brewer12345
Member
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2015
- Messages
- 2,753
For some reason I have a box of Berry's 148 grain DEWCs and I would like to try them in 38 special cases. The trouble is load data for plated bullets is thin and when I went a-Googling I found lots of issued people ran into (stuck bullets, etc.) when they loaded these things using lead wadcutter data. When I look at what published data I could find, I see that lead HBWC start at 3.1 g of HP38 and top out at like 3.7. In contrast, I saw a load for 146 grain jacketed bullets that start at 4 grains of HP38. I do not want to get a bullet stuck in the barrel, so I am reluctant to go too light on a powder charge. OTOH, the idea of an overpressure load isn't thrilling either, although these would be shot in a 357 mag revolver so the charge would have to be way overdone to really have a dangerous pressure situation (shearing off some of the plating or destroying accuracy potential is plenty likely, though).
Does anyone load these bullets? Got a favorite load? More generally, what do you do with plated bullets? Berry's and Hodgdon seem to suggest using lead data, while many reloaders seem to think that somewhere between lead and jacketed loads are a better idea. Berry's says that up to 1250 FPS is fair game, assuming one can do so without getting an overpressure load. I was thinking about starting out with 3.7 or 3.8 grains of HP38 and seeing how they shoot, but if anyone cares to comment on their experience with these bullets and/or plated loading in general I am all ears.
Does anyone load these bullets? Got a favorite load? More generally, what do you do with plated bullets? Berry's and Hodgdon seem to suggest using lead data, while many reloaders seem to think that somewhere between lead and jacketed loads are a better idea. Berry's says that up to 1250 FPS is fair game, assuming one can do so without getting an overpressure load. I was thinking about starting out with 3.7 or 3.8 grains of HP38 and seeing how they shoot, but if anyone cares to comment on their experience with these bullets and/or plated loading in general I am all ears.