.38 Special Wadcutter

[Schwing]

I bought several boxes of factory HBWC several years ago but have not shopped for them recently. Sorry to hear they are no longer available
these days.



Same here.

Last winter, I cast a 30 caliber ammo can full of DEWC to be ready for my next mega 38 Special loading session. I've been dabbling with powder coat though. Great for plinking but not very time efficient when coating.



The MP moulds are great. I have a couple his HP moulds but not the HBWC mould. They use the same method of creating the cavity as the 38 HBWC bullets which I feel is a good system.

I went through a pretty serious powder coating phase. In the end, I determined it is completely unnecessary for low pressure rounds. Even with higher pressure rounds like .44 magnum, you can skip powder coating if you size them right and don't drive them too hard. Now... It sure is cool though There is nothing like race car red or glossy black bullets.

 

[USSR]

I went through a pretty serious powder coating phase. In the end, I determined it is completely unnecessary for low pressure rounds. Even with higher pressure rounds like .44 magnum, you can skip powder coating if you size them right and don't drive them too hard.

Welcome back from the dark side.

Don

 

[Sistema1927]

My cost to reload a box of 50 is $0.015 for primer, powder is $0.008, bullet runs $0.02 each for the bullets I cast. So a box of 50 totals out at $2.15 a box.

I was factoring in the cost of brass in my $3.00.

 

[Riomouse911]

I bought a thousamd plated DEWC and another thousand unplated HBWC, two pounds of Bullseye, snd with a lot of once fired cases I had sitting around I loaded up an ammo can full last summer.
These are my favorite centerfire training rounds by far.

 

[cfullgraf]

There is nothing like race car red or glossy black bullets.

I'm kind of partial to MG Maroon.

But, I'm trending away from powder coating as it is too time intensive. It takes me two or three evenings to process what I cast in a single evening.

I've always lubricated/sized my hollow point bullets and if I cast HBWC they would be lubricated/sized as well.

Part of the fun of reloading for me is trying new stuff. Some of it takes, some of it gets discarded.

 

[BullRunBear]

Missouri Bullets offers DE 148 WCs sized to 358 as well as 357. They call it PPC #2. Cost about 35 bucks per 500. I've used a lot of them when I don't have time to cast my own. Work great. They also offer it powder coated but never tried any of those. I've never had a leading problem with any of their bullets.

Jeff

 

[BullRunBear]

kBob was correct in his OP. Was just at Cabelas for another reason, not firearms related. There wasn't a loaded wadcutter in the place or even a spot for them. The closest thing was a couple of boxes of WC bullets for reloading. Apparently things have changed in the last 35 years.

My reloading tools and components are definitely looking better and better.

Jeff

 

[Hoppes Love Potion]

I don't reload and usually just buy wadcutters at the range.

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

A couple of years ago, I found some cheap reloads of 148-grain wadcutters and bought a ton of them. Still have quite a few (I don't get to the range as often anymore), but I do love that load.

Comfortable and fun to shoot, with those cool round holes to reward you.

Gentle enough that my wife will shoot me bankrupt if I let her.

 

[ThomasT]

The very first box of centerfire ammo I ever bought was 38 WC loads from Remington. Since then I have either bought the bullets or mainly just cast my own from Lee Tumble Lube molds. I have no idea how many thousands I have shot but it is close to 10,000. I have A big bucket of them ready to load right now. Plus several hundred loaded.

The good thing about the solid WC bullets is that they can be loaded to higher pressure than the hollow base loads. I have tried the reversed WC loads but never found them to be accurate. About half when shot into water will just flatten instead of expand. But the ones that do expand are impressive.

Here is a good read on WC loads, their history and the proper WC brass to use.

http://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/articles/38wadcutterQA.htm

http://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/articles/Button nose vs Button.htm

Some Bullseye load data.

http://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/articles/Eds Alliant Bullseye Data.htm

 

[Hanshi]

I've always mostly bought the swaged ones and loaded them by the thousand. Commercial cast ones performed about a well. My home cast ones didn't do too badly, either. In fact, this is my standard load for 90% of my .38spl use.

 

[Bfh_auto]

I bought some Seller&Bellot wadcutters because I had never shot wadcutters. They are as good as my hand loads.

 

[Speedo66]

In order for them to sell today, they'd have to rename them "tactical wadcutters", will then sell like crazy.

 

[kscharlie]

Let the 'net do the shopping for you: https://ammoseek.com/ammo/38-special/-handgun-148grains-

 

[Stephanie B]

Precision Delta is an ammunition plant here in Mississippi. They sell new and reloaded .38 special 148 grain HBWC. Years ago when I shot PPC matches it was the only ammo I used. I still buy the reloads from time to time. Ive never had any problems with the reloads, they always went bang for me. They cut pretty holes in paper. Just Google Delta Precision.

+1 for Precision Delta. They were running a deal of 25% off with free shipping over $150. $172 for 1,000 HBWC rounds is hard to beat.

 

[Mark 40]

Recently purchased 148g copper plated WC from Freedom Munitions (sold out now). Liked them so put myself on the email notify list to buy more when they become available.

Have had no trouble finding Winchester 148g Lead WC at Lucky Gunner and Buds.

Also like kscharlie's idea of using ammoseek to widen the net/brand selection.