Target wadcutter load in a Ruger 77/357

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Sevens

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I'm curious about what might be the expected outcome of this combination. Yes I have both to try it myself but I haven't, so I'm curious if anyone has... or perhaps nearly as interesting is to simply discuss the pertinent angles of what might happen.

The load is a 148 grain swaged lead HBWC pushed with 2.7 grains of Bullseye, the very classic Bullseye target load that certainly predates me. I run this load in my S&W Model 52 pistols (runs around 730 fps) and countless competitors have run this load through classic K-38 Masterpiece revolvers, Colt target revolvers, numerous heavy barrel custom PPC guns and far too many others to begin a list.

But it is fair to say that this well-established classic load has spent most of it's life being launched from 5" to 8-3/8" barreled handguns... mostly from 6" revolvers.

So when you send this extremely sedate load down an 18.5" rifle barrel, what might you expect? Certainly there must be a point where friction takes it's toll?

Would this slug make the 730 fps mark at the muzzle of the rifle, or faster? Or will friction be the larger force, slowing it down?
 
I can not answer your question directly.

However, I have shot lots of that exact load out of a Marlin lever action rifle. They feed through the action, they exit the barrel, and at the short ranges I have shot them, they are accurate. I have no idea what the muzzle velocity of them is.

Like you, I have shot that load for decades out of revolvers. I have several ammo cans full of them which will be empty by next spring.

The reason I shoot them out of the carbine is that my carbine is threaded and I put a 9mm suppressor on it and that 2.7 Bullseye/wadcutter combination is nearly silent. It literally sounds like you dry fired the gun.
 
Hey, that is definitely helpful information. I can imagine that it is absolutely quiet.

It does seem awfully hard to believe that you can feed a flush-loaded full wadcutter through the magazine and action of a lever action rifle I must say. I would never have guessed that!
 
As cool as the whole thing is, I don't do it very often. I don't really want to shoot cast bullets through my suppressor.

I THINK, I bought some wadcutters that are plated. I move from project to project and never seem to finish any of them. Last spring, I got interested in lever action rifles and took all mine out and shot them. Then something else shiny caught my eye and I haven't touched one of them since then. I guess I will have to see if I did buy some plated wadcutters. If I didn't I will have to see if such a thing is even made. I think I did, but who knows ?

But, I have been occasionally shooting those Bullseye/wadcutters out of this rifle for years. But, it is only a few; mostly to demonstrate why I threaded a lever action rifle. Once they see/hear it, nobody wonders any more :) I probably haven't shot 50 of them total. FWIW: back in the day, it wasn't all that uncommon for somebody to have a threaded lever action. I have been to gun shows that specialized in collectable firearms and I have seen them. I have also seen old advertisements for suppressors that showed them on lever action rifles. Don't get me wrong, I am sure there were not that many of them in the grand scheme of things, but the fact that I have probably seen a half dozen of them in person tells me they were not unheard of.
 
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They most definitely do make plated full wadcutters, Xtreme makes them.

If I were you and wanted to attempt this, I would do a backward "work-up", I would start with a heavier load and work carefully to reduce it. Plated bullets are nasty when lodged in a barrel and the bearing surface with these is no joke.
 
That is something to think about.
I didn't actually work up this load. Like I said, I had been shooting this load for many years and just like you, I said: "I wonder how these would work in this carbine ?". :)

I would imagine the plated bullets might take a little more powder. I am not really a hunter, but these loads might be viable as a small game hunting load. Low velocity, very minimal range.............. But, I would think that the flat face striking a small animal like a squirrel or a rabbit would be quite effective; starting out bigger than an expanded .22LR hollow point.
 
Sevens said:
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So when you send this extremely sedate load down an 18.5" rifle barrel, what might you expect?

Would this slug make the 730 fps mark at the muzzle of the rifle, or faster? Or will friction be the larger force, slowing it down?
Click to expand...

About all a person can do is try 'em. In my carbines running jacketed, I try and stick with loads that develop over 800 fps in my revolvers, to prevent a stuck bullet in my carbines. Soft swagged lead should be a tad more forgiving. I have a 77/44 that I bought back when Ruger first came out with their new stainless/composite. The instructions that came with it at that time, recommended against the use of light lead loads because of inaccuracy. I see with the new instructions that now include their 77/357s, it does not have that nomenclature. Don't know what changed other than the instruction book. Love the 77/44, considered getting a 77/357, but Ruger has really jacked the price up on their little handgun caliber carbines since I got mine. Best investment I made in mine for improved accuracy was a trigger job.
 
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