The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

bradaz11 wrote:to hold the powder back.... and risk his fingers and barrel

either that or he is using black powder?

how can you see what is in front of the powder anyway? or is he loading his ammo at the range then shooting?

He is shooting a 38/357 under lever rifle. ? The hint is in the thread title.

i don't get what you mean?

what does what he is shooting matter?

Alpha1 wrote:

bradaz11 wrote:to hold the powder back.... and risk his fingers and barrel

either that or he is using black powder?

how can you see what is in front of the powder anyway? or is he loading his ammo at the range then shooting?

He is shooting a 38/357 under lever rifle. ? The hint is in the thread title.

A under lever does not have a barrel so no risk to fingers and barrel.
38/357 is not shot with black powder.
Quote : how can you see what is in front of the powder anyway? or is he loading his ammo at the range then shooting.
I have no idea what you mean by this statement.

Alpha1 wrote:
A under lever does not have a barrel so no risk to fingers and barrel.
38/357 is not shot with black powder.

what do you mean an under lever has no barrel?? what does the bullet travel down after it leaves the case if there is no barrel??
38 spl was originally a black powder cartridge! of course you can load it with BP

you also didn't say how you can see he has wadding over the powder?

Is he using the paper as a wad or as a filler?

I would speculate that either way it is to keep the powder in the same place in the load column.

As has been previously stated this is not really necessary with fast pistol powders however he may be using medium or slow pistol powders and feels he gets better burn consistency by using something to keep the powder close to the flash hole.

The only way you will know is to ask the person in question as to why?

Personally I am not a fan of fillers or wads and always try and avoid loads that may require their use, but in some cases it is necessary, when I do I prefer fillers to wads as wads can cause barrel/chamber ringing especially in bottleneck cases.

I've shot my Winchester .357 using 4.0 grns of GM3 at 25 yards and never had a problem, can't see the need for filler or wads but if it works for him then so be it. Perhaps he's found and increase in accuracy or more constant velocity over the chrono??

maybe he wants to try to get consistant powder placement to get a consistant bang and greater accuracy ,just a thought .

I was always told filler, such as polyester cushion filling, use in large rifle cases with relatively small amounts of fast rifle or pistol powders. I was also told never use fillers in pistol size cases using nitro powders as it decreases case volume which in turn can increase pressure. Pistol powders should not need a filler because of the efficiency of their burn anyway, in such a small case.

In my experience, very few club shooters put much thought into their shooting and rarely seem to quantify if A was better than B. If it goes bang it's good, if it goes with a bigger bang it's better and if you get a flash out the barrel it's awesome.

As has been mentioned before, there has long been this myth that someone had a light charge blow up a gun, but as we all know, any evidence to the charge will not be there any more. This old wives tale is worse down under, where many .38 revolver shooters load their 148gr HBWCs seated way down past the case mouth, to limit the airspace.
One of my club members blew up a mod 19 S&W by wanting to impress his son with a good bang, He certainly did!