Speer plastic training bullets

[tank mechanic]

Tonight I bought some Speer .38 cal plastic training bullets, Speer plastic training cases and some CCI 350 primers. In my excitement at actually finding them after a rather languid search, I forgot to buy a priming tool. Do I need one? Or can I simply push them in by hand?

Also is there a certain OAL that the bullets need to be set at?


Thanks,
Tank Mechanic

 

[MikeG]

You can seat the primers by hand. set the primer on a hard surface like a table top and push the case down on it.

The bullet doesn't have a prescribed OAL, other than seating the smaller diameter base fully into the case.

I have some I should get out and play with.

 

[tank mechanic]

The bullet doesn't have a prescribed OAL, other than seating the smaller diameter base fully into the case

I was pretty sure it didn't matter, I just wanted to make sure. The last thing I wanted to do was mess up the ol' revolver.

 

[Citroen]

Used them for years

Speer plastic training ammo is great for garage practice. When I lived in a house without a garage, I waited until wife was out with the children and shot down the hallway.

You will need a good backstop - ideally of soft rags as you can reuse the bullet (black) part over and over. All of my Speer .38 bullets have a shoulder and you push them by hand to "seat" against the shoulder.

Pop the spent primer out with an icepick. I use a Lee Auto Prime (hand held one) to seat the fresh primers as I found the case mouth was digging into my hand which did not feel very good. Using the correct shellplate, the Lee is perfect for this function. The hole in the shellplate is large enough to allow the large pistol primers to pass through just fine.

Make no mistake, at close range this round is dangerous and will definitely put a whelp on a person if it hits them. Accurate for me up to about 5 yards.

If you buy the .45 version it is just the projectile - you use your same brass as for real bullets. You will need to enlarge the primer flash hole to prevent primer "set back", especially in revolvers.

John
Charlotte, NC

 

[tank mechanic]

I made all fifty last night while sitting here at the computer. I had a blast putting them together. This morning i went out to the garage and shot about twenty of them. They will be perfect for those days when I really want to shoot but i cannot make it out to the range.

I am going to go back to Sportsmans Warehouse to get another box or too tonight to keep them around for a rainy day.

They also had plastic shot capsules to load with #9 shot and load into the plastic cases. Has anyone every used these? I want to try them out to play with but the cheapest bag of shot they had was 25 pounds and 37 dollars. I don't really want to break the bank, especially when you can buy a ten pack of 38 special shotshells for 9 bucks.

 

[sm]

Highly recommended!

Get a small board and use a nail/screw to make a de-prime tool.

Just round off the point a bit, and good to go.