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Wadcutter????

DIRTYRATDIRTYRAT Member Posts: 2,167 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited June 2005 in Perry Shooter Competition Shooting and Reloading Forum
Does anyone know why thier called "Wadcutters"?????.....Serious and Curious!

Ruric, NE OHIO,
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Comments

  • rimfire72rimfire72 Member Posts: 901 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    They were designed to punch perfectly round holes in paper targets. I think the name comes from when people use to cut their own wads for loading,the hole looks like someone cut a wad out of it. Just my guess,I'm sure someone on here knows for sure.

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  • PinheadPinhead Member Posts: 1,485 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I never heard a good explanation but it was always my thinking that the sharp shoulder edge cutting almost perfectly round holes made it look like someone had indeed been cutting wads.
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  • ThrockmortonThrockmorton Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    arent' wadcutters also the ones they called 'dum dums' waaay back when? Not THAT one I've never figured out.[8)]

    Throckmorton SASS #23149
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  • helsinki92helsinki92 Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dum dum is yuor standard ball ammo.
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  • PinheadPinhead Member Posts: 1,485 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If memory serves me right, the term "dum" "dum" bullets originated in India whith a british arsenal located at Dum Dum, India. It was a heavy, flat pointed bullet designed to do maximum damage on the mostly moslem Indian bandits and otherwise unruly tribes that resisted british forces. I think they even experimented with hollow pointed versions and maybe even exploding versions. It did not prove to be very successful because of the flat surface of the nose of the bullet which slowed the velocity of the bullet down drastically, limiting the range. It was outlawed by the Articles of War adopted by most of the nations early in the 19th century. No expanding or exploding rifle bullets allowed. The wadcutter on the other hand was designed with accuracy in mind and never intended to be used for killing. It is seated flush or almost flush with the mouth of the case and used in a soft lead form to fill(obdurate) the bore of the barrel and create accuracy at slower speed. However one of the tricks of some of the old policemen of my day was to load the hollow based 148 grain wadcutter backwards and make a supper hollow pointed bullet for the little short barreled revolvers that they carried as back-ups. Those things were devastating. I finally got rid of the ones I loaded as I grew older and haven't loaded any in years but they sure would do a lot of damage at close range. Jim
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  • andy12390andy12390 Member Posts: 486 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    isnt a dum dum a lolly pop? yep, im a dum dum

    Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. - Don Corleone
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