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ronaldharold

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i bought some full wadcutter bullets. they have a grove at the top and bottom. i presume it is for a roll crimp. i have a speer reloading manual that says you should set the bullet flush with the brass and then do a light roll crimp. what is the proper method, use the crimping groove or set the bullet flush with the top of the brass then roll crimp? thanks for any replies.
 
Any time I have done wadcutters I ran them in flush with a bit of a crimp at the end. Check the manufacture's web page for more information. I have also found that it makes a difference if you are using nickel or brass, the nickel holds the bullet a bit tighter (you can back off on your powder a bit)
 
i would say try some both ways and see how they shoot, i have ones with no groves or lube (wad cutter hollow base) that i seat flush. i also bought a box of the ones your talking about, though i haven't loaded any of them yet.
 
Flush with the mouth, very light crimp. Looks weird, shoots like it was in a vise.
 
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I shot ~500 WC this fall in a new (to me) Model 66, crimping in the groove with a bit of lead sticking out. I will have to try seating them flush with a light crimp and see if that changes anything. They certainly shot far better than my shaky hand can hold, the thing was a laser with 3.2gr of WW231 under those bullets.


Mark
 
just purchased 2 smiths- model 17-4 and a model 66-1 both in very good condition. i hope mine is as accurate as yours i have a bit of 231 left. i bought some bullseye to try. ill make some of each to try this weekend, weather permitting, thanks for replies
 
i love the speer swaged HBWC seated just out and a very light crimp with 2.7 of bullseye or 3.1 of 231 - both shoot way better than me.
fire a couple of thou of these a year always works good
as my cases are all alittle different in length i load just out of the case so they all have same oal and same volume in case under bullet - i use a taper crimp die and just a light snug - no big crimp
 
I beleive the full wadcutter bullets were developed for the S&W model 52 and a Colt model auto that I cannot remeber the model number of. The bullet is seated just a little deeper in the case then flush and then a small amount of roll crimp is applied to the case so that the cartridge will feed in these guns.

It took me a fair bit of time to prefect the method as the normal bullet seater stem will not work properly if you try it. You have to get or make a special seater rod to make it work right. My understanding is that they used to make a special set of dies for sale if you were reloading this type of cartridge.

If you are shooting them out of a revolver you can seat them however you like and they will generlly shoot just fine.

Graydog
 
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