Florida Shooters Network

I've been thinking about taming the S&W J Frame a little by going from 158 gn JHP to 148 gn HBWC. My question is do I seat the bullet flush or just a "CH" higher? Also, should I go with a light or heavy crimp? I'll be using W231 or AA#2 or #5 - or maybe try all 3 & see which works better. Not new to reloading, just never done wadcutters before.

Thanks for any help or advice you can give.

I like to load my wadcutters with about .010" of lead out of the cartridge case. You only need a slight roll crimp to secure the bullet. These perform very well with about 2.8 grains of Alliant Bullseye. You can also use about 3.0 grains of W231/HP38 as well. The recoil will be minimal with these loads, you don't want to drive a HBWC too hard as it will blow apart. If using a double ended wadcutter you may have to reduce the charge or load the cartridge to longer overall length. I prefer either the Hornady or Speer HBWC for my shooting. Good luck!

Going by my memory here but my father and I used to trim all brass to 1.157" and load the bullet flush. A light roll crip was applied to hold it all together. This was for use with S&W 52 pistol. Hornady was the bullet of choice as they had very consistent weight. Favorite charge was 2.6 gr. of Bullseye or 2.8 gr. of Win 231 which ran about 675 fps from the 52.
You should get a special seating plug if you want serious accuracy which is flat as other SWC or RN seating plug can/will deform the bullet.

Other than for target/accuracy loads in model 52, I like hardcast button nose wadcutter better as they can be loaded mild for target loads or faster for self-defense loads. For many years I carried a 2 inch "J" frame revolver with button nose wadcutter loaded to about 780 fps.

I got a boat load of .38 AMU wad cutters. All seated slightly above a roll crimp

Thanks for the replies & good info. Since I don't have Bullseye I'll probably go with W231 as that seems to be just as popular. Bought the HBWCs from Everglades & they're doublestruck plated so shouldn't foul the bbl much if I don't over drive 'em. 700 - 780 fps seems about right.

In my searching online I found out something I never knew about .38/.357 brass. Apparently, WC brass is different than standard brass. Standard brass has a thin wall at the mouth for easier bullet seating when using non-wadcutters. Wadcutter brass extends the thin wall down to about 1/3 to 1/2 of the case to accept the longer bullet. Loading DEWCs in a standard case can put a bulge in the brass where the bottom of the bullet seats & can be a problem if your cylinder is a tight fit. Sometimes they will seat just fine but not all the way flush. HBWCs can get swaged by the case wall taper & cause the skirt to break apart when firing.

I read where R-P and W-W brass will have 2 cannelures in the middle of the case & are specific to HBWC. Measured some of these & found it to be true. Using these for FMJ or JHP will need a lot more crimp to keep it in place. Starline brass is supposed to be all thin walled but I don't have any here to measure yet.

Thanks again for your help!