T Corder
WB is right, heavier bullets pull worse
Thursday, November 28, 2019, 10:21

in the 38 WCF,

Generally speaking, bullets of 200 grains and under stay put better depending on level of load.
200 and up will jump "crimp" worse due to their weight combined with exuberant loads.

If you have the XR3 RED frame, standard plow handle, the gun will roll faster. Gun acceleration with the bullet weight equals an kinetic bullet puller.
In my opinion the Bisley grip rolls less and thus pulls bullets less, letting you run higher level loads combined with heavier bullets before they jump crimp.

What also helps is the shooters hand tension/size or build. I'm about 6'4 and 270, work as a miner and have larger than normal hands. This helps me wrap around a Bisley completely. Thus, I can mitigate the recoil of many large caliber rounds and makes the 38 WCF work well with heavier bullets and top loads for me, where the same loads don't with others. This is due to shooting style, grip, hand size, etc.

We handgunners are curious brood. Loving the platform but at times inadvertently conflicting on what works. The simple fact is our platform only has one handle, and what we wrap around it is as individualistic as we are.
Find what combination works for you, which may be a bullet/load combination that won't work for others.

I find with the 38 WCF the Horandy dies work ok. Their bullet seating dies with the guided seater helps keep the bullet straight with the neck of the WCF. One only needs to substitute the flat nose plug from the 10 mm for the standard conical seater with the original dies when using flat nosed cast bullets.
The Redding Profile crimp dies work well for good tight crimps, as they start with a taper crimp and finish with a roll crimp, and with JT's recommendation, the Lee Universal expander is also good, giving you all the neck tension (what little it is) for the 38 WCF. If you have a standard expander that you can remove, you can polish it down to the desired neck tension you need of so inclined.

Hope this helps the 38WCF shooters out there. It is a great cartridge, but when run to modern loads in modern guns, requires a bit more tedious loading to insure reliable function in revolvers. Of course that depends on load level, platform and shooter.

All the best,
Happy Thanksgiving

T.