Some chrono data on some factory .38 special 148gr wadcutters from the 2" snub

[fatdog]

Out of curiosity, I bought three varieties of the factory 148gr full wadcutter .38 special ammo from three suppliers to try. Today I chrono’ed them from a pair of my 2” subs.

The two guns were a S&W M12 2” and a gen 2 Colt D frame Agent 2”. Along with the chrono I shot some groups at 7 yards to see what the POI/POA relationship was and what sort of groups I could achieve with each brand of ammo.

Bottom line was the groups were all in the range of what I call acceptable for me shooting those guns DAO, the M12 always shoots tighter than the D frames, in fact it may be my most accurate revolver period.

POI was right on for windage and 1” high for the Federal Match and 1” low for the Precision One, dead on for the Choice Ammunition in the Colt, no measurable POI difference for any of the three loads for me with the M12.

Temperature was 50 deg, altitude about 800 ft. The three factory loadings were:

Federal Gold Medal Match, a lead 148gr wadcutter
Colt 646fps SD=8
M12 643fps SD=20

Precision One, a copper plated 148gr wadcutter
Colt 746fps SD=18
M12 705fps SD=13

Choice Ammunition, a copper plated 148gr wadcutter
Colt 881fps SD=18
M12 843fps SD=11

The Choice Ammunition stuff was not advertised as being +P, but certainly hotter than the rest and this is a small ammo maker who may not even have the ability to determine if it is standard pressure, I was unfamiliar with them until I got this ammo, but it was accurate and certainly stepping along.

[Speederlander]

How rounded are the edges of the copper plated WCs? I find the photos sometimes on the wadcutters to be misleading in this respect. I thought the Buffalo Bore WCs had some rounding but the last batch I received was really fairly sharp. I would assume a plated WC would need to be lapped or polished to get a sharp leading edge but I wanted to check.

[fatdog]

top to bottom, Choice, Federal, Precision One

I think the copper plated bullets are from the same source. Hard to tell how sharp an edge is with a flush seated bullet. No way to pull them either with a collet or kinetic bullet puller either. They cut nice perfect holes in paper.

[OlongJohnson]

Those plated bullets look pretty different to me.

[LtDave]

I just went to the Choice Ammo website and ordered some of their wadcutters, both the copper plated and the Hi-Tek coated. The picture of the copper plated wadcutters on the website shows a different bullet than shown here in the thread. I'm hoping for the one shown in the thread

[fatdog]

... I'm hoping for the one shown in the thread

I see what you are talking about on the web page...here is when, and what I ordered that is pictured above...never saw an sku or part number

[Order #90546] (12/07/2018)

Product

.38 Special 148 grain plated Wadcutter~100% Hand Loaded !!

Rounds Per Box: 225

1 $109.39

[Rock185]

Interesting fatdog. I've chronographed some assorted factory ammo from 2" guns, and that Choice ammo is definitely warm. Especially since it's from 2" barrels. Years ago, I loaded reversed hollow base wadcutters for use in a 2" carry gun. I think I chronographed it, but can't recall the numbers. I'd have to dig through a lot of old chronograph data, but I'm pretty sure velocities were well short of the Choice Ammo.

[Polecat]

Strong effort, thank you! That is quite a bit of variation 200 FPS. I recently shot some of that Fed Match. It was crazy accurate in my LCR, very mild as your figures suggest. I think it spec’d out at 690 FPS. I would be interested to see how much they vary in Gel testing.

[LtDave]

Got my Choice wadcutters today. Copper coated ones have the same bullets as Fatdog’s.

[fatdog]

I went to the range (indoor) tonight and shot about another 100 rounds of the Choice stuff through two different D frames and a J frame. It is quite stout, I would compare the recoil to the old FBI load in the same guns, but I was rewarded with some groups that were reasonable POI vs POA for me shooting DA strings. Nice clean circles on the target, no keyholes ever from 3 to 15 yards.

Very interested to hear LtDave's experience with the load.