Semi Wad Cutters...SWC

Friday

go outside and play
Charter Member
Supporting Member
Multi-Factor Enabled
Joined
Dec 19, 2016
Messages
5,402
Location
Worlds Edge WNC
Rating - 100%
15   0   0
Anybody ever shoot this stuff or is it old school?
I ran some through a snubbie 41 magnum not long ago and buddy they were HOT...some kind of bear load.
I loved it lol.
 
Shoot them out of my 45 ACP all the time. Also loaded them for my revolvers ( 45LC and 357mag). They work well on kritters :)
 
They make nice,neat easy to score holes, in idpa targets, loaded those for years for my.45, still keep some around for target shooting
 
Love 'em in 45Colt and ACP also 38SPL. Haven't tried them in 9mm yet, have some sitting there. I love nice round holes. Good accuracy too.

The old man runs them hot in everything, 44Mag, 41Mag, 45C, 357Mag, probably more. His actual bear loads in AK mostly involve SWCs of one sort or another.
 
SWC's are the hammer of Thor compared to a FMJ. A SWC will actually cut a hole whereas the round nose of a FMJ only splits the tissue (or paper). Much more kinetic energy is transferred and in most cases improved accuracy..
I use them from 38 spec all the way to 44 Mag....
 
What all of the others have said.

I load .41 "mouse fart" loads with 215gr LSWC at ~1000fps with Unique & hunting loads with the same bullet at 1350fps with 2400. Both my my 5.5" .41 Bisley Blackhawk & 7.5" .41 Bisley Superblackhawk Hunter absolutely love 240gr LSWC at ~1100fps with Unique & I'm about to start working on a 1300+ fps load for the Hunter with 2400. Should be good for right at 1000 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle.
 
I bought 1k to run through my 9mm Glock just because. They worked great and really confused the scorekeepers.
 
Semi Wad Cutters? Yes Sir I load them, shoot them, carry them for .38/.357, .44 spcl, .44 mag, and .45 Colt.

Also have a few vintage factory loaded ones.

410331302.jpg
 
Like folks say, they make nice holes, when I shoot them in my 1911 for Single Stack, the RO loves that he can score from the firing line, the holes are so big and easy to see. They can be a pain in autos, as they sometimes don't feed well and the shoulder can engage the throat/rifling if they are seated too long (just had that when I switched suppliers for my bullets and started to have problems).

In my .357, they are my preferred bullet, in the .45 auto, I'm switching to RN for USPSA, but for target, they are great.

And yeah they are old school since they are typically a revolver handload these days..
 
Last edited:
They make nice,neat easy to score holes, in idpa targets, loaded those for years for my.45, still keep some around for target shooting

This. A friend is getting his wife into shooting her .38 more and I suggested he shoot some SWCs through it so she could easily see hits on the target
 
I cast, lube, and shoot my own. My favorite is the Lyman 358477 which is a Keith type 150gr SWC. The best .38/357 bullet I have ever shot without a gas check.
 
Lead SWC's are my go-to for 38 special and light 44mag loads. I've shot thousands of them. Usually 158gr in 38 or 240 in 44.

Sometimes I'll shoot the round nose SWC's too. They seem to shoot just as well.

I have learned that some lever actions are picky about overall cartridge length. If you're loading 38 special SWC's to shoot out of a Rossi lever gun, make sure you get the OAL to spec or it may missfeed.
 
I shoot them in .45, .40, and I cast them when I have time and lead from a Lee 6 cavity 158 grain TL SWC mold. They seem to drop around 160 grains at .358 and right around 158 when I size them down for 9mm.
 
SWC old school? Darn skippy kiddo and they just work. Old School landed on the Moon. What's happened lately?
 
The deal used to be to load them backwards if it was a hollow base wadcutter. I may be wrong, but, I believe the original Federal Hydrashock was a 146 grain in a wadcutter. I remember reloading them back in 1970's. If I looked around I might could find some. I mainly used them in snubnose revolvers using Bullseye.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
The deal used to be to load them backwards if it was a hollow base wadcutter. I may be wrong, but, I believe the original Federal Hydrashock was a 146 grain in a wadcutter. I remember reloading them back in 1970's. If I looked around I might could find some. I mainly used them in snubnose revolvers using Bullseye. Of course this was a wadcutter and not a SWC.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk



Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top Bottom