- Mar 9, 2011
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So we can sit outside when it's 18 degrees and there's a foot of snow on the ground.
I loaded up 204 rounds of .38 Special wadcutters this morning. They were 148 gr. cast wadcutters made by the Harrison Bullet Co, loaded in mixed brand cases trimmed to 1.149". The primers were CCI #500, the charge was 4.1 gr. of Winchester W231 with an OAL of 1.236". The load was worked up to have an average velocity of about 794 fps. That's because I am shooting them in a 1965 Colt Cobra snubbie with a 2" barrel, and it's one of the first models with the alloy frame. You don't want to shoot +P ammo in it, because it would wear out. This is the same model Jack Ruby used to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald in the gut, in the DPD basement in 1963.
I'm using a single-stage RCBS Rock Chucker II press and an RCBS Powdermaster dispenser and digital scale to work up the loads. Once I get them up to the desired velocity, I just use and old RCBS Uniflow dispenser to throw the charges plus or minus one-tenth of a grain...
The finished product:
The pistol:
It's actually a pretty nice day outside, if you don't mind the cold...
The chronographed results were as follows:
I loaded up 204 rounds of .38 Special wadcutters this morning. They were 148 gr. cast wadcutters made by the Harrison Bullet Co, loaded in mixed brand cases trimmed to 1.149". The primers were CCI #500, the charge was 4.1 gr. of Winchester W231 with an OAL of 1.236". The load was worked up to have an average velocity of about 794 fps. That's because I am shooting them in a 1965 Colt Cobra snubbie with a 2" barrel, and it's one of the first models with the alloy frame. You don't want to shoot +P ammo in it, because it would wear out. This is the same model Jack Ruby used to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald in the gut, in the DPD basement in 1963.
I'm using a single-stage RCBS Rock Chucker II press and an RCBS Powdermaster dispenser and digital scale to work up the loads. Once I get them up to the desired velocity, I just use and old RCBS Uniflow dispenser to throw the charges plus or minus one-tenth of a grain...
The finished product:
The pistol:
It's actually a pretty nice day outside, if you don't mind the cold...
The chronographed results were as follows:
