Bullseye Wadcutter Loads

[Larry Gibson]

The classic load of 2.7/2.8 gr Bullseye under a soft swaged HBWC in 38 SPL cases for use in 38 SPL chambers is a classic for a reason....accuracy. Just yesterday I pressure tested some Remington swaged (.360 diameter) HBWCs over 2.7 gr of Bullseye in my Contender test barrel and also accuracy/velocity tested that load in my old service revolver, a M15 with 5" barrel. W-W cases with CCI 500 primers were used. Target was at 50 yards and a Ransom Rest was used.

The pressure for a 10 shot test out of the Contender barrel ran 13,300 psi with with an ES/SD of 2,000/600 psi. The velocity ran 806 fps with an ES/SD of 29/10 fps. The 10 shot group was just under 2".

In the S&W M15 a 14 shot test gave 730 fps with an ES/SD of 44/11 fps. The 14 shot group went into 3.25".

The Contender has a 16" twist so the bullet holes were nice and round. The S&W M15 has an 18 3/4" twist and the group, especially those on the out edge of the group, showed some key holing. That was always the case with the HBWC loads in S&W barrels. Most PPC revolvers, back in the day, had 16" twist custom heavy barrels for that reason. Some also had Colt Python 6" barrels which had 16" twists put on S&W revolvers. We called those Smythons......

Back in the day I shot a lot of those Remington and Speer 148 gr HBWCs in my PPC revolver built on a S&W M10. However, with solid base WCs and DE WCs most used 3 gr of Bullseye. Those were the loads most everyone used.

[Good Cheer]

2.7 is a great rabbit load.
As Elmer Keith liked to say about his elk load, "You can eat the bullet hole."

[racepres]

2.7 is a great rabbit load.
As Elmer Keith liked to say about his elk load, "You can eat the bullet hole."

Actually it was.."eat right up to the bullet hole" As I Recall anyway!!!
But... Picking Nits there!!!
Bad deal, as I know Not what a "nit" is!!!!!

[garbler]

Thirty-five years shooting Bullseye including the 2700 matches so lots of mid- range wadcutters. So free advice and see if it fits. First of all you don’t tell us what gun (s) your shooting as it make a big different if you are shooting for score. I believe I quit shooting Bullseye back in the early 80’s for several reasons. (1) it’s a dirty powder that can cause cycling problems with softball load springs in the 1911 style guns and (2) if your shooting a revolver it fouls the cylinder face and forcing cone but worst of all if you’re not carefull a bit of residue will get under the extractor star and lock up the gun. When I had my gunsmith shop this was common and simple enough to correct that I quit charging.

I changed to my reliable load of 5.0-5.1 grains of AA #2 after seeing a number of shooters at Camp Perry using it. Still a nice softball load with a powder that meters easily and burns clean. The 5.0 grains provides offers twice the powder column in the case so location to the primer flash is not as critical. With BE, I like others, always tipped the muzzle up before start to keep the powder down. Is this a proven procedure ? I don’t really know but it makes sense cause I do no that powder columns in rifle cartridges affect burn, extreme spread and accuracy.

With the 1911 guns that are setup for wadcutters at Bullseye velocity’s of 725 to about 800 fps springs are everything. With BE I always found the powder consistently accurate but the residue it left behind started to drag on the slide and barrel bushing slowing cycling time just a bit. Adding oil only created sludge. Whether this in fact was the case I can’t prove but I personally don’t shoot a Bullseye midrange wadcutter gun very well with a slow cycling thunky kind of action. I want my slide returning to battery faster than I can perceive so I can manage my sight picture. My Clark Midrange Colt was that way and I had to stiffen up the springs and tune the load to work for me especially in Rapid Fire events. So as others have said you need to test your loads with your gun and if you have access to a Ransom Rest it sure helps

Good Luck
Rick

[fecmech]

I owned a Ransom Rest at one time and did a lot of testing with the H&G #50 and the Lyman 358495 in my model 14 K38. My best 50yd accuracy was with 3.1/BE.

[Rodfac]

Outpost 75's excellent advice: "Solid cast DEWCs give best accuracy in slow S&W twist with 3.5 grains of Bullseye, full charge not to be exceeded."

This is my standard target/carry load on our farm for targets and small varmint elimination. While I get minutely better grouping in a pair of M-19 Smiths, a duo of Ruger BH's, a M-27 & M-686 Smith with 3.0-3.1 gr of Bullseye, it takes a solid sandbag rest at 50 yds to note the difference.

Truth be told, I prefer the 3.5 gr load (for its additional smack & I'm not into Bullseye Timed and Rapid Fire anymore). With my usual Lyman 358091 BBWC seated in the crimping groove, I use the same sizing for all of the above guns (0.358"), in ACWW alloy; which has worked out best over the years. Best regards, Rod

[Larry Gibson]

Just for S&Gs here's the Oehler M43 data sheet of the 2.7 gr Bullseye load/148 Rem HBWC w/group out of the Contender at 50 yards.