RCBS 38-148-WCDE

[waco]

A bit on the slow side for revolver fodder but it does drop a nice bullet. It's a rainy Sunday afternoon here so a few hours casting gave a few hundred wadcutters.

These fall from the mold at .3585" and weigh around 152-153gr with .22LR alloy that has a BHN of about 9-10
You really learn to appreciate 4-6 cavity molds when looking to cast several hundred bullets.

These will be shot mainly in my S&W 14-2 K-38 target revolver. Nothing fancy. It will be the standard 2.7gr of Bullseye.

I will tumble powder coat these with smoke's Jet Black and size to .358"

I absolutely love shooting mild .38's in this revolver. It was made in 1968 IIRC.
It is more accurate than I am. I'm sure a lot of you guys have some cool .38 revolvers. I'd like to see them.

Please feel free to post some pics of your pet .38's

Walter.

 

[Ben]

I love to shoot wadcutters out of this revolver.
Colt Officer's Model Match
38 Spec.

 

[Brad]

Dang Waco, those are some old primers.

 

[waco]

Very nice shootin Iron Ben!
Brad. Yes they are. Not sure where I came across those. They just sit on my computer desk.

 

[RicinYakima]

Waco, here is one I have carried since LE academy in 1970. Broke the firing pin off about 10 years ago and maybe 30,000 rounds.

 

[Ben]

WOW Ric,

I bet that one has a few stories it could tell.................

Ben

 

[358156 hp]

Wadcutters certainly are under-appreciated these days. I tend to push my wadcutters a bit faster, around normal 38 Spl velocities or higher, depending on what I want them to do. One quick tip, that you may already know about. Load them in your cases with the sprue end facing forward. The machined face from the bottom of the cavity can give you a perfect base for the steering end of the bullet, and give you greater & more consistent accuracy.

Your RCBS mould should drop them about as fast as you can pour them, I've never had an RCBS wadcutter mould that didn't perform perfectly. I'm a DE wadcutter kind of guy myself too.

 

[waco]

Waco, here is one I have carried since LE academy in 1970. Broke the firing pin off about 10 years ago and maybe 30,000 rounds.

That's a pretty cool looking old pony there!

 

[waco]

Bob. I do that as well (loading them upside down) always a perfect base.

 

[RicinYakima]

WOW Ric,

I bet that one has a few stories it could tell.................

Ben

Well, I still have the letter J. Edger Hoover wrote me. I don't think about those days very much anymore. When I got out of the Army, nobody would hire me except law enforcement agencies. My old "friends" didn't want anything to do with me, and nobody would hire combat vets in those days. Much better now, at least I hope so. Ric

 

[Brother_Love]

I use this Colt Official Police ( little brother to Ben' match version. A SWC that duplicates factory 158 gr RN will shoot the center out of a target in a minute or two. I wonder why newer fixed sight revolvers can't shoot that well? Actually, I believe these old were hand fitted and the action on this one is smooth as glass. Made in 1959.

When I started in LE in 1972 some of the older guys were still carrying these. I got a S&W model 10 and it was a nice revolver too.

 

[fiver]

Ben I'm curious.
have you ever slugged that barrel? or just measured it in any way?

I use the Lyman 358091 at about 145grs.
my last go round with it was with Powder coat, but no way to size it back down again so I squoze the front drive band down with a taper crimp die to get them to chamber.
on top of 6 grs of bulls-eye [357 cases] they are right accurate.
I don't know why I push the little wad cutters so hard.
I know it ain't necessary, but they seem to respond to the higher speeds pretty positively for me.

 

[Ben]

Lamar,

I have not slugged my cylinder throats or barrel in the Colt Officer's Model Match.
I've always read that Colt's barrels can run tight, .355" , even .354".
I always size my bullets .357".
The revolver is amazingly accurate.

Ben

 

[fiver]

that is the same as I have heard.
I understand S&W put out some target revolvers in the 355 area also.