Fun with Wadcutters!

[AreWeNotMen?]

"Idle hands are the Devil's playground"

So I was bored the other day and decided to order DEWCs for .38 Spl (yawn ), .44 Spl/Mag (hmmm ), and .45 ACP (wait, what?!? ).

But wait, there's more - they're from Matt's Bullets, and not your everyday WCs:

.38 are 75 grains
.44 are 150 grains
.45 are 165 grains

I went with the lightest weight bullets in each bore size due to reduced price, seeking super-light recoil, and just to be weird .

I've been loading 148 grain HBWCs (lead) and DEWCs (lead and plated) in .38 Spl for a long time. I became addicted to clean-cut round holes in targets, and them sometimes going slow enough (600 +/- fps) that with the sun behind me, I could watch them all the way to the target. Fun.

Recently acquiring a S&W 629, and a 625 a year or so ago, I thought why not load some DEWC "fatties" for those. I loaded 30 rounds for each in three graduated charge weights of IMR Target. I'll be testing them through a chrono off sandbags later this week and report my findings.

[sorry for the sideways pic]

[TAS]

That does look like fun - looking forward to your findings.

[sghart]

I like wadcutters very much and I shoot a lot of them through my S&W's. But not near as much as this guy!

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/articles/75000wadcutters.htm

[Fizz]

I've loaded any number of projectile styles backwards to achieve wadcutter effects without wadcutters. I call them Hyper Boat tail wadcutters (for round backwards Round nose).

I see you are also a man of culture who likes his targets like he likes his women, with clean holes.

[Supertankerm60a3]

I've loaded any number of projectile styles backwards to achieve wadcutter effects without wadcutters. I call them Hyper Boat tail wadcutters (for round backwards Round nose).

I see you are also a man of culture who likes his targets like he likes his women, with clean holes.

I do that with (slightly squashed) 9mm in my .36 Navy black powder. It is quite happy.

[AreWeNotMen?]

Results and Observations

When to the range yesterday, here are the results (prettier version attached):

Light-for-Bore DEWC & IMR Target tests in .38 Special, .44 Special, and .45 ACP

Charge 2.0, 2.5 , 3.0

Velocity 659 , 803 , 900




Charge 4.0, 4.5, 5.0

Velocity 734, 801, 871



Charge 3.5, 3.75 , 4.0

Velocity 746, 793, 826



I didn't calculate standard deviation, but my extreme spreads were mostly in the 30-40 fps range.


1st photo shows the best 5-shot group (.45ACP w/4.0g) - yes I know it ain't nothin' to brag about, just the best I could do bracing on a sandbag with open sights and old eyes at 40 ft.

The 2nd photo shows what appears to me under 10x to be unburned powder, micro flakes of lead, and burnt residue. Was more pronounced in the lightest loads. I don't recall ever seeing this to anywhere near this extent before with other powders even in light loads.

[divingin]

FWIW, I recently ran through several boxes of Speer 98gn .32 HBWC's. Out of the 4 boxes, totalling 2000 bullets, I ended up with maybe a dozen 50ish grain HBWC bullets that got mixed in.

Powders tend to burn cleaner the higher pressures you run them at. Target Unique loads were really bad at unburnt powder. Bullseye as well, but the flakes were smaller, so tended to blow out of the barrel so you didn't notice it. Shooting bullets with a soft wax lube tends to trap the unburnt stuff in the waxy buildup moreso than harder lubes.

[DaveInOroValley]

Dad used to load using one wadcutter cut into two pieces as a defensive load. He reloaded many interesting variations. Some with half a wadcutter and a ball etc.

Some with two balls and half a wadcutter.

[Dai]

OAL / COL?


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[Imageview]

[divingin]

I've loaded 148 HBWC's as low as 500ish fps with excellent accuracy to 25 yds (surprisingly, that still cycled a S&W M52 - barely, but it did); that would be around 2 to 2.3 grains of any fast pistol powder (BE, Titegroup, etc.) With fast powder that ignites easily, I doubt there's a lower limit for loading (at least I didn't find one.)

My normal load is in the 2.7 gn range using WST; working the load up, I think it was in the 700-750ish fps range.

[alpha_romeo_XV]

OAL / COL?

A wad cutter seated at the bullet cannelure in 357 magnum case has a shorter OAL than a typical bullet seated in a 38 special case. Case volume is lower too.

I starting using only 357 cases for low powder loads to keep the chamber cleaner is my revolver and lever rifle.

[bergmen]

I just got into this myself after reloading for 25+ years. Still experimenting, my first load (.38 Special) was 3.5 grains of W231 under a 148 grain Berry's plated HBWC.

They shot with varying accuracy depending on the revolver. My 3" SP-101 was okay, my S&W Model 15 much better (although that is the most accurate revolver I own).

Next step is to reduce charge to 3.0 grains and see what happens.

I was never interested before since I always though wadcutters looked about as aerodynamic as a can of beans. I wouldn't want to get hit with one though.

Dan

[divingin]

I was never interested before since I always though wadcutters looked about as aerodynamic as a can of beans. I wouldn't want to get hit with one though.

Try turning them around. :-)

[bergmen]

Try turning them around. :-)

This end forward?



I don't think so.

Dan