Loading for a S&W Model 52

bebloomster · Post by **bebloomster** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:30 pm

Had one back in the late 70's or early 80's... have no idea why I ever let it go. Bought a 1983 vintage last week.... it's currently in mid Kalifornia 10 day Hostage Hold. Back then I was loading a 148gr double ended wadcutter ahead of 2.7gr bullseye. Really a no brainer when it came to flush seating the bullet. My current 148gr wadcutter mold has one of those nose buttons (or whatever it might be called). Makes "flush seating" the bullet a bit more interesting. To have the entire bullet flush with the end of the case requires the bullet to actually be seated below the case mouth.

Looks a bit strange but if that button sticks out front the cartridge won't fit into the magazine.

Does this look about right to those of you that shoot a 52?

hill987 · Post by **hill987** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:48 pm

Hi, the bullet I use comes from Magnus I think the no. is 514 it is a 148 hb wc When it is loaded it looks just like fed. match and is a true flush fit just make sure to put a lite roll at the top for feeding I load with 2.7 bullseye shoots very well good luck

Rover · Post by **Rover** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:26 am

Just seat the WC backwards, then the critical "base" will be more perfect and you may have a boattail, too.

Dogchaser · Post by **Dogchaser** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:27 pm

I never crimp that much. I just barely roll the case mouth.

My buddy uses a 115 grain semi wadcutter seated deep like you have for general plinking.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:24 am

beblommster,
I've loaded H&G 50, button nose wadcutter just like your picture and they
work fine. I've also loaded them button down but prefer button up.
I taper crimp as a seperate operation. .002 to .003"
I got a "calibration pack" from Wolf springs and run a 9# recoil spring now with my WST load. Factory std is 8#. My load runs around 780fps in commercial brass.
JLK

bebloomster · Post by **bebloomster** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 4:03 pm

Thanks.... I've loaded 50 button down and 50 button up, both with 2.7 bullseye. Will be interesting to see if I can actually notice any difference on paper at 25 or 50 yards.

Dogchaser · Post by **Dogchaser** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:09 pm

I use 3.1 of Win.231, it seems more mild than Bullseye and very accurate.

Misny · Post by **Misny** » Sun May 02, 2010 9:56 am

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but the front lense of my UltraDot scope gets very dirty with my load of Bullseye powder. I have been thinking of switching to American Select. I've tried it in .45 ACP and it is real clean burning. Anyone try loading .38 SPL 148 gr. HBWC with American Select?

bebloomster · Post by **bebloomster** » Mon May 03, 2010 9:39 pm

Took it out for the first time this afternoon. Tried various charges of W-231, Win WST and good ol' bullseye. Everything was pretty mediocre except for some 2.8 bullseye loads that I had loaded the bullet backwards... the button nose becoming the base of the bullet. That looked pretty promising at 25 yards. Will have to do it all again but loading backwards bullets for everything next time.

Dogchaser · Post by **Dogchaser** » Tue May 04, 2010 1:33 pm

If you ever shoot 50 yards be sure to test at 50 before making a large bullet purchase.

I had issues at 50 with cast bullets in my 52s and had to use swaged.

The cast would group great at 25 and once in a while one would miss by 3 ft at 50yds.

bebloomster · Post by **bebloomster** » Tue May 04, 2010 5:23 pm

Right now I don't purchase bullets at all... I cast all my own using scrap wheelweight with a pound or two of linotype added to each 20 pound pot. I'm using the Lyman #358091 148gr bevel base button nose wadcutter. If I ever find one of the old Lyman hollow base wadcutter molds I would like to give that a try too. Been looking for that mold for a couple of years now, haven't seen one yet.

PASA008 · Post by **PASA008** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:41 pm

Back when I shot a 52 I used the HBWC by Star. With 2.7 Gr Bullseye it shot in one hole at 25 yards. Everyone I know that shot the double-ended WC's had problems with them tumbling.