My experience with Berry's plated bullets is the velocities I get are much slower than those listed for lead, but pretty close to those for jacketed bullets. Unfortunately, the only loads I can find for 148 gr. wadcutters are for lead, with a very short COAL (1.160") and small charges. I've read more than a few threads that say to be careful using small loads recommended for lead bullets with the plated wadcutters because you can get a bullet stuck in the barrel. I did see one post about loading a longer COAL and using the load data for 158 grain jacketed bullets. That actually sounds like the way to go.
The 158 gr. bullet is .648" long and the 148 DEWC is .548" long. I normally seat the 158 gr. bullet so the COAL is 1.446" which leaves .798" for powder in the case. If I seat the 148 gr. WC so the COAL is 1.346, I'll end up with the same .798" space for powder. I use 4.4 gr. of HP-38 with a 158 gr. FN bullet and get a velocity of 750 FPS, this is about what I'd like to get with the wadcutters. Does this sound right or am I not thinking about this right? I'll be using this in a 38 Special gun, but I can test the loads in my S&W 586.
The 158 gr. bullet is .648" long and the 148 DEWC is .548" long. I normally seat the 158 gr. bullet so the COAL is 1.446" which leaves .798" for powder in the case. If I seat the 148 gr. WC so the COAL is 1.346, I'll end up with the same .798" space for powder. I use 4.4 gr. of HP-38 with a 158 gr. FN bullet and get a velocity of 750 FPS, this is about what I'd like to get with the wadcutters. Does this sound right or am I not thinking about this right? I'll be using this in a 38 Special gun, but I can test the loads in my S&W 586.
