38 Long Colt

[Nj Det 354]

Can I shoot 38 Long Colt in a 38 Special revolver ? Any problems doing it ?

[Lost River]

The answer is "it depends".

Without getting into a lengthy discussion about it, the original .38 LC was a black powder cartridge that was manufactured in a different manner than we do today. You can read about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38_Long_Colt#:~:text=38%20SC%20and%20.,38%20LC%20 or%20.

Today,

The .38 LC when produced using brass from a company such as Starline is simply a shortened .38 Special and is fine to use in any modern, gun chambered in .38 Special that is in proper working order.

[Duelist]

Depends. Current production, probably. Original ammo, not a great idea.

Original ammo, IIRC, was an outside lubricated heeled bullet, about 140-150 grains of soft lead, ~.380 diameter. Modern production is a regular .357-.358 dia bullet as used in .38 Special & .357, much like the .38 Short Colt ammunition loaded by Lost River, so it can be used in .38 Long Colt chambers through however long of a .38 Special-derived chamber you want to mess with (.357 Magnum/Maximum/etc). Cannot be used in .38 Short Colt chambers so far as I know - cartridge OAL is too long.

[Jim Watson]

My 1939 Stoegers says .38 Special revolvers can shoot .38 Short Colt and .38 Long Colt.
I get the idea that tailored hand loads were less common then and being “rated” for everything from .38 Short Colt to .38-44 High Velocity was an asset.

[fatdog]

The ammo makers at some point in the first half of the 20th century started loading a hollow based bullet of .357 caliber in the 38LC cases, so when loaded in the old straight cylinder (smooth bore with no step down chamber) 375 bore versions made before 1920 it would pop and seal the bore. Also worked fine in the later 357 bore guns.

The NCOWS branch of CAS allows double action revolvers so long as they are a type manufactured before 1899, for a whole season I shot a colt army in 38LC. So long as I used the modern 148gr HB WC in Starline brass it, worked fine and the bullets did pop to fill the bore.

I think most all of the post WWII 38LC ammo was of the hollow base .357 bullet type, but as advised above, make sure the ammo is not the old heel based version.

[Jim Watson]

I think the warnings about heel bullet and black powder .38 LC are kind of like those about .32, .38, and .44 WCF High Velocity loads not to be shot in revolvers or 1873s. Not much of that stuff left around and what there is are cartridge collection pieces, worth too much to shoot unless the zombies are real bad.

There was one gunzine writer who got weird and had a revolver made up by USFA with .41 LC chambers but .386" throats and barrel to shoot flat base bullets of that diameter; or hollow base if that was all that was available. Might have been close to the experimental .41 Colt Special.

[jh9]

I think the warnings about heel bullet and black powder .38 LC are kind of like those about .32, .38, and .44 WCF High Velocity loads not to be shot in revolvers or 1873s. Not much of that stuff left around and what there is are cartridge collection pieces, worth too much to shoot unless the zombies are real bad.

There was one gunzine writer who got weird and had a revolver made up by USFA with .41 LC chambers but .386" throats and barrel