Anybody here still load wadcutters?

[seancass]

I've got somewhere between one and two thousand full wadcutters in .357cal. 148gr double-ended. I'd like to come up with a decent load for these.

I loaded some up the other day and could tell I wasn't starting the bullet strait enough. Or I wasn't expanding the mouth enough or the case wasn't chamfered enough. Whatever the cause, I could see lead pushed up into the crimp groove before I crimped. So I knew they were going to lead like crazy. My only question was how severely would it affect accuracy. Loaded them over 3.5gr of Unique, which was the starting load in the Lyman cast bullet manual.

Fired these today. First impression: These are Hot! I forgot part of my chrono so I don't know speed, but they felt hot. Fired them all thru a .357 S&W, so no real pressure concerns, except that I'd like to load more and shoot them in a 38! Second impression: They shot very well! Shooting at a gong at 20-25 yards, I was hitting well. Didn't shoot at paper, so I don't have any hard numbers. Third impression: these left a Ton of lead on the barrel face(at the barrel/cyl gap), but the bore was rather clean. I can only imagine the last 1/10th inch of chamber is now solid lead.

I have what I believe to be some wad-cutter brass, with the low cannelure. I may try that for my next loading session. I don't have much and didn't want to waste it in this first, rough trial.

Any recommendations, gents?


I'm going to go read some Ken Waters and see if I can't learn anything. And maybe take a nap, forgetting my chrono part knocked the wind out of my shooting-sails.

[theoldredneck]

I like to shoot the hollow base and double end. Use AA#2 or Titegroup and usually run just under 800 fps with no leading issues. I use them for plinking and small game out of several different 38's and 357's.

[ranch23]

I shoot them, mostly because they shoot great out of my model 15 Smith. Doesn't hurt that they were dirt cheap.

[johniv]

Try 3.5 gr of bullseye for a full power load with the DE wadcutter, clean , accurate and really slaps small game.

[gjn]

I load them for a friend of mine who shoots them in a local target league. I use 2.5 grains of Bullseye.

[magnumwheelman]

I have some Lapua hollow based wad cutters I was loading in 32 H&R Mag, was actually thinking about trying some target loads at one time a while back

[Deleted]

Some of Ed Harris' wadcutter wisdom to peruse.

www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/articles/38wadcutterQA.htm

www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/articles/38sagafiftyyards.htm

www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/articles/Revisiting%20The%20Double-End%20Wadcutter%20and%20the%20FBI%20Load.htm

I keep a couple of wadcutter moulds around, but am having issues with point of impact with fixed sight guns. More experimentation is necessary. Lyman has extensive data for full charge 357 mag wadcutter loads too.

[TERRY MURBACH]

YES. Tens of thousands with EVERY kind/style of 38 WC bullets you can imagine. Way back when My testing consumed 10M primers in 38's of 2", 3", 4", 5", 6", 6 1/2", and 8 3/8". EVERY pistol shot it's very best with full-charge loads, NOT mid-range loads. EVERY pistol shot is very best with 3.4grs of propellent. EVERY pistol shot it's very best with a DIFFERENT propellent. Every blankety blank one !!!
YOU will have to make up a set of 38 WC dies if you want the best results. A carbide 38S&W/38SUPER sizing die [ Lyman's old style were superb !!! ] , a .3585"O.D. expending plug as long as the longest WC bullet you'll use, a seating die with a seating plug that FITS the WC nose, and separate Roll Crimp and Taper Crimp dies for use on the bullets that require it. Believe it or not, the groups shot from ammunition in which the bullets were seated by hand---they slip right in like you're using KY---and then taper crimped to just touch the bullet would shoot 1.00" groups out to 50 yards with the target revolvers and darn near as good at 25 yards with the snubbies. AMAZING !
This was all written up in the PETERSONS HANDGUNS handloading column about 25 years ago or so. Go look it up and be enthralled. I was there and I was !!!
And so it goes...

[dmize]

I just started shooting them this year and have probably went thru 1,000 or so. I ended up using PROMO (Red Dot).
I use standard 38/357 Lee dies with absolutely no problems.

[Deleted]

For best accuracy, carbide dies size the cases too much for my tastes, but to each their own. The only use I've found for LEE handgun factory crimp dies is as a case sizing die, with the crimp guts removed. Ed Harris' reloading practice for wadcutters is pretty similar to my own. We just use the LEE crimp die differently.

[diddle]

In my 38 Specials, I use a 148 grain NOE HBWC ahead of 3.0 grains of WST from my 6" and 6.5" barrels and get about 815 fps. I've not done much work to optimize accuracy but these shoot pretty dang good for me.

I recently got a 44 caliber HBWC mold from NOE but I haven't tried it yet. I will try it in my 44 Specials soon, though. I'm betting it will be fun.

[ward01]

Sept 22, 2014 11:00:47 GMT -5 johniv said:

Try 3.5 gr of bullseye for a full power load with the DE wadcutter, clean , accurate and really slaps small game.

or the same charge of Titegroup for a top notch small game smasher!

ward

[serialsolver]

How is the long range accuracy with wad cutters?

[TERRY MURBACH]

Oct 7, 2014 20:07:41 GMT -5 serialsolver said:

How is the long range accuracy with wad cutters?

DEFINE long range. They pretty well poop out by the time one hundred yards rolls by, but that is NOT what they were invented for.

[serialsolver]

I got a box of .357 bore 148 gr double ended wadcutters. Would they be accurate loaded to 38-44 heavy duty or 357 mag loads at 100 or 200 yards. I had heard wadcutters would become unstable at those distances.