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View Poll Results: How fast do you push your .38 Special Wadcutters?

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  • 799 and Below

    228 47.90%
  • 800-875

    179 37.61%
  • 876-950

    54 11.34%
  • 951 and Up

    26 5.46%
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Thread: How fast do you push your .38 Special Wadcutters?

  1. #61
    Boolit Buddy
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    Anyone have a recipe for shooting 148 grain hard cast DEWCs in .357 cases with 2400?
    Last edited by Thomas Traddles; 04-13-2015 at 07:31 PM.

  2. #62
    Boolit Bub

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    I load .38 special pretty low, can barely see the powder - 1.7 - 2.0 grs. Titegroup, W231 and 700x. Velocity at 10' is 575fps (1.7 700x) for the slowest and 625fps on the high end (2.0 Titegroup).

    My buddy's wife loves the super light ones and nicknamed them 'cream puffs' - like shooting .22's.

  3. #63
    Boolit Buddy
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    I loaded an RCBS 38-148-WC over 10 and 10.5 grains of 2400 in starline brass and tested them out last week. The 10.5 grain load was very accurate from my 4 5/8" barrel NMBH. I don't have a chrony, but I am thinking that the velocity was between 1000 and 1050 fps. The cases were easily extracted and I saw no other pressure signs. I'm going to give it another try soon to make sure it was not a fluke. Generally, I load these bullets over 3.5 grains of Bullseye or Red Dot in .38 brass. These are "cream puff" loads in the NMBH. They give some stiff recoil in my LCR.

  4. #64
    Boolit Bub
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    I have the M&P 358395 HBWC mold to feed a S&W 52. Since these bullets are loaded flush with the case mouth I assume it would be advantageous to use WC brass.
    I have a lot of 38spcl. brass how do you tell if it is WC brass?

  5. #65
    Boolit Master 40-82 hiker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 454gene View Post
    I have the M&P 358395 HBWC mold to feed a S&W 52. Since these bullets are loaded flush with the case mouth I assume it would be advantageous to use WC brass.
    I have a lot of 38spcl. brass how do you tell if it is WC brass?
    The .38spcl. WC brass will have a single distinctive cannelure in the middle of the case, or two cannelures spaced around the middle of the case. Yes, there is a true benefit if you are using real soft alloy, as I do (only soft SOWWs with 2% tin). Not sure of the benefit if you use hard lead.

  6. #66
    Boolit Grand Master tazman's Avatar
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    I tried out shooting the light load with wadcutters. They were extremely pleasant to shoot. The only drawback I found was that they didn't hold groups beyond 20-25 feet in my guns. Probably has to do with the twist rate of my barrels.
    I bumped up the powder charge a bit and got much tighter groups. I feel confident with the ammunition out to 25 yards now.

  7. #67
    Boolit Master


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    3.0 grs. Bullseye or 3 grs. Clays. Don't know the speed, both just work for plinking or more serious target work that I am capable of.

    For many decades the standard bullseye combo was a 6" Model 14 Smith, a 148 HB wadcutter and 2.7 grs. Bullseye.

  8. #68
    Boolit Buddy
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    Great thread sticky maybe? I just picked up an old Taurus model 82 made in 1994. The only other 38 special I have is a S&W 10-5 which is the safe queen. So I now have a 38 I can shoot. My go to cast bullet for 357mag is the 358477 SWC so the WC got relegated to the women and children category. I have a few hundred WC I had cast up at a friends house years ago and are now itching to try them for both target and general purpose loads. I will have to also revisit E. H. Harrison Cast Bullets. Which had numerous articles on 38 special. I wonder how much history and data that the NRA put into that book years ago that has been lost and/or forgotten. I my search for bigger. faster, newer, better I basically skipped over 38 special articles.

    http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/Cla...tBullets-s.pdf

  9. #69
    Boolit Grand Master Char-Gar's Avatar
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    I am glad to see this thread alive and still kicking.

    I will just add the following;

    1. Like others I think the 38 wadcutter is a 50 to 60 yard deal with accuracy falling off after that.

    2. I have pushed the SB wadcutter up to 1,100 fps in a 357 Magnum and accuracy held up just fine. I keep a mess of them loaded to this speed for use in my Smith Model 19 in the field.

