Shopping for DEWC for my 38 special and I'm finding .357 and .358 options. At Grafs, the .357 are advertised as "for Match Barrel! Are you sure you want a .357 bullet?". I'll be shooting these from an old Taurus 82. Definitely not a Match Barreled gun. The "regular" .358 diameter DEWC are "out of stock" at Grafs (in stock elsewhere). Would I be risking damage or poor accuracy by using the .357 diameter bullets?
Full Disclosure: I've been offered a couple of hundred DEWC by an individual to try out. Not sure what diameter they are though, and I'm looking to buy more as I have several hundred, maybe 1K empty cases (haven't counted them).
Shooting .357 diameter bullets in your gun certainly won't damage it (assuming safe load levels) and you probably won't be able to tell any difference in accuracy between the two different sizes...I know I've not been able to tell the difference in any of my S&W's given the same powder charge. If anything, the smaller bullets might produce slightly less pressure than the larger ones since they won't have to swage down to bore diameter, but I would not expect to notice the difference.
Speaking of coated vs lubbed - Do coated bullets require lube? Never used any. Have only ever bought prelubed bullets for the little bit of reloading I've done.
I have the Taurus 80, same as the 82 just the action is a bit different.
Most of my molds are .358. one is .357, all sized through a .357 sizer. I've sized .356 through the .357 sizer. I can feel a drag on some of the bullets, not all. They are hot lubed with Alox. The .357 and .358 bullets use the same crimp setting of the die. The .356 bullets need about 1/4 turn to tighten the crimp.
These are light loads for the range. Target is 5, 10 and 15 yards. I feel very little difference between them. I've shot a lot through this gun and never seen leading.
"slug the barrel"? At 5 yards 98% hit a 3" target, 2% are within 1 inch. At 10 yards 95% are on target, 5% are within 2 inch. At 15 yards I'm at 80% with extras 6 inches from center. I don't plan to shot long range with my light reloads. My guns are loaded with factory jacketed hollow points. Head of bed to doorway is about 9 ft. Doorway to center of kitchen is about 9 ft. Center of kitchen to 3 outside doors is about 9 ft. If I meet a target without making head contact I think I'm good.
This isn’t a self defense load I’m building. I’ll be shooting these rounds in a bullseye style match. Target is Army “L” at 25 yards. My Taurus 82 with some of Doug Bowser’s hand loaded wadcutters shot a 850/900. I’m trying to load my own wadcutters so I don’t have to buy/bum from Doug.
I have loaded 38/357 for years, besides 22 lr it’s my favorite plinking round, of all the coated bullets I have tried I like the SNS Casting Red bullets best, good slick hard finish and does not flake off when seating the bullet, the 148 grain dewc and the 158 grain sbwc are both .358, I shoot these in all my 38/357 revolvers and the 158 gr sbwc in my Henry 357 rifle, I also load 357 magnum rounds using Hornady XTP 158 JHP which are .357 dia in the same guns without a grouping problem.
As others have suggested, there is no substitute for slugging your barrel. Having said this, it should be observed that most people - including myself - are too lazy to slug all of their barrels. I slug some - but not all. It depends on the application.
Now, as to bullet size, you should understand that the vast majority of .357 cast bullet molds sold are nominally .358 and IMHO - for most applications - it hardly matters. If you're unsure, probably the best thing to do is order .358 bullets or molds and a .357 sizer die for your press. That way you can try both economically. Most sizing dies are pretty cheap.
The next thing to do, if you don't want to slug, is build otherwise identical cartridges using the .357 sized bullets and the .358 bullets and see how they perform on paper. If you are being absolutely anal (which I can be about some things), then you're going to want to work up loads for both bullets in 1/10th of a grain increments with whatever propellant you are using. Ultimately, you can drive yourself crazy trying to adjust for all the variables. I have done that in the past with little return for my time investment.
These days I just work up a load that shoots well and call it a day.
The only way to know is to try both and see what results you come up with.
J.B.
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