Wadercutters in .357 revolver

[Center fire]

In anticipation of picking up my new gun this coming Monday I went to get a few boxes of .357 magnums. My local dealer had none, but did have a few boxes of .38 special wadcutters. What do you folks think about using wadcutters vs FMJ? I primarily shoot FMJ or the occasional JHP.

 

[pendennis]

.38 Special WC's are the consummate paper punching ammo. They'll shoot fine in your .357 Magnum, and they're generally not fast enough to cause leading.

You'll need to insure that the charge holes are cleaned thoroughly, since the .38 Special brass is about .125" shorter than .357 Magnum brass. Powder residue can build up, and if it's not cleaned out, .357 Magnum loads can be a bit difficult to load.

If you follow up your session with WC ammo, shoot a few JHP's, and they'll clear any leading in the barrel. The WC's cut very nice holes in paper.

PS - I reload, and use WC bullets in my .357 Magnum brass. No problems with crud build up.

 

[GRIZ22]

I have fired maybe a gazillion 38 wadcutters in 357 revolvers. Clean the chambers well when you're done and you will have no issues.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I would put money on more .38 Special rounds being shot each year in .357 Magnum revolvers than .357 magnum ammo. I like to shoot .357 Magnum ammo once and a while just because but at the range I shoot a lot more .38 Special than anything else.

 

[cfullgraf]

What do you folks think about using wadcutters vs FMJ? .

pendennis and GRIZ22 pretty much covered wadcutters.

I shoot primarily cast in my 357 Magnum, they are loaded jut a bit hotter than 38 Special. I have not shot a full power 357 Magnum load in more than a decade.

But, my 357 Magnum has shot it's share of 38 Special wadcutters, both factory and reloads.

While carbon can build up in the chambers, it takes a while. I cleaned my chambers after shooting 38 Specials but I have never had a problem during a shooting session.

Get em and shoot em. Have fun with your new revolver.

 

[Center fire]

Thanks for the replies. I'll get a few boxes.

 

[ljnowell]

I agree wadcutters are fantastic range ammo. If you don't reload that's all I would shoot from a revolver, even a 357.

That being said I do not agree with shooting a few jacketed to remove the leading. First, wadcutters shouldn't be leading anyway, rarely is this an issue. Second that will press the lead into the grooves and "iron" it in harder. If may appear that the smudges are gone, but they won't be all gone. This isn't just my opinion it's held by many people, including many in the lead bullet industry.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I agree. On the very outside change you do get leading don't shoot jacketed bullets until you clean the barrel.

 

[Drail]

Be aware that almost all "wadcutter" loads produced commercially are made with dead soft swaged lead bullets. What that means is that you need to buy a Lewis lead remover tool or learn how to make your own with a copper scouring pad. You will get lead buildup in the bore. Trust me. You must keep that stuff cleaned out. Shooting hot jacketed loads to "remove" the lead is only going to raise pressures to a dangerous level if you let the lead build up. I never understood the logic of that practice. Clean the lead out BEFORE you switch to hot jacket loads.

 

[BullRunBear]

You should be fine with the wadcutters. I've lost track of how many thousands of 38 special WCs I've put through my 357s, some commercial but mostly handloads. Never had leading in the barrel or build up of crud in the cylinders. I do tend to clean the guns after each range session but that takes less than 5 minutes. I do check for leading and would clean it out before the next session, just haven't had to so far.

Jeff

 

[Magnumite]

"You'll need to insure that the charge holes are cleaned thoroughly, since the .38 Special brass is about .125" shorter than .357 Magnum brass. Powder residue can build up, and if it's not cleaned out, .357 Magnum loads can be a bit difficult to load."

This. If I knew I was going to be shooting 38 lead and 357 cased ammo, I would take a couple flared empty 357 cases with me. After shooting the 38's I would push the empty flared 357 cases into each chamber. This eliminated the 357 difficult chambering. You could watch the lead and lube fall out of the chambers.

Being a reloaded I also only loaded 357 cases for all my loadings. Eliminated the difficult loading and the long barrel jump out of the cylinder. Doesn't make too much difference for many guns but cuts group size a kittle in some.

 

[Onward Allusion]

38 Spl WC's are good for the range and those preferring less recoil in a 38 Spl Snub. IMO, it's the gold standard self defense round for low recoil, non +P, & non Hollow Point for 38 Special.

 

[BCRider]

No one so far has mentioned the POI change you'll if you're used to shooting magnums or fast and light .38Spl loads.

Either just aim as normal and shoot for group size or change the elevation taking note of how many clicks you move it so you can put it back again for your regular ammo.

 

[Sunray]

Shot bullseye for years with a GP 100 and 148 grain WC's. No leading, ever. Leading is caused by driving cast bullets too fast. Not the hardness of the lead.
Only issue is having to clean the cylinders before loading .357 ammo. Fixed by loading .357 brass to .38 velocities. Or simply running a .45 calibre brush through 'em. No big deal either way.
"...flared empty 357 cases..." Too slow. Won't clean as well as a brush either.

 

[mikemyers]

No one so far has mentioned the POI change you'll if you're used to shooting magnums or fast and light .38Spl loads.....

I just did a search to read comparisons of wad cutters vs. FMJ and found this thread... perfect timing for me. I went to the range today to shoot one box of ammo, shooting 10 rounds each at different targets as I varied how I hold the gun, using a very old box of wad-cutters, that I had in a plastic ammo box. I completely lost track of exactly what ammo this was. It seemed to have more recoil than the 38 special FMJ the range sells, which I normally shoot, and it made a different sound.

I did get my answer as to which way of holding the gun works best for me, but I never got the grouping size below 4". Even then, the targets didn't look good, with the shots spread around. I finished and was about to head home, sort of discouraged, when I remembered I still had 15 rounds of FMJ left over from yesterday.

Using the hold that worked best with the wad cutters, and shooting FMJ, the grouping came out as good as I'm now capable of doing, 3" at 15. It felt almost "easy" - no more effort than what I do every day in dry-firing.

My impressions:

• the gun got MUCH dirtier from 50 rounds of these wad cutters than from 100 to 200 rounds of FMJ.
  
• for me, for whatever reason, I shoot better with the FMJ than with the wad cutters.
  
• You mentioned that POI may change, but of the last two targets of wad cutters, compared to the single target of FMJ, I can't really see much of a difference. Same gun, ten minutes apart, same distance, same everything, and same technique.

 

[gun_with_a_view]

Buffalo Bore is making a couple of 150 grain wadcutter rounds in 38 Special with hard cast bullets that may render hollow points obsolete as anti-personell ammo.

 

[Center fire]

Update:

I picked up two boxes today of the 38 special. They are Magtech Cowboy Action Loads. Anyone familiar with these?

 

[Zeke/PA]

I shoot a ton of .38 Special Wadcutters in my S&W 686 every year with NO problems. The pistol gets a good cleaning periodically however!

 

[ljnowell]

I shoot bullseye competitively. I shot more than 10k rounds of cast wadcutters and many swaged HBWCs also. Leading is never an issue. In fact I probably shoot more than 2k rounds between barrel and cylinder cleanings. Cleaning the barrel changes POI until I re-fouls, at least in my experience.

Basically I'm saying leading isn't much of an issue at target wadcutters velocities.