Alan Westlake Alfa 357 Mag Revolver

[dannywayoflife]

Dave I tried some of the shell house bullet co 158's and I found them easier to seat than Alan's bullets(they were 358) they ran no problem at all

[mag44uk]

If you guys get stuck getting HBWC I have 2000 privvi.
Also a load of other 38 bullets which I will shortly list in for sale section.
You could try using something like Vectan A1 which is close to green dot.
You could probably get some from Folkstone engineering in Kent.
Tony

[DaveC]

At last I got out to shoot my Alfa.

I have the 4 inch version and two cylinders, using Alan’s bullets and green dot, Alan said green dot would be better for a shorter barrel as it has a faster burn rate.

I loaded up a big pile of small glass vials with 2.4 grains of green dot, I tried some laboratory plastic ones but the static seemed to hold on to half the powder and would not tip out cleanly. The other method that Alan uses, is to use 38spl cases, bell the end and plug with the bullet. I found some of the powder sticks to the bottom of the bullet because of the sticky lube, the bullet was hard to pull out and when you tipped the powder out more powder stuck to the rim of the case again because of the sticky lube. I found on “that auction site” a bag of 1ml perfume sample bottles, I think they were about £10 for 100 shipped from Poland (bay 221620712690, you need to cut the little stalks off), took a few days to arrive and are just the job. Got a big box of Remington 209 primers.

Free standing at 25 yards I think I may have been expecting a little too much for the first time out, I did get them all onto an A3 size bit of paper and by the end of the session most were hitting the 6 inch “shoot’n see” target I had stuck on there.

I got the feeling, but it could have been me in the over excitement, but there seemed to be a few flyers, I am going to up the load to 2.6 grains for the next session and see if that improves.

I found the tool that Alan supplied to get the primers out was not a good fit, but I just happened to have a tool on the bench, actually part of my fishing gear used as a baiting tool, that was perfect for the job. (bay 181546226802)

I was not expecting it to be quite so messy and have now included a cloth (old beer towel) as part of my kit to wipe down the front of the cylinder and included a pack of wet wipes for my fingers.

Had almost everyone at the club behind me watching for the first few shots, a lot of interest.

But oh wow, was it fun to shoot, hell yeah…! Nice grip, felt real good to hold and shoot. Now I got to wait another two weeks before I can use it again, in that time I hope the rest of the bullets I ordered from Alan turn up as I managed to get through a whole box..!

Cleaning, I put the cylinders in the ultrasonic batch for almost an hour, heated with sea clean, ok it got most of the muck off, but I noticed in the primer pockets still had quite a build-up of carbon and requited a bit of scraping to clean out, anyone found anything that will clean them completely?

Dave

[DaveC]

Another update.

Second time out with the Alfa, this time I had changed the charge from 2.4 grains of green dot to 2.6 grains, the groups were much better and very consistent, well about as consistent as you can get at 25 yards with a 4 inch barrel. But I am very happy with the 2.6 charge and will stick to that.

I also tried some of my own home cast bullets, these were cast from old roofing lead into a Lee 148 grain wadcutter. These were then sized using a Lee 357 sizer and then a little Allox. These fit very well into the cylinder, a little easier to push in then the original hollow base ones, but nice an tight on the last few mm when seated with the press. Results, well I could not tell any difference between these and the hollow base ones. I only put 24 through as that was all I had ready, but I will be making more.

Oh yes, I tried some KG1 cleaner, not bad, that and an old toothbrush does seem to get the cylinders quite clean.

Dave

[arsefactor]

Follow up on mine which appears to be working well now I size the primers.

Using 105gr swc home cast boolits (from scrap roofing lead, not range scrap) with Blue Dot powder is giving nice 4" groups freehand at 22 yards, seems consistent. Lubed with Alox, no excessive leading noted.
I'll do some more tests and load development with Herco powder soon now I've got a tub of the stuff.
I'm just glad it's finally shooting a full cylinder properly. Bloody primers!