight WWs.

I can't recall much long-range shooting with these castings, so I can't say whether they de-stabilize past 60 yards or so like the hollow-based wadcutters are known for. I've seen THAT a whole bunch, no doubt on that subject. Over the years I've whacked a whole lot of jackrabbits and a few cottontails with the HBWCs, and with the cast heavier Lyman WCs. Both are quite effective, whether going 750 FPS (HBWC) or 900-950 FPS (Lyman). I would try a coyote to 50 yards with the latter load, but not with the slower HBWC loads. Not enough OOMPH, in my view.

[Down South]

I wonder if he can fit a 358429 in his gp100?

Yes, the 358429 will fit all of the Rugers. It's my favorite boolit for my GP-100.

[Thumbcocker]

I shot a bazilion 358495's out of a M27 over 4.9 of 231. (max .38 load) that the manual listed at 1000 fps. Very accurate. Never tried them past 25 yards.

I can tell you that they will enter a big boar possum in the head travel throgh the body, exit, and range along oak boards 1/2 of their diamater for about 12" before stopping. The opossum was in the feed room of the hen house. I can also tell you the your ears will ring for days after you shoot a opossum in the hen house with a .357 and no muffs. The low tin roof really adds to the reverb.

[Bret4207]

Ya know, before you say "50 yards is the limit"I'd load up a few and see. Sometimes you get the combo and they might hang in there to 75 yards, or scatter at 40. Never know till you try it. I had some commercial 32 cal boolits that were basically little more than WC's with a slight nose maybe 1/8" long but not a button form, more or a ball. It shot great to 100 yards out of a 32 S+W Long Rifle.

[AZMark]

What Dale said sounds about right. If you go to semi-wadcutters & push them a bit faster, you can squeeze them out to 100 yards without too much trouble though.

Also, it don't take much to knock over those scrawny little desert 'yotes. They're not nearly as tough as their monstrous cousins back east. (I am assuming that you are talking abut the 4-legged variety).

I thought that you guys had a fair supply of cats down there too? Are they not in your area? You're outside of Sierra Vista, right? The big cats are a different story. They don't fall over & play dead so easily.

Yes, I am south of Sierra Vista, and yes, we have big cats. I've seen bobcats and mountain lions near my house. I didn't mention them because I figured I'd start getting a lecture about getting a .44 Mag :mrgreen:. Besides, the cats are pretty wary and I doubt I'd see one actually on my property. I have a 12 ga. for scary stuff anyway.

[AZMark]

I wonder if he can fit a 358429 in his gp100?

If the wadcutter mold is all ya got, or your using store bought WC's, I'd wait for them to be closer.

Now if your figuring on using this as an excuse to buy a mold or two I'd suggest either the RCBS 357 150 gr SWC and have one hole HP'd by Buckshot or Lyman's 9mm HP mold and use them as cast, mine fall out at 358, This is a 125 grain boolit and in a six inch barrel you might make 1000 FPS.

Now I thought the gp100 was a 357 magnum revolver? If you get the 9mm mold and load 357 brass you can get this into low 1350 fps range which will not have a ton of recoil and will shoot pretty flat to 75 / 80 yds!

One of the guys I work with has a Python 6 inch and this 9mm boolit really shines in his gun.

I don't have any moulds yet :sad:, I'm working on collecting everything I need. I found somebody to give me a furnace, and I've got some wheel weights and some lead ingots. I've got a lee hand press but I still need the die set. I do, however, have a Lee Loader in .38/.357. I've used Remington wadcutters, and currently have some Speer 158 gr SWCs that I have loaded over 13.5 gr of 2400 - they're a hoot and shoot pretty well. I'll probably get a Lee mold for my first one because of cost, but haven't decided yet which one.

[MtGun44]

For just plinking, try the Lee 358-105-SWC, it works well in my guns.

For some real impact like your coyotes, and sticking with Lee molds for
cost reasons - then try the 358-158-RF. This one has done very
well for me.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=925

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=926

If you can swing it the RCBS 150 SWC is a great boolit, and the Lyman 358429
is excellent too, but tends to do better for medium hot to hot loads. The Ruger will
eat up those hotter loads and last forever, so no worry about stressing it out.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=929

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=928

By the way - did you actually mean SEMIWADCUTTERS or wadcutters?

Bill

[AZMark]

Actually, I started the thread about wadcutters. I understand they not only cut pretty holes in paper, but also punch a full-caliber hole in an animal if used for that. That 358-158-RF looks like it would do a pretty good job, though. I guess I'd like to find a bullet that does double-duty. Storebought wadcutters seem to be cheaper than hunting bullets, too.

Just call me cheap, my wife does:mrgreen:

[leadman]

I can second the use of the Lee 158gr RFN. I use it in the 38 and 357. This boolit does well with light or heavy loads. I have pushed it very hard in the 357 with a gas check inverted under the base.
Feeds thru my Marlin lever gun real well.
This is available in a 2 or 6 cavity Lee mold and is the boolit I would keep if I could only have one. I use this for 38s in my S&W J frame for concealed carry.

[AZMark]

I can second the use of the Lee 158gr RFN. I use it in the 38 and 357. This boolit does well with light or heavy loads. I have pushed it very hard in the 357 with a gas check inverted under the base.
Feeds thru my Marlin lever gun real well.
This is available in a 2 or 6 cavity Lee mold and is the boolit I would keep if I could only have one. I use this for 38s in my S&W J frame for concealed carry.

I had thought about the tumble lube wadcutters because lubing would be easy, and they're supposed to be pretty accurate. Can you tumble-lube that RFN as well? Not only am I cheap, but lazy, too!!

[lathesmith]

I've actually shot a gray squirrel with a 38 wadcutter at a little over 100 yards...with my H&R 357 scoped rifle. It took 3 shots to get him, at that range I was lobbing them in like artillery shells, and I was far enough away the shot didn't spook him at all. That's only a one-time deal though, I'd say typical 38 wadcutter max range would be on the order of 50-75 yards, even with a rifle. If you can hit a small critter at that distance with an open sighted handgun, not only are you a better shot than I am, you have much better eyes too! These wadcutters run right around 750 fps from the rifle, not much different than from a handgun. They kill critters better than any high-speed 22's I have ever used, even ground hogs are DRT with a head shot from one of these. The SWC's and RF's mentioned above would probably work about as well, and would likely extend your range a bit. They don't cut quite as clean a hole in paper, but they still make scoring a target pretty easy.
lathesmith

[jdgabbard]

If you use a decent SWC you'll likely get good results, as extend your range some as well. Most SWC I've seen will cut a near full caliber hole in paper, and are much more aero-dynamic.

But for the record, I'm working up a load right now for use on small critters with the 358495 WC. A button nose design. It should work out nicely.