My favorite was Remington 148 grain hollow base wadcutter over 2.8 grains of Bullseye. 755 fps out of my S&W model 52-1. Seems like no one sells a good hollow base wad cutter anymore.
My favorite was Remington 148 grain hollow base wadcutter over 2.8 grains of Bullseye. 755 fps out of my S&W model 52-1. Seems like no one sells a good hollow base wad cutter anymore.
I load Lyman's 358091, using straight wheel weight alloy with a pinch of tin for mold fill out. My standard load in .38 Special brass with light taper crimping in the first groove, is 3.5 gr of Bullseye. This chrono's at 823 fps from my 4" M-66 Smith. I size to 0.358" BTW. Best regards, Rod
Rod
Like Most here... I have burned probably more than my share of Red Dot, and quite a bit of Bullseye, especially in 38 wadcutters!!
Recently acquired a Lee 358-148 wadcutter mold.. Button nose one. Fooled with "hotter" wadcutter loadings.. even 357 mag hot, well over 1000fps!! Not for me.. Youngest owns a stainless 3" 85 Taurus..the one with ported barrel... we found that not much gass gets out with Red Dot, at 700fps. Decided on more powder bulk, and Trail Boss is Not the answer with wadcutters..3.7 grains of Unique works about as well as anyone could expect...while delivering some bit of gass out the ports, maybe even helping control...(I doubt it)
more than a couple comparisons show a bit under 800 fps with 3.7 grains of Unique.. and some excursions pushing 830fps at 4.0 grains..
Probably going to leave it at 3.7...and just enjoy it!!
Oddly it feels the same as that guns Favorite load, the Lee 358-158 RF, over 4.2 gr of Trail Boss at 730-740 fps..
Just an aside from Bullseye and Red Dot... etc...
For my " down on my clanger range", all my single action .357's and a few double actions are 90% shot with .38's. 148 DEW's purchased in bulk from the usual suspects. Loaded with 3.5 grains RED DOT. launched from 2"-7 1/2" barrels. I get good "enough" results. That's also my carry load for the Charter Undercover .38 spl. circa 1972.
“You should tell someone what you know. There should be a history, so that men can learn from it.
He smiled. “Men do not learn from history. Each generation believes itself brighter than the last, each believes it can survive the mistakes of the older ones. Each discovers each old thing and they throw up their hands and say ‘See! Look what I have found! Look upon what I know!’ And each believes it is something new.
Louis L’Amour
The Californios
I found a load for my 6" Model 66 today that shoots very well out to 25 yards, which is as far as my eyes work with handgun iron sights. it is 2.5gr. Competition in Winchester brass with federal match primers. I'd feel comfortable with head shots on bunnies at that range. I haven't chronoed it, but i'm sure they are moving slowly.
Old70.
I recon I could crono them, but they are well below max, more like starting loads.
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I've not shot wadcutters much but did recently buy a Lee 148 grain TL mold. I shoot it in my Uberti Stallion in 38 Special with 5" barrel using both 3.2 and 3.6 grains Red Dot. The 3.6 gr load gives about 890 ft/sec. Oddly the lighter (3.2 grains) load started about 820 ft/sec when firing a string of shots recently with that load, and each successive shot was faster than the shot before until it got to about 900 ft/sec. The leading was horrendous. I think the velocity was due to the bore becoming more fouled with each shot and that in turn increasing pressure. The rear couple inches of the bore looked like it had molten lead washed around 360 degrees. Obviously, I must have a bad fit issue and I need to do some measurements.
I do like the idea of full power 38 Special wadcutter loads. They make sense for self defense. For any cartridge/gun combo where you don't have enough velocity to guarantee expansion, a wide meplate is the obvious way to go at least for defensive loads which will be used up close. In spite of the terrible leading, I've gotten good accuracy with the 3.6gr Red Dot load for 50 or more rounds without cleaning.
Last edited by 35 Rem; 03-13-2024 at 03:14 PM.
For those who like the idea of full power 38 special wadcutter loads ...
Take a look at the old Lyman 358432 - 160 grain mould (the same number also comes in a 148 gr. weight so watch for which one you get .)
This is like a cross between a SWC and WC with a solid plain base and a crimp groove below a longish WC nose ... looks like an old school WFN boolit .
Lyman has discontinued 358432 but NOE makes a reproduction , which is an improvement on the lyman design ... a little wider front driving band , it weighs 160 grains and perfect for hard hitting , full power loads .
Powder coat it and shoot in 357 Magnum .
So if you wish to experiment with full power wadcutter loads , this is the boolit to try ... I replaced my old Lyman 1-cavity with a NOE 4-cavity and it's about the only boolit I load in 38 special now days . It is very accurate in all my revolvers .
Check it out ... a very interesting boolit design !
Gary
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BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |