Load starting points for some oddball plated bullets

Hello fellow THR'rs... I recently started reloading and in my local travels taking stock of reloading equipment I grabbed some boxes of cheap plated bullets from a shop. I didn't think to ask the owner (a handloader himself) what he uses behind these. Of course fast-forward to a Sunday morning, and he's closed. I was hoping to load up a few hundred today and wondered if anyone thought they might have a safe starting point.

The two things I recall from my discussion with the owner was "you can load them facing either direction" and "don't run them over 1000fps."

I have Unique, Bullseye, and 2400. I can load either 38spl or 357, although I think I'd stick with 38spl for these plated bullets. The flat one is 148gr, the rounded one is 150gr.

TIA for any suggestions. I checked Alliant's site and their reloading database is offline at the moment. My Hornady manual has 140gr and 158gr lead data only.

Thanks for the suggestions, fellas. I believe I'll try the starting load for the 158gr SWC in my Hornady, which is 2.8gr of Bullseye. I'll use a very light crimp. I'll let you guys know how it goes

Canuck-IL: these are not tapered at the non-grooved end. .357 there. It's an odd shape.

MKL: I have no idea which end is supposed to point out; it looks to me like the flat point or round nose should point out. The owner of the shop loads the flat point ones with the grooved section outward, and the round nose ones with the round nose outward. He loads the round noses in 357. I think I'll stick with 38spl for now.

MMCSRET: I do believe you are EXACTLY CORRECT about the provenance of these bullets. They are made by "USAC" and the plastic cases are mentioned on the packaging. The owner of the shop has been loading and selling these in his reloads for years; he must have bought up all the leftover stock from the 80s!

BTW: the Hornady manual has some data for a 148gr wadcutters; set in the case farther than SWC (1.180" COL) the starting load of Bullseye is 2.1, max is 3.0. I could use this data, I assume, if I set the flatpoint nearly flush with the case lip?

I forgot I had some of the rounds the owner makes up stashed away... He used to sell 38spl with a real light powder load for target shooters that my wife liked a lot in her Mod 36. I haven't pulled a bullet to inspect, but he does crimp them a bit with a standard crimp. As I recall (they were buried and it's been awhile since we've shot them!!) they used to keyhole out of her Mod 36 on occasion. I used to think the very light load, coupled with the short barrel, might be the culprit.

Now that I'm reloading, though, I'm wondering if it was the crimp.

Anyone think that setting these nearly flush with the case mouth (a la DEWC), running a starting load of Bullseye (as published in my Hornady, for 148gr DEWC), and just removing the bell (no crimp) would be the ticket?

You are correct, RCModel; they are USAC bullets. Do you think my plan of action as stated just above is a good one?

USAC is the name of the company

I'll load up some, shoot Friday, and report back if anyone's interested.

Well, for those interested... I loaded the non-rounded ones per Hornady's 148gr DEWC data. Set nearly flush with the case neck, 2.4gr of Bullseye (one load higher than starting load), CCI small pistol primers.

In my S&W Mod 27 these shot like 22's! Seriously, seriously weak. I had just shot a box full of 158gr magnums I loaded up, and I thought the first shot was a squib load. Unloaded the gun, cleared, checked, nope. It shot all right.

Anyway, once I settled into the super light load, it was actually pretty accurate at the 7-10 yards I was shooting today. I thought I was getting a bit of keyholing, but after sticking some shoot-n-c on my target to refresh it and test a group, it became clear I wasn't getting keyholing at all, but the WC's were failing to punch all the way through cleanly on occasion, a little trailer of target would rip out with the punched hole. LOL. Not much velocity on those little buggers.

Well, my wife would absolutely love these loads in her snub. I'll have her try some. Me, I want a clean hole in my paper, so I'd like a little more velocity. I only removed the bell I added for seating, I didn't crimp. I may try a light taper crimp next time. That should add a little velocity.

Until next time...

I should update this thread, if anyone's interested. For the second go-around, I loaded these with 2.6 and 2.8gr Bullseye, with a taper crimp on the brass (with a 38/9mm Hornady taper crimp die). The 2.8's in particular shot very well! At 25 feet they just made one big hole in the paper, at 75 I was able to keep them all on the shoot-n-c so that's pretty good for my skill level. Clean holes in the paper/target. Recoil was still just about nil, but it didn't give the feeling you had a squib every time like 2.4gr.

I liked them a lot. I loaded up another 50 this weekend, 2.8gr Bullseye again, this time with a light roll crimp.

A poster above asked if they were slightly tapered on the flat end... They are! I must not have measured all the way to the top, because they do indeed have a slight taper there. Very slight.

I should try these off a rest sometime at 75 feet, see how accurate they really are. I am planning on buying more (they are very cheap, $35/1000). I need to test the rounded nose one, as well, and see if those are any good. I bought 500 of each.