Cowboy ammo

[Tricky]

So this is going to seem like a pretty strange question as it to do with ammo, but not ammunition I will be using in my XD. I have just purchased a ruger SA revolver and I am trying to find the cheapest .38 special ammo I can find. The gun is just something I wanted to have a bit of fun with, not self defense (thats what the XD9SC is for!).

So the question, I found ammodirect.com sells what they call cowboy loads for the .38 special at ~90 bucks for 500 rounds. Are they so cheap because the bullet is just cast lead?

Second Question: is there a problem using these for plinking at a local range? None of the ranges have any signs or warnings to use FJM bullets only. What would be the drawback of using these cowboy loads in a new revolver?

thanks for info y'all

[Noah Mercy]

How do, Tricky.

The ammodirect cowboy 38s are remanufactured, I believe, which accounts for the low cost. Remanufactured ammo means that the cases have been fired before, but were subsequently resized, reprimed, recharged with powder and a new bullet seated. I have no experience with the ammodirect remans, but I have seen spotty quality control with many other companies' reloads. You may want to get a small box of the ammo first to see if you have any issues with it before ordering 500 rounds.

Cowboy ammo is fine for paper punching and plinking. It tends to be light-loaded and generates very little muzzle blast or recoil.

About the only negative is that you may experience some leading. New guns tend to have rough edges to the rifling and machining marks, so until those are smoothed out by shooting, you may get some lead buildup. (Then again, I have several Vaqueros that never leaded.)

[bigun]

Originally Posted by Noah Mercy

How do, Tricky.

The ammodirect cowboy 38s are remanufactured, I believe, which accounts for the low cost. Remanufactured ammo means that the cases have been fired before, but were subsequently resized, reprimed, recharged with powder and a new bullet seated. I have no experience with the ammodirect remans, but I have seen spotty quality control with many other companies' reloads. You may want to get a small box of the ammo first to see if you have any issues with it before ordering 500 rounds.

Cowboy ammo is fine for paper punching and plinking. It tends to be light-loaded and generates very little muzzle blast or recoil.

About the only negative is that you may experience some leading. New guns tend to have rough edges to the rifling and machining marks, so until those are smoothed out by shooting, you may get some lead buildup. (Then again, I have several Vaqueros that never leaded.)

Run a few boxes of WWB fmj down the tube to knock the rough edges down and shoot all the lead you want. All of my .45 reloads now use cast bullets and I dont have any problems with leading. I cast my own out of wheelweights. I wouldnt buy a huge quantity of them right off the bat though because if they use pure lead or too soft of a alloy leading can be bad. I tried some Samson IMI 158 grain LSW that were way too soft once and it took me a week of scrubbing to get my Taurus .357 clean .