Postby mtngun » Sun Mar 01, 2009 7:16 pm
Your question is not dumb.
Most of us would like to shoot lighter cast bullets. It would save lead and reduce recoil. Realistically, 99% of our shooting is plinking, and we don't need an elephant load for plinking.
I think I have tried light cast bullets in all of my guns at one time or another. I can recall only one success story -- a 120 grain Lyman spitzer in the 308 winchester. And only with one particular powder and charge. It was a finicky bullet.
I spent a lot of time trying to get Veral's 230 grain ogival wadcutter to shoot in a S&W 44 -- I was on the same mission as you, looking for less recoil yet still punch a big hole in something -- but the short, blunt bullet would wobble and shoot patterns with any powder or velocity and at any range.
Your proposed 250 grain 75% meplat is not that short or that blunt, so you might get away with it. Still, I think it would be easier to get decent accuracy with a smaller meplat, similar to the Bass Ackwards 225 grainer.
The question about the 38 wadcutters is a fair one. I've never shot a 38 wadcutter, so I can't say much about them. I've heard they destabilize past 50 yards, though.
I think most 38 special revolvers have a pretty fast twist, 1-14" or something like that. That might help stabilize the short, blunt bullets.
There are two problems with light bullets. One, they don't have much bearing length, and cast bullets need bearing length. Two, the blunt, short bullets have the aerodynamics of a flying ashtray. They want to tumble. They rarely actually tumble, but the holes in the paper will be oval instead of round, suggesting they are not stabilizing well.
I'm not your boss, and I'm not going to tell you what to do, but you asked for advice, Sorry it wasn't what you wanted to hear.
I've never actually tried this......, but if I were to resume my quest for a light but accurate revolver bullet, I'd start with the Keith platform, except with a very short nose and modest meplat. The Keith shoulder might provide some killing power despite the small meplat. The bullet has decent bearing length. This is just armchair theory, so don't take it to the bank.
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- 250 short nose keith, 60% meplat, 0.250" crimp-to-nose
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