Need help with a couple of things.

Using Hi-tech coated DEWC is a great way to start and, at your desired velocity level, just about any small pistol primer should work well. I've found that .358 sized seems to work best for me and hardness greater than Bnl 12 shouldn't be needed.

FWIW, if you can find HP-38 powder instead of W-231, it's usually priced about $1-$1.50 cheaper per pound and the same thing.
 
The double ended wadcutter was designed for the convenience of commercial reloaders who like being able to fill a bullet feeder without having to get the right end up.

Ken Waters liked flatbase wadcutters because his Speers were a thou larger and filled the grooves without having to depend on a hollowbase expanding.
 
Congratulations, and welcome to the world of reloading!

You didn't say what kind of equipment you got, they're all good, some a bit friendlier than others. I hope its not a progressive press. You can start out on a progressive, but the learning curve is steeper, and I think beginners should begin at the beginning.

Since your primer and bullet choices have already been well spoken to, I'll speak to something else.

Powder charge in the case. Specifically, one, each. ;)

Very small powder charges have a risk to them, the risk of putting more than one charge in a case, and not realizing it.

A double charge of even a light wadcutter load can wreck your gun, even Rugers!! Wreck as in blow up, burst cylinder, etc.

THINK about your powder charging process, and perform it carefully and with scrutiny. The usual advice is to place all your charged cases in the loading block, and under a good light, look carefully at the powder levels in all of them, looking for any that are higher or lower than the rest. Anything that is out of line with the rest gets dumped and recharged.

My personal method is to put the primed cases in the block, upside down (which shows they are both primed and empty.

Charge the case with powder, set it in the block right side up, and set (set, NOT seat) a bullet in the case mouth. (usually I set the bullet in upside down)
Repeat until you have finished the batch (or the block is full)

This method helps keep you from picking up a case with powder in it, thinking its empty.

I would caution you about the thought of using wadcutter loads for self defense. Penetration in gel tests is a very useful comparison tool for bullets shot into gel. It is not a good representation of what the load will do shot into other things (like people) that aren't made of gel. (like, for example, bones, among other things)

The flat front of a wadcutter is very effective at transferring energy, but wadcutter loads don't HAVE an excess of energy, so the energy shed by the flat point may actually keep the bullet from reaching a vital spot, even if it doesn't have to go through a bone.

Again, gel tests can be impressive, but can be quite different from real world performance.

Again, welcome to reloading, and ask anything, we all start out at the bottom of the learning curve.
 
I checked it out earlier and the shipping cost alone near out priced the
100 count box.
Click to expand...

Good Grief man, you're talking about 2,000 lead bullets. You think they can ship them on a postage stamp?

Don
 
Buying less than 500 is often not much of a bargain when considering the shipping costs. We're usually caught between the small and medium size boxes. Would be ideal if the USPS had a box half way between the two. Even with 500 bullets there is often 3/4 of the medium box left over filled with some kind of filler material. But the packages do arrive quickly so we're paying for the speed of course.
 
When ordering online, don't buy anything by the 100's, buy by the 1,000's and spread the shipping cost out so as to make the purchase cost efficient.

Don
 
Don,
1000 would fit easily in a medium size box, but due to the excessive weight do most vendors actually ship 1000 in one box or divide them up between two? 4000 would fit in one medium box but I doubt if any vendor would do that.
 
Don,
1000 would fit easily in a medium size box, but due to the excessive weight do most vendors actually ship 1000 in one box or divide them up between two? 4000 would fit in one medium box but I doubt if any vendor would do that.
Click to expand...

In the case of the 2,000 Remington 148gr HBWC's, they ship in the cardboard case in which they come from the Remington factory.

Don
 
I checked it out earlier and the shipping cost alone near out priced the
100 count box.
Click to expand...

This is something a friend and I discovered back in the 80s. Lead is HEAVY!

(pre internet, remember...)

We were paying something like $38 for 1,000 .45acp lead slugs at the local gun shop. Found a mail order deal, $22 for the same 1,000 slugs, so we ordered them. Final cost, $22 for the bullets $20 for the shipping!!!:eek:

(prices approximate, old memory...but the point is that counting the shipping, mail order bullets were actually MORE expensive than buying at the local shop, at least in the quantities we were buying at the time.)
 
I wanted to order the boolits, powder, and primers online, but I found out pretty quickly that the shipping and hazmat fees would be high. So, I need to find that stuff locally. Besides, it gives me a good reason to go visit gun shops (as if I need a good reason :D).
 
So, I ordered the 2,000 bullets which had a per bullet price of $.07. Add the shipping in and the cost per bullet is $.08. Now, tell me where else you can buy the finest HBWC made for $.08 per bullet? I think some of you guys can't see the forest for the trees.

Don
 
Yay! I was able to get what I needed today. Well, I ended up with the DEWC, but that's ok. They said they could get me some Berry plated HBWC, so I may have them order me some. I ended up buying Winchester, CCI, and Remington primers, just to try them all out. I also went ahead and bought a real reloading manual. The one I got is caliber specific, and is nothing more than photocopied load data I could have gotten off the web.

A friend of mine with some experience in reloading is coming over to make sure I don't screw anything up. I am very excited! It's been a year since I started thinking about getting into reloading, and it feels good to finally have enough to get started. I'm looking forward to learning a lot, experimenting with different bullets and loads, and eventually expanding into 45ACP, 45 Colt, 9mm, 380, and 40.
 
A couple "worries" to add.

With that powder a double charge will fit. Not sure of the press but it is hard to see the bottom of the case to confirm/eyeball powder is there. I like enough powder to KNOW the bullet left the barrel. It has been awhile for .38 but 3.2 sounds very squirrel fartish.

Only one type of powder on the bench and a disciplined process will help a lot.

Enjoy, I just got 1,000 plated 9mm in yesterday. I should go move then downstairs....
 
Success! It took longer than I thought it would, but I got the first 50 rounds loaded. Woohoo! It wasn't without a few hiccups though. It turns out that I forget to order the shell holder set for the hand primer, so I had to use the primer that came with the press (Lee Breech Lock hand loader). It worked just fine, but it definitely slowed the process down. It also took longer to charge all 50 than I thought it would. After I got that part done, I realized that I had forgotten to expand the case mouths. So I ended up dumping the powder from each case, one at a time, back into the bowl thingy while expanding them. And, of course, it took time to get each of the dies set right. From start to finish, it took 3 1/2 hours. I had already resized and deprimed the cases earlier this week.

So.......my thoughts are as follows: I enjoyed the process, except for how long it took to charge all the cases. The hand loader worked as advertised, but I can definitely see that a regular press will speed things up quite a bit and simplify the process. Once I got the technique down for the powder scoop, it consistently gave me 2.9grns with the trickler providing the remaining .1 grns. One of them thar fancy automatic digitized powder measure contraptions is on mah wish list! D I will get the remaining 50 rounds loaded this afternoon, and then I have to wait until next Saturday to go to the range.
 
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