Midrange wadcutter question

[Mike Armstrong]

Is there any particular reason to load "midrange" (target velocity) full lead wadcutters in .32 S&W Long and .38 Spl, with the bullet flush with the case mouth?

I understand that this started because these were normally loaded with a light load of Bullseye or a similar powder, and to keep pressures uniform it was necessary to reduce case volume. True?

BTW, I find both of these cartridges with full wadcutters at slightly above target velocity (but below "leading velocity") are great killers of medium varmints like chucks, coons, and called coyotes at moderate ranges. I shoot them in a 6 1/2" .32 H&R Single Six and a 6" GP-100.

 

[Cholo]

I only shoot WC's in my dedicated .38's. They have a crimping groove that I use so they don't sit flush with the case mouth. I'd be interested in what others have to say who do seat them flush, and why.

 

[WAYNO]

deleted

 

[Jim Puke]

Speaking of only .38 midrange...

I've loaded many wadcutters over the years, and since I never owned a Model 52, my wadcutters always protruded the case a bit.

X 2

 

[loaded round]

Needed to seat wad cutters flush with a slight taper crimp to inure positive feeding and accuracy in my Smith 52-2 during my bull's-eye days. Don't forget also the Colt gold Cup Mid-range 38 special, it needed it's bullets seated flush to the cash mouth to function. Back in those days the ammo companies didn't want to load two types of wad cutter ammo, therefore one load for use in both revolvers and semi autos.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

I still have about 500 Speer 148 gr. wad HBWC bullets left from a bulk purchase many years ago. I always load them with about 1/16" of the bullet peaking out of the case. They have fired great in every gun I have shot them in. I don`t own any bottom feeders in .38 caliber but have a bunch of revolvers in .38/.357 .

 

[Mike Armstrong]

But folks, the VAST majority of the millions of .38 wadcutters loaded over the years and most of the .32 wadcutters were never meant to be shot in ANY kind of autoloader. I understand that the 52 and custom Colt .38 Special autos needed flush-seated bullets, but this kind of loading was common decades before any of those autos were made (and how many really were ever made? A few thousand?).

Most midrange .38 was used for two things: LEOs qualifying and practicing to qualify, and sport marksmen punching paper with .38 target revolvers. Back in the my college days (early '60s) I ran a reloading op for a county sheriff's dept. We loaded only .38 wadcutters, flush seated, using Bullseye. I even devised my own "statistical process control" system to avoid double charges, using the math from my college population biometry course. (It apparently worked--OR I was one lucky kid....).

Still don't know why they originally loaded these ctgs. flush seated. As posters have noted, you don't have to and it makes some sense not to.... It's the shape of the wadcutter bullet that makes it easy to score, not where it sits in the case!

 

[loaded round]

Mike: I do realize that wad cutters were being loaded way before the 38 Spl Model 52's and the Gold Cups (Was a standard catalog Colt model even though there were custom 38 autoloaders) were in vogue. However I do agree with your comments about wad cutter loads for qualification and for revolver target shooting prior to autoloaders back then. When I started loading 38's in the mid '60's, that's all I loaded for my OM Blackhawk and Python, except for hunting loads. However when bullseye shooting became popular in the late '60's and '70's, 38 Spl autoloaders were almost always used then for 3 pistol matches, assuming you didn't use a 45 ACP for both center fire and 45 stages. Then, and I did complete in bullseye shooting, almost everyone shot a 52 or Gold Cup. There were many thousands of them manufactured and still exist. I still have my original Model 52 that I paid 150.00 for NIB out the door. "Those were the days my friend"....as that old song goes.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Thanks for that info. I didn't do much competition paper punching in those days. About the time I quit (mainly for work raising and family), people were still pretty stuck on custom K-38s and the Colt Officers Model DA .38. Custom .38 Special autos and 52 were rare. But most PDs were still insisting on DA .38 service revolvers and even Uncle Sugar issued thousands of them.

Still don't know why the .38 wadcutter was first made with flush loaded bullets, but I BET it has something to do with the type of powder originally used and with the loading machinery that the factories used. The edge of the case makes a nice, almost invariable length limit that a soft lead bullet doesn't afford and it may just have been easier to standardize on the case as the length of the round. But that's just a jackass guess. I know the factory setting on the automatic (sort of) loader I worked with at the sheriff's department was to load the bullets flush.

 

[loaded round]

Mike:
You posed a very interesting question and with your kind permission, I'm going to repost this flush seating wad cutter question in the RF reloading section again. If we don't receive a suitable answer, I will write to the NRA for an answer. I bet you originally loaded those wad cutters on a Star press.
Mike/Loaded Round

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Thanks, I like the answers given on the other thread! And, yes, it was a Star "automatic" press; don't remember the model.

My other part-time college job, "pearl-diving" for my meals at the university student union, involved a COLT "automatic" dishwasher! It was as reliable as all Colts used to be.

 

[PriseDeFer]

38 Special case was made to be usable with black powder, no? Too much case capacity for mild recoil, midrange loads and no Trail Boss to eat up all that volume.

 

[GP100man]

Load some up to 1k fps & shoot a mud bank with em !!!

Then shoot the same bank with your favorite HP.

.357" meplat will win every time.