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38 Special Advice

It’s been a long time since I have loaded for the 38. I have some 231 powder and primers on hand. I am just wanting a light target load and was looking at the x-treme bullets in either 148 WC or the 158 RNFP. I always liked the WC, but is there a better reason to go with the longer round nose type bullets.
Thanks!
 
George's bullets are amazing, and they arrive just like the ones in the pictures:


I shoot the 145's with Titegroup with some amazing accuracy, double duty as Self Defense if necessary
 
Most of the data for 38 loaded with 148 Wadcutters is setup for target shooters. They’re low recoil and accurate. Are these X-Treme bullets cast, or plated?
Winchester published 2.9g to 3.4 grains 231 for solid (not Hollow based) LEAD wadcutters. The same load in 357 magnum cases was published at 3.4 giving 880 fps. All this said, I’ve never had good accuracy with plated bullets but the gun will go bang and the bullet will hit the target.
 
Most of the data for 38 loaded with 148 Wadcutters is setup for target shooters. They’re low recoil and accurate. Are these X-Treme bullets cast, or plated?
Winchester published 2.9g to 3.4 grains 231 for solid (not Hollow based) LEAD wadcutters. The same load in 357 magnum cases was published at 3.4 giving 880 fps. All this said, I’ve never had good accuracy with plated bullets but the gun will go bang and the bullet will hit the target.
Okay thanks that’s great to know!
They are copper plated and I thought that might be good for clean up, but now I might look around a little more.
 
My target load is the Speer 148 gr HBWC lead bullet over 3.1 gr of 231 with a standard primer in 38 Spl cases. Very low recoil. Out of a S&W mod 14, 6" bbl it gave 11/16" groups at 25 yds.
 
I've shot them a lot. I have several cast WCs but I always did the best with soft lead. I somehow got stuck on Hornady, they were knurled and had a white wax on them. I always used 231 and with a target load they didn't lead. Best shooting gun I had for them was a colt diamondback 8" I had a S & W model 14 8 3/8 that might have done as good but I only shot it at plastic bottles offhand
 
I shot the 38 Special, Model 14 S&W, in bullseye competition for about 30 years. In this competition you're only focused on accuracy, i.e. hitting the X ring at 50 yards.

The most accurate wadcutters I found were the Speer, swaged, hollow base, 148 grain. My go to load was 3.0 of 231 in a 38 case with a taper crimp with the bullet seated flush with the top of the case. This load produces about 775 f/s in a 6" revolver.

One summer a friend of mine and me did some extensive load testing using a Ransom Rest which essentially eliminates any human error. This load a out performed all others producing "X" ring accuracy at 50 yards.

One other point - this load does not lead the barrel. I could shoot an entire match season and never clean the barrel w/o any loss of accuracy. I did routinely clean the cylinder, top strap and face plate of excess carbon.

I never shot hollow base wadcutters out of a 357 magnum revolver but I've shot a lot of hard cast lead bullets out of my S&W 357 revolvers using 38 cases and never had a problem.

Keep in mind that hollow base wadcutters must not be loaded beyond published data - these bullets are designed for low velocity target shooting although some use these low velocity loads very effectively for close range for small game hunting since they tend to produce less meat destruction.
 
I shot the 38 Special, Model 14 S&W, in bullseye competition for about 30 years. In this competition you're only focused on accuracy, i.e. hitting the X ring at 50 yards.

The most accurate wadcutters I found were the Speer, swaged, hollow base, 148 grain. My go to load was 3.0 of 231 in a 38 case with a taper crimp with the bullet seated flush with the top of the case. This load produces about 775 f/s in a 6" revolver.

One summer a friend of mine and me did some extensive load testing using a Ransom Rest which essentially eliminates any human error. This load a out performed all others producing "X" ring accuracy at 50 yards.

One other point - this load does not lead the barrel. I could shoot an entire match season and never clean the barrel w/o any loss of accuracy. I did routinely clean the cylinder, top strap and face plate of excess carbon.

I never shot hollow base wadcutters out of a 357 magnum revolver but I've shot a lot of hard cast lead bullets out of my S&W 357 revolvers using 38 cases and never had a problem.

Keep in mind that hollow base wadcutters must not be loaded beyond published data - these bullets are designed for low velocity target shooting although some use these low velocity loads very effectively for close range for small game hunting since they tend to produce less meat destruction.
Thank You, that is very informative!
 
HBWC are, as K22 said, meant for target loads. Trying to push them too fast can tear the skirt off the bullet, leaving them in the chamber, or worse, further up in the barrel.
 

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