AmBraCol
New Member
Years back, when living south of the Equator, my constant companion while out in the backwoods was a Rossi 853 38 special with vent ribbed six inch barrel. I shot it a lot, well, as far as was possible with component availability being less than constant. Never did use it for anything larger than small game, partridge, etc.. My "standard" load came to be a Lyman or Ideal (I believe - never wrote info on the mold down, traded into it "in country") WC lubed with a home brew concoction of stingless bee wax mixed up with ??? - it's been too many years ago to recall. Methinks paraffin was a part of it as well. Anyway, the lube was melted and poured over the bullets in a pan then the bullets were cut out after cooling. Worked a treat, never leaded. These were loaded over a 22 LR case full of Especial de Caça powder and lit off by whatever primer I could get my hands on. Various writers I'd read mentioned the usefulness of the WC for small game, and so it proved to be. Accurate, not much meat damage. Mostly BANG-flop. After trading into a Taurus 32 SWL with 4" barrel for my wife's personal gun, it got used too with a WC (Hornady's swaged number - never got a mold for it) and proved accurate enough for a head shot on a snake at about 20 meters or so. There's enough such in that area they are classified as varmints, and this kind was hard on the chicken population.
The one failure with my 38 spl WC load was on a medium sized egg sucking, chicken killing bitch. In true to local fashion, the neighbors had a bitch whelp - and never fed her. So she took to chicken stealing and egg sucking, causing a considerable loss to many in the neighborhood. One day I saw her come sneaking through the brush at around 50 meters or so. At that range I'd little confidence in hitting her, but decided to let her know she was "persona non-grata". To my everlasting surprise the report only slightly preceded her hitting the ground in her tracks. I'd held right about the base of her ear, and that's where the bullet took her. BUT that light load wasn't enough to produce much shock or penetration and it merely knocked her over, she then proceeded to proclaim her anxiety and pain to the world around here. Running up I placed two more rounds in her neck, with little effect, and managed to get around in front of her and finished with a shot to the brain from a couple feet or so away that anchored her and shut her down for good.
That load had accuracy going for it and made for a great general purpose woodsbumming/plinking load and small game getter. It just wasn't enough for larger, heavier critters.
Do any of you use the WC for small game hunting?
The one failure with my 38 spl WC load was on a medium sized egg sucking, chicken killing bitch. In true to local fashion, the neighbors had a bitch whelp - and never fed her. So she took to chicken stealing and egg sucking, causing a considerable loss to many in the neighborhood. One day I saw her come sneaking through the brush at around 50 meters or so. At that range I'd little confidence in hitting her, but decided to let her know she was "persona non-grata". To my everlasting surprise the report only slightly preceded her hitting the ground in her tracks. I'd held right about the base of her ear, and that's where the bullet took her. BUT that light load wasn't enough to produce much shock or penetration and it merely knocked her over, she then proceeded to proclaim her anxiety and pain to the world around here. Running up I placed two more rounds in her neck, with little effect, and managed to get around in front of her and finished with a shot to the brain from a couple feet or so away that anchored her and shut her down for good.
That load had accuracy going for it and made for a great general purpose woodsbumming/plinking load and small game getter. It just wasn't enough for larger, heavier critters.
Do any of you use the WC for small game hunting?