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Thread: Accuracy of Button-Nose .38 Wadcutters vs. DEWCs?

  1. #1
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    Accuracy of Button-Nose .38 Wadcutters vs. DEWCs?

    Now that I've got a small stash of Federal GMM for my M49, I'm thinking of loading some factory-equivalent WCs for practice. This is going to be in mixed brass from a 1-7/8" barrel, fired DA, so I'm not sure it really matters, but I also have a brace of M14s that need to be fed. I'll be using coated, mass-produced cast bullets. Does one tend to be more accurate than the other? My usual supplier (Brazos) only offers the button-nose variety.

  2. #2
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    At least in my own experiments, I don’t think that the type of nose on the bullet makes a great difference to accuracy. However, the type of case might when talking about wadcutters. I can get reasonable to good accuracy out of standard cases and most bullets, but wadcutters are a different story, and I really only get good accuracy out of cases that were previously loaded with wadcutters - they are not the same internally, as I understand it, to accommodate the long shank and full insertion in the case. Basically what I *think* I’m doing to the poor wadcutters is distorting the base with the tapering case walls, and ruining accuracy, and (in some gun’s cylinders) the ability to fully chamber the reloaded case. At least, I’ve had some case head drag and even a cylinder refuse to close.

    Still have most of 1K box of wadcutters to play with, though, and hope to get the loads figured out.

    TL; DR: I’ve had better luck with carefully sorted wadcutters cases when loading wadcutters.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Duelist View Post
    (...snip...) I really only get good accuracy out of cases that were previously loaded with wadcutters - they are not the same internally, as I understand it, to accommodate the long shank and full insertion in the case.
    I have a bunch of wadcutter brass in my horde, but it is mixed in with everything else. I think I will dig through it and see if there is an accuracy difference. I will cast up some 148 to test it with and compare the accuracy between the 148 WC and the 162 WC that I have loaded up now.

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  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Flamingo View Post
    I have a bunch of wadcutter brass in my horde, but it is mixed in with everything else. I think I will dig through it and see if there is an accuracy difference. I will cast up some 148 to test it with and compare the accuracy between the 148 WC and the 162 WC that I have loaded up now.

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    I have found that loading wadcutters in non-wadcutter brass seems to shorten the case life. I have .38 Special cases that have been reloaded so many times the case heads are blurry that are fine, but some that are much newer that have split during resizing after a few wadcutter loads.
    I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.

  5. #5
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    So you don't have to hunt down wadcutter brass, you can buy the Starline .38 Special cases. They're internally constructed to handle WCs w/o distortion of the bases.
    Regional Government Sales Manager for Aimpoint, Inc. USA
    Co-owner Hardwired Tactical Shooting (HiTS)

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Wayne Dobbs View Post
    So you don't have to hunt down wadcutter brass, you can buy the Starline .38 Special cases. They're internally constructed to handle WCs w/o distortion of the bases.
    Thanks! I have a bunch of Starline brass as well.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wayne Dobbs View Post
    So you don't have to hunt down wadcutter brass, you can buy the Starline .38 Special cases. They're internally constructed to handle WCs w/o distortion of the bases.
    I've actually got a bunch of Federal once-fired WC brass that I bought years ago, so I'm set.

  8. #8
    In theory the button nose should be just as accurate as a DEWC or HBWC. For training with snub nose revolvers at less than 25 yards... any accuracy difference is probably splitting hairs. I have had zero problems using Starline brass for HBWC and DEWC loads so far, but I have kept my other factory ammo wadcutter brass sorted to the side for eventual wadcutter only use.

  9. #9
    If you have a Dillon powder measure, UniqueTek offers long-nose powder funnels for wadcutters with a couple of choices for pilot diameter.
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  10. #10
    Hillbilly Elitist Malamute's Avatar
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    I believe cases with double canelures are wadcutter cases. Theres quite a bit of it floating around, or there used to be. Once i learned what it was i realized quite a bit of my brass was wadcutter brass.
    “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
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