Who likes wadcutters?

I can't be alone loving wadcutters. Who else is a fan? For target shooting, you just have to love the clean holes they punch. Today, a lot of shooters have never seen then; they've never seen a bullet fully contained in the brass casing.

To me, the classic wadcutter is the 148 grain hollow-base for 38 special. Just a dab of powder is required, like 2.6 grains of Winchester Super Target (WST). That's good for about 700fps, the sweet spot of that cartridge.

To launch them, you could do worse than an old Smith&Wesson Model 14... Mine is a dash-2.



Don't you just love these holes?

Who likes wadcutters?

I do, I do.

When you are close to the X ring...or 10 ring...that clean hole will cut the line that a round nosed would have missed. Kinda like the one at the lower left of your target in the first photo that just nicked the 10 ring.

And seat a soft cast hollow based wadcutter backward and you have a...well, you know.

Nice Smith...can I have it?

The classic target round. But there is also a use as a non +P defensive round. I attended a "snubby conference" several years ago in which the use of a somewhat enhanced wad cutter round was being promoted. This particular wadcutter was was either jacketed or copper plated, was seated about an 1/8 in. above the case mouth and loaded to a higher pressure than the standard target load, but well below +P pressures, so it was safe to use in non +P rated snubbies. The idea was to enhance the wounding potential with the full meplat and sharp shoulders, non expanding, deep penetrating, etc. Don't recall who made the round. It had more recoil than a target load, about like a standard pressure .38 Spl, which it was.

simon1 said:

When you are close to the X ring...or 10 ring...that clean hole will cut the line that a round nosed would have missed. Kinda like the one at the lower left of your target in the first photo that just nicked the 10 ring.

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In the bullseye competitions that I do, people can use round-nose and still get the same points. If a shot appears close to the line, we will use an overlay to score it. Even if the round-nosed bullet didn't tear the line, the overlay centered over the hole will show it cutting the line and the higher points will be awarded.

nortac said:

there is also a use as a non +P defensive round.

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For target loads, we tend to use very fast powder that generate a lot of pressure and little velocity. The idea being that the high pressure will help expand the skirt against the rifling, while the low velocity (700fps) keeps recoil low. If defensive use is the goal, one could use a slower powders such as 231 and achieve 950 fps with normal pressure; that would punch a pretty nasty hole through a bad guy or girl.

I bought some old new stock reloaded 38 from online a couple of years ago. Meant to be police practice ammo, I think. Or someone said it was "urban rounds" I think they called it. Love it in my GP 100.

Way back when I used to do a lot of reloading for my .45 ACP, It was semi-wad cutters, in order to punch a nice clean hole in paper targets.

OP- Do you cast your own?

For target loads, we tend to use very fast powder that generate a lot of pressure and little velocity. The idea being that the high pressure will help expand the skirt against the rifling, while the low velocity (700fps) keeps recoil low. If defensive use is the goal, one could use a slower powders such as 231 and achieve 950 fps with normal pressure; that would punch a pretty nasty hole through a bad guy or girl.

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Some of the wadcutters are hollow base, ie, having a "skirt" that expands to grip the rifling better. Some are double ended and can be loaded without regard to which end goes into the case. I have tried both and cannot really see any difference in accuracy, and the double ended are certainly easier to load, can almost do them blindfolded.

I pulled a few flyers out of 50 rounds, apparently due to unequal grip pressure, but I do like the nice round holes they leave. These were semi-wadcutters though. I only have about a dozen full wadcutters left...need to fix that.

Dang, I need to get out and start practicing again.

Loading them upside-down for a giant hollow point was an old trick.

Need to get that 148-grain mold. Any recommendations?


AA

LEE makes them. And they been around a long time as a defensive round.

Std pressure 148 grain target wadcutters are my go to load for an airweight j frame. Accurate and controllable relative to many "defensive" oriented hollowpoint loadings that do not expand reliably when being pushed out of a 2 inch barrel and/or generate excessive recoil, blast etc.

YMMV

Wishoot said:

OP- Do you cast your own?

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I reload but I don't cast. I prefer swaged HBWC. I understand it's doable to cast hollow-bases, but it's not common or easy. DEWC are much more common to cast.

jkingrph said:

Some of the wadcutters are hollow base, ie, having a "skirt" that expands to grip the rifling better. Some are double ended and can be loaded without regard to which end goes into the case. I have tried both and cannot really see any difference in accuracy

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While I'd agree that both kinds (HBWC and DEWC) of wadcutters are capable of good accuracy, the general consensus from experts that know much more than me seems to be that DEWC require a heavier charge of powder to be as accurate. For those competing in PPC or Bullseye, recoil is the enemy of good scores so HBWC are preferred. Geometry plays a part, and so does alloy; swaged bullets tend to be BHN 7-8 whereas cast bullets tend to be 12-25 depending on the source. Using a really fast powder such as WST can mitigate this somewhat as you can achieve the pressure required to properly deform the DEWC and still keep the velocity and recoil low.

dojpros said:

Std pressure 148 grain target wadcutters are my go to load for an airweight j frame. Accurate and controllable relative to many "defensive" oriented hollowpoint loadings that do not expand reliably when being pushed out of a 2 inch barrel and/or generate excessive recoil, blast etc.

YMMV

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A hit with a low power round beats a loud miss any day. When someone tells me my SD rounds are inadequate I ask them to let me shoot them with it, no one has taken me up yet.

I favor wadcutters for both target and home defense. I worry about penetration through walls. That is why I normally use wadcutters in my .45 ACP and .44 revolvers I keep for home defense. I just don't use other calibers, e. g., .357 mag, 357 SIG, .38, 9mm, for home defense. I save those for self-defense in other venues.

They are a nice round for any J frame sized pistol.

Curious Adventurer said:

I favor wadcutters for both target and home defense. I worry about penetration through walls. That is why I normally use wadcutters in my .45 ACP and .44 revolvers I keep for home defense. I just don't use other calibers, e. g., .357 mag, 357 SIG, .38, 9mm, for home defense. I save those for self-defense in other venues.

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I would think a 38 wadcutter would penetrate most interior drywalls if it did not strike a stud, most exterior probably not. With some of the crazies out there I want a bit more power. It's just my wife and myself at home anymore so penetration through walls is not of much concern. No handgun I own and most rifles would not penetrate one layer of drywall, exterior sheathing and brick veneer.

I use swc in my competion guns for IDPA. They give clean goles in the target possibly helping with a close call

Love wadcutters! I can't count the 10's of thousands of 148 WC's I've fired over the past 40 years. Became LEO in 1977 and was issued an S&W model 15, 4". Shot an average of 500 rds per month. Gosh, that was fun!

I cast my own using an old Cramer 2-cavity mould that is actually about 141 grains as cast. My load of choice for the entire 40 years is 2.7 gr of Bullseye.

Here is a sample of my stash that needs to be "processed".