S&W 342 .38 special cast bullets

[JudgeBAC]

I have a .38 special S&W 342 Ti Lite. The owners manual says not to shoot cast bullets. Anybody have any idea why? What in the world could possibly be wrong with shooting cast bullets in this gun?

[David R]

Is ist ported?

David

[9.3X62AL]

Just a guess--since factory ammo doesn't use cast boolits, only jacketed or swaged--maybe it's a ham-fisted warning to not use reloaded ammunition in the little S&W.

Like you, Judge, I'm at a loss to understand this warning based on bullet material alone--it seems to me that the red-coated pretenders are at least as stressful (if not more so) than a factory swaged bullet or a recycled casting. For our metallurgists--any reason to not use antimony or tin through the throats or barrel liner of this model?

[Lloyd Smale]

kind of a warning smith gives with all of its alloy guns. There conserned that because of the light weight the increased recoil will cause bullets to jump crimp and tie up the gun. Ive shot some hell bent for leather loads in my 396 and with a good heavy crimp never had one bit of problem with cast bullets.

[JudgeBAC]

David: The gun is not ported. The barrel is stainless steel, the cylinder is titanium and the frame is aluminum alloy and it is +P rated. It just doesnt make logical sense to me not to shoot cast bullets since pressures have to be higher with jacketed bullets.

[mooman76]

Allot of guns say don't shoot cast or don't shoot reloads. I think it's just a cover their butt thing because they can't control the way we reload!

[9.3X62AL]

I think Lloyd and Mooman pretty much nailed it--unless there's an anomaly with lead alloys and titanium alloys that I'm unfamiliar with. Even swaged factory bullets have some measure of antimony and/or tin in the alloy......so I dunno, but the warning doesn't make much sense if you assemble loads responsibly.

[AnthonyB]

I have read the "restriction" is there to prevent boolits being pulled in recoil. I would ignore it but crimp well and make sure the expander ball was small enough to give plenty of neck tension. Tony

[HiWayMan]

Asking around it is a CYA policy against reloads and more importantly about bullets jumping crimp. I had a S&W 625-10 scandium framed .45 ACP that liked to jump crimp. I torqued those 185gr LSWC in as tight as I could and by the sixth shot that bullet had all but come completely out of the case. Played hell on accuracy as one might imagine.

[versifier]

With any of the light revolvers you need a very firm crimp. And if you overdo it so you bulge the case, [smilie=1: remove the decapping assembly from your carbide sizer and run them through it. Or use a carbide Lee Factory Crimp. You do have to practice regularly with the little suckers to be able to shoot them accurately, but they're no fun at all with full tilt boogie +P loads. I carry a pre-war S&W with 2"bbl that later became known as the m36. I shoot two cylinders of +P's with Lyman 358156 (158gr SWCGC), then I practice with light loads of Lee 358-150-1R, a nice pb boolit that most of my .38's and .357's do well with. It amazes me how accurate it is when I do my part.