38 Spcl bullets tumbling

[jbrown13]

New to reloading!

I loaded a few 38 special target rounds with 2.7 gr Bullseye under a Berry's 148 gr DEWC and the bullets were tumbling and tearing teardrop shaped holes in the target. When the bullet would hit the target you could see a piece of paper being torn from the target and flying into the air. These were loaded in new Starline brass with an OAL of 1.19" and a taper crimp of .374". They were shot from a Ruger New Vaquero w/ 5.5" barrel.

My understand was that this load is "old standby" for 38 DEWC bullets. Anybody have any suggestions as to why this is happening?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Randy1911]

Measure one of the bullets and see what the diameter is. Should be .357 or .358. If they are , slug your bareel and see how it measures. How do other bullets shoot?

 

[rcmodel]

Any chance the paper target was free hanging without a backer board?

Low velocity bullets can sometimes do that if the paper target can move and try to get out of the way.

It's not the bullet key-holing, it's the target flinching.

rc

 

[jbrown13]

Randy 1911, Range purchased 148 DEWC (I believe Rainier bullets) from Atlanta Arms shoot fine in the revolvermaking a nice, clean round hole in the paper.

RCModel, thanks for that info. Target was not on a backer board as they are in short supply at the indoor range I frequent. The Atlanta Arms 148 DEWC's make nice clean round holes in the same target, but the recoil feels nuch greater with that ammo. You may have hit it. The teardrop shaped hole is always horizontal and the point of the teardrop always points to the right. Left side is a nice, sharp semicircle.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[rcmodel]

Well there you go then.

If it were tumbling bullets, there would be no discernible pattern to which way the key-holes ended up on the paper.

rc

 

[jbrown13]

RC, I'll try a backer on Thursday when I go back to the range and see if that solves it.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Walkalong]

Betcha it does.

 

[lgbloader]

Leave it to RC and his crystal ball.

By the way, he is right because I get that paper flying too when I am too cheap to put a backing on.

LGB

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Any chance the paper target was free hanging without a backer board?

Low velocity bullets can sometimes do that if the paper target can move and try to get out of the way.

It's not the bullet key-holing, it's the target flinching.

Target was not on a backer board as they are in short supply at the indoor range I frequent.

Jeff,
We've seen this several times recently. Each time putting a backer behind the target showed the bullets weren't tumbling. I'm sure your reloads are fine but on the slow side compared to factory ammo because they are light target loads.

 

[jbrown13]

RC was right!

RC, you nailed it, you must be psychic. There is no substitute for experience.

Thanks,
Jeff