    3. Factory match/target loads are held to about 700 fps +- not because they are more accurate at that speed, but because of the light recoil which helps folks handle the revolver better in a match. A WC going several hundred fps faster is just as accuracy or perhaps a smidge better.
    Disclaimer: The above is not holy writ. It is just my opinion based on my experience and knowledge. Your mileage may vary.

  10. #70
    Boolit Master Walkingwolf's Avatar
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    Bayou 138 WC at 1200fps in a GP100.

  11. #71
    Boolit Buddy mr surveyor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Walkingwolf View Post
    Bayou 138 WC at 1200fps in a GP100.

    another fan of Mr. Donnie's 138 gr bnwc's .... I load them for a Smith 36 and SP101, and run em fast (in the SP)

    jd

  12. #72
    Boolit Master


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    3.5 gr Bulls Eye or 4.5 grains of Unique is the all time standard load for the .38 Special. with bullets of 148 to 160 grains.
    Many years ago 2.7 grains was the favorite of the Bulls Eye target shooters.

    I use the 148 grain wad cutter almost exclusively and this is what I have found.

    2.7 grains will tear the paper and will not cut clean holes at 25 yards with an occasional oval shaped hole. An occasional complete tumble at 50.

    3.0 grains will give good accuracy and round holes at both ranges. It will cut clean holes at 25 yards but will still tear the paper at 50 yards.

    3.2 grains will give good accuracy and nice clean round holes at both distances. I get around 1" 6 shot groups at 25 yards and around 2 inch groups at 50 yards.
    ( That is with a scope. I can't see that good with my naked eye balls.)
    First reload: .22 Hornet. 1956.
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  13. #73
    Boolit Master
    Hick's Avatar
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    148 grain wadcutter over 2.9 grains of 700X in my S&W Model 64, 4" barrel, gets me 692 fps. Very nice load that shoots well easily out to 50 yards.
    Hick: Iron sights!

  14. #74
    Boolit Grand Master Good Cheer's Avatar
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    Three grains of Bullseye brought home a lot of rabbits in the Security Six.

  15. #75
    Boolit Buddy TenTea's Avatar
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    How fast do you push your .38 Special Wadcutters?
    ~ four hundred seventy seven miles per hour

    700 foot/second = 477.272 727 27 mile/hour (mph)
    A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.

  16. #76
    Boolit Buddy Sur-shot's Avatar
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    I do not load much in the way of wad cutters any more. Most times if I do load them, it is for teaching absolutely new shooters to handle a revolver. However, I actually prefer using the 158/162 SWC as it loads easier with a speed loader and can be loaded to comparable velocity and recoil.
    Ed
    "Let us speak courteously, fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready."
    Teddy Roosevelt, May 13, 1903

  17. #77
    Boolit Grand Master FergusonTO35's Avatar
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    I load the Lyman 35891 (not 358091) with 3.1 grains Bullseye for a very consistent 712 fps in my S&W 637. Very accurate, easy to shoot, and gel tests indicate mild wadcutters actually penetrate quite well when fired from a snub nose, even compared to pricey JHP's.
    Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF.

  18. #78
    Boolit Master Walkingwolf's Avatar
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    1200 fps out of a Ruger GP100. 900 fps out of a Rossi 352.

  19. #79
    Boolit Buddy
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    38 wcs

    Quote Originally Posted by Hick View Post
    148 grain wadcutter over 2.9 grains of 700X in my S&W Model 64, 4" barrel, gets me 692 fps. Very nice load that shoots well easily out to 50 yards.

    Are you seating flush with case or to 1st crimp/lube ring of WC?

  20. #80
    Boolit Master
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    I load Hornady or Speer swaged HBWC bullets for summer carry for my wife's snubby 38. It's a light load, but the very soft bullet will expand because I load it backwards making a big hollowpoint. That's an idea I got from a Skeeter Skelton article many years ago. It's so pleasant to shoot and so accurate, I like it in my 6" Model 19 for practice and rabbit shooting.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

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