38 wadcutters for punchin paper.

[DirtNapKing]

1. Anybody in the So. Cal. area bulk loading this stuff?

2. What's the going price for a full ammo can these days?

3. In the past I use to run it through a couple 357s. Never had issues but was curious if anybody has and if it's still common/safe practice for breaking in new shooters or saving some coin in general? I might PM Ocean Bob. I would like to hear his input as well.

Thanks in advance!

[sequoia_nomad]

Miwall has it, last I checked. Since I've been reloading I haven't bought any so I can't give you a good current price. There's nothing wrong with shooting .38 through a .357 as far as I know, I do it weekly.

[Oceanbob]

Probably not much of a market for .38 Wadcutters

Ever since the Gun Games switched to 9MM and .40 for competition.

Don't know of anyone who bulks .38 or .357.

No harm shooting lead wadcutters thru a .38 or .357 Magnum. Very light recoil and very accurate; punching nice holes.

If it's that important you might consider reloading them. Now that would be inexpensive and easy.

Take care
Bob

[PutTogether]

If it's that important you might consider reloading them. Now that would be inexpensive and easy.

Take care
Bob

Yep. When you buy a .38/.357 die set from Dillon, they include a special funny looking seating stem just for wadcutters.

Tangent: If you like to shoot wadcutters for fun, light practice, check out a book called "Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights" by Jim Cirillo. It will open your eyes to what full wadcutters are capable of.

Guy was on they NYPD stakeout squad in the 70's, and pretty much ONLY wanted to use full wadcutters loaded HOT in his revolvers. He would make his buddies with Automatics load the first round in their chambers as a super hot wadcutter he made in his basement, followed by a magazine of ball (for feeding).

He was in several actual gunfights, and credits his partners 1911 being loaded with a full profile wadcutter in the chamber as having saved his life on at least one occasion.

[Sky_DiveR]

Mild Wadcutters were originally designed for target shooting. No recoil to speak of and they make real nice clean round holes in the targets to score with.

Theoretically, shooting 38's in a 357 may eventually etch a gas ring inside the chamber. I've never seen this but various manuals, books, and gun writers warn of this. Also (theoretically) your accuracy may suffer from the longer jump to the barrel shooting 38's in a 357. Again, I cannot confirm or deny this from experience.

If you want to see mild, shoot some 38S&W Shorts thru your 357 (they're even shorter than 38 Specials). May even see the bullet going downrange it's going so slow. LOL

[Cowboy T]

The gun writers who write of this apparently are just that, writers, and not shooters. I've shot so many .38 Special rounds (including plenty of near-Elmer Keith-type loads) through my Security-Six that I lost count long ago. It's well into the tens of thousands now. You needn't worry. Your .357 Magnum gun will laugh at those .38 Specials and say "that all you got?"

Go ahead and fire as many .38 Specials as your heart desires. And +1 on the recommendation to start reloading them. I've saved so much money by casting my own "boolits" and reloading my own .38 Spl that it's actually funny. How's $3.25 per box of 50 sound?

If you can't reload, then I know that .38 Special wadcutter ammo goes around the country for $11-$12 per box of 50. And be sure to keep your brass for when you can reload, or sell the brass to a fellow Calgunner or some other reloader.

[DirtNapKing]

Great input and replies so far!

[LGB Loader]

get yourself properly sized 148 grn wadcutter boolits and a can of Bullseye and use 2.7 grains. That's this old standby faithfull.

LGB

[justMike]

If you are going to reload, what is wrong with making wadcutter loads in .357M brass?
Would eliminate any cylinder fouling issues I would think.

[Cowboy T]

.38 Spl brass is just so much easier to get now, and the fouling "issues" in the cylinder are really non-issues. That carbon ring is nothing a little Hoppe's #9 won't cut through in very short order, and even after 1,000 rounds of not cleaning my gun (a one-time experiment), I could still easily chamber .357 Magnum rounds. No, I don't recommend doing that! But it's an example that it isn't necessarily the issue it's made out to be.