Decided to bite the coated lead bullet

[Walkalong]

I wonder if maybe the DEWC's need a bit more pressure to obturate properly.

Absolutely the DEWC needs more pressure to obturate. The HBWC needs very little to do so, and the skirts are thin, thus the warnings about loading them too hot which can cause the skirt to break loose staying in the bore.

 

[vaalpens]

Vaalpens, thanks for a very thorough workup. I too just got the bug for coated bullets this spring. As my birthday was last week, I had wife purchase me a thousand bullets, half from MBC (.38 Match 12BHN) and half from Bayou Bullets (.357mag slightly higher hardness). The MBC package arrived first and these things load like sweet butter! Not a chance I'll be going back to plain lead again as the initial issue I had was dirt/ smoke.

Anyway, happy shooting!

Bama Drifter, thanks for the kind words.

I have not done much plain lead shooting, but with the little I have done made me realize I definitely prefer the coated bullets. My preference was always plated bullets, but in 38/357 I prefer the coated since I get higher velocities with less powder, and it is probably better on the revolver. I am definitely sold on these coated bullets.

 

[vaalpens]

Absolutely the DEWS needs more pressure to obturate. The HBWC needs very little to do so, and the skirts are thin, thus the warnings about loading them too hot which can cause the skirt to break loose staying in the bore.

Thanks Walkalong.

I am still trying to find the sweet spot with these DEWC's playing with seating depth, different crimping and different loads. I have to say I really enjoy shooting the DEWC's. This weekend with a 700-X load, I averaged at 500fps. It was really a fun load to shoot.

 

[vaalpens]

I got some Hi-Tek coated red lipstick bullets. With a good charge of 2400 they put out the most sickening smell, like burning plastic.

What velocity did you see with the 2400 load?

 

[vaalpens]

Still have the 50 I loaded and need to get to the range. Maybe tomorrow the outdoor range as I also have some 308 waiting on the chronograph.

Ron

Good luck with the range trip and let us know what test results you see.

 

[Walkalong]

W-231 and DEWC's work well. My Model 14 shoots them well.

Warning, the load shown is not a light target load, and is over the Hodgdon online data these days.

 

[bluetopper]

What velocity did you see with the 2400 load?

12.5gr of 2400 behind 148gr red coated DEWC no lube grooves in 357 Mag brass.

 

[vaalpens]

I did some more testing of the MBC 148gr coated DEWC bullets this weekend.

At this point I am playing around with the crimping to see if I can get that elusive small grouping. Based on all my results so far, I think the grouping size is more a result of my inability to aim consistently with the Ruger SP101, instead of the loads.

Following is the chrono data for the loads I tested:

SP101, 38spl, 3"
COL: 1.210"
MBC, 148gr, B12HTDEWC, 700X, 2.1gr, WSP
Average: 500
ES: 27
SD: 12.6
Force: 82
PF: 74
Velocities: 488, 486, 507, 513, 509

The 2.1gr 700-X load was a very soft load. Actually most of the 700-X loads were soft shooting.

SP101, 38spl, 3"
COL: 1.210"
MBC, 148gr, B12HTDEWC, 700X, 2.2gr, WSP
Average: 524
ES: 19
SD: 7.5
Force: 90
PF: 77
Velocities: 512, 528, 531, 528, 524

SP101, 38spl, 3"
COL: 1.210"
MBC, 148gr, B12HTDEWC, 700X, 2.3gr, WSP
Average: 545
ES: 21
SD: 9.1
Force: 98
PF: 80
Velocities: 534, 555, 546, 538, 553

SP101, 38spl, 3"
COL: 1.210"
MBC, 148gr, B12HTDEWC, 700X, 2.4gr, WSP
Average: 580
ES: 24
SD: 10.7
Force: 111
PF: 85
Velocities: 570, 589, 594, 576, 572

SP101, 38spl, 3"
COL: 1.210"
MBC, 148gr, B12HTDEWC, Bullseye, 2.7gr, WSP
Average: 644
ES: 19
SD: 7.7
Force: 136
PF: 95
Velocities: 657, 641, 647, 638, 640

SP101, 38spl, 3"
COL: 1.210"
MBC, 148gr, B12HTDEWC, Bullseye, 2.8gr, WSP
Average: 666
ES: 28
SD: 13.5
Force: 146
PF: 98
Velocities: 680, 680, 654, 667, 652

SP101, 38spl, 3"
COL: 1.210"
MBC, 148gr, B12HTDEWC, Bullseye, 2.9gr, WSP
Average: 688
ES: 15
SD: 6.8
Force: 156
PF: 101
Velocities: 697, 682, 688, 694, 682

SP101, 38spl, 3"
COL: 1.210"
MBC, 148gr, B12HTDEWC, Bullseye, 3gr, WSP
Average: 714
ES: 40
SD: 16
Force: 168
PF: 105
Velocities: 723, 709, 722, 689, 729

Following are the targets from some of the better groupings I saw. All the testing was done with a Ruger SP101, 3" barrel and open standard sights at 10 yards using a rest. It seems that I always have a decent grouping and then one flyer: