Shooting Your Wad with WADCUTTERS:

"Arguing with idiots is like playing chess with a pigeon .. No matter how good you are, the bird is going to shit on the board and strut around like it won anyway."

There are some folk who believe in 'knock-down power' & 'stopping power' with much the same fervor that they believe in god, heaven and hell. - I too have a strong religious belief. - I believe that when you are dead .. you are dead. When I leave, I'll be a long time gone.

 - Just to clarify matters for any of you who think that the heading is a 'sexual' reference .. a WAD is a disc of felt, card or wax used to separate the powder charge from the load of shot or ball that is often lubricated.

"Full" Wadcutter bullets are blunt-ended cylindrical lead projectiles that are designed to cut a neat clean full-bore hole in paper targets to make the process of scoring in precision pistol competitions easier ..

NOW .. just to introduce the world of geometry into things (were you off school that day?) a SPHERE being the hardest of shapes to deform, may well pass down a gun barrel - through the air - through a flexible mass - and exit, to pass onwards into infinity - fully expecting to remain ball shaped and unchanged by life - as stuff moves aside to permit it's passing .. only to return elastically. - If you smooth the hole left in a paper target by round-nosed hardball with your finger from the rear .. you can put the edges right-back where they started.

The Infamous MANSTOPPER (Webley) Eley made Mk. III .455" Cartridge of 1898 *

These are Hornady .358" cold swaged 'hollow-based' 148 grain HBWC  - knurled & dry-lubed ..

WADCUTTERS

"WADCUTTER" bullets are so named because they cut a clean circular disc or WAD from the   paper  targets .. the first record of this use dates from 1900 ish - but it was soon noticed that this was also a very effective design for self defense in the smaller carry-guns at moderate close contact ranges.

These pills are good because they cut a clean full diameter hole - because the full length of the projectile rides down the barrel-bore engaging efficiently with the rifling spin to enhance ACCURACY - because the hollow-base expands to "obturate" tightly into variable bores, - because the moderate muzzle velocities achieved from handy pistols prevents bore-leading, - And because the lousy un-aerodynamic shape is not an issue at handgun ranges generally below fifty meters.

Low recoiling, - Accurate and Easy to shoot ..

In 1975 An Evaluation of Police Handgun Ammunition by the U S Dept. of Justice measured 38 Caliber wadcutters as being THREE TIMES AS EFFECTIVE as 38 Round Nose 158 grain. bullets in "wounding power".

NOW .. I have read an "expert" claim that these are no good for self defense because they don't expand .. well all you need to do is fire some into ballistic Gel. or Plasticine and recover the slug to see that even at modest low velocity from an obsolete 38 S&W caliber revolver .. SOFT LEAD expands somewhat & may well tumble (yaw) after impact ..

The hollow base in these lead wadcutters L.HBWC is much like that in the MINIE BALL ..

Captain Burton's Conical Minie Balls caused much enhanced wound damage over round balls in the Crimean and U S Civil Wars.

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*Note:  the infamously preferred Man Stopper .455 round from the 'Thompson LaGarde Trials' was named as "Government Mk III Solid Brass" - referring to the solid brass drawn CASE and it is the 288 grain soft 12:1 lead alloy slug that is hollow 'cupped' both coming & going ..

Note 2: .. Just for folk who say that .45"acp bullets are undersized in the Webley revolvers - THE Webley Story states that these barrels are bored & gauged .440" - .441" - .442" with seven groove .004 / .005" deep rifling .. Please don't blame me - I'm only the student.

- There have been folk who load L.HBWC slugs INVERTED or backwards to make a huge 'hollow point' round that expands to twice caliber .. BUT they underpenetrate and stop a little too soon by current FBI standards.

There is a fascinating relationship between velocity/expansion/penetration and the design-material hardness - cavity size-shape.

I reckon the shape of the  Federal Hydroshok Deep  Central Pillar or CONE is a significant clue to retaining penetration while gaining serious expansion ..

- Stick a central cone, small self-tapper screw or steel ball into the hollow of a reversed HBWC and what will you get in 10% Ballistic Gelatin .. ?

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There is one serious failing when shooting full wadcutters that it would be rude not to mention .. If you've fired the revolver empty and now need a reload - wadcutters can be rather slow to align & insert into the chambers as they lack any taper or lead-in. - Oh and I did read one fruit loop write that wadcutter ammo was dangerous because some shooters mistake these live rounds for blanks .. yeah I know - but there's a lot of it around in Long-Horn Cattle country eh.

- Now there actually are semi-auto pistols that can handle shooting wadcutter cartridges .. such as the S&W Model 52 - but generally speaking if you'd like to try shooting wadcutters or other odd loadings .. you will need a strongly built REVOLVER as the typical 'auto' can be sensitive to choice of ammo for function.

Marty K.

P.S. This 'Gun Sam' Guy does a great job testing with Wadcutters ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vJ-36kcEuA

 - Link to THE Webley Story ..

https://www.scribd.com/document/252860192/The-Webley-Story-WC-Dowell-1987

& this is a great read about the .455" Cartridges ..

http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=introduction-to-455-cartridges

M.