[The Rabbi]

I am just getting into reloading and looking for a *very* light load for a .44mag for IDPA competition. I have seen NBC's 190gr DEWC bullets and I like the light weight. I wondered what the purpose of the DEWC shape was and how it affected anything.
Also any advice on reloading lights for this would be appreciated. Its going in a 329 Smith so you can see why light is better.

[Quantrill]

Double ended wadcutters (first made for .38spec.) were made so that no matter how the reloader picked up the bullet to place it on the primered. powdered case to seat it, it would be right. Many reloader folk were trying to load so fast that they placed the bullet upside down and seated it before they realized it. While wadcutter are the most accurate bullets made for handguns, in comparing the different types, the DEs are never the VERY Most accurate. That honor is usually given to Hensley&Gibbs mold #50 or #50BB or their equivilents from the other various mold and bullet makers. .44 wadcutters never seemed to have the same following that the .38s do. I do not know why. Lyman still makes a 180gr. mold for a .44 wadcutter that seems pretty popular but I have yet to use it. Keith style semi-wadcutters have a great following for both accuracy and potency. Quantrill

[Standing Wolf]

I'd guess double-ended wadcutters are cheaper and easier to manufacture than hollow-based wadcutters.

[Jim Watson]

I think DEWCs were brought out for commercial reloaders using powered loading presses with bullet feeders. Some bullet companies even ship them in the tubes to set right into the feed.

Light weight or not, I want a roundnose bullet for IDPA, to give faster alignment of the speedloader. There are 180 and 200 grain round-nose flat-point bullets intended for tube magazine .44 Mag and .44-40 carbines as shot in Cowboy that would be better than a full wadcutter, if not quite as fast as a true roundnose. Me? I'd just try to find some of the standard 246 grain .44 Special roundnose and load them light.

[The Rabbi]

Thats a good point about alignment of the speedloader. I'm glad you mentioned that otherwise I think I wouldnt have been too happy.
What is the lightest .44 bullet you have seen?

[Jim Watson]

Magma makes molds for .44 cal as light as 165 grains, also 180 and 200. They are all flatpoints so the Cowboys can load them in carbines, too, but will certainly speedload easier than WC or SWC. The lightest true roundnose they show is 225 grains.

Meister and Penn have the 180s;
http://www.meisterbullets.com/Pages/HardCast.asp
http://www.pennbullets.com/44/index.html
other casters are left as an exercise for the student

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

The double ended wad cutter bullets were made long before WW2 for police departments and gun clubs that hand cast their own bullets in Saeco or H&G 4 to 10 cavity molds and the bullets were loaded in Star reloaders and automated machines like the Dirks and Auto Loads at speeds up to 5,000 rounds per hour.

As a Marshal I have shot my monthly qualifications at police and sheriffs ranges and all their ammo had the DEWC bullets.

Many police departments used trustees to cast their bullets and load their ammo and the DEWC bullets were easier to load as they did not need to be looked at when placing in the cases in a hand operated loader.

Competitors desiring the utmost accuracy cast the #50 button nose bullets in 4 cavity Saeco molds after 1947.

I practiced at police ranges but when competing in police championships I shot the #50 148 grain 38 bullet.

John Paul Jones Retired
California Saeco Bulletcasting Company Distributor

[Mikul]

I use a 200gr round nose from here:
http://www.betterbullets.com/bull5.htm