Thanks for the reply. So are you saying that they should never be reloaded close to maximum charge, or will the reloading manual already have that calculated?What most people think of when the hollow base wadcutter is mentioned is the 148 gr. hollow base wadcutter. It is a soft lead (swaged) bullet with a deep hollow cavity in the base. It is designed to spread into the rifling when fired and has a very good reputation for great accuracy. It is loaded to very low velocities. I've shot a lot of factory ammo and my reloads with this bullet over the years in .38 SPL and .357 mag revolvers, as well as, the S&W model 52-1 which was designed to shoot this bullet. I also have fired quite a few Precision Bullets. They are a coated lead swaged (soft) bullet. They have what I would call a cupped base as it doesn't indent very deeply. They are good bullets, but I haven't noticed any improvement in accuracy over coated bullets with a flat or a bevel base. Now for long guns, there are hollow base bullets for "black powder" rifles. They were born in the late 1800's. Some shotgun slugs have a hollow base, as well. Hollow base bullets/ slugs keep the weight forward, which enhances its ability to stabilize in flight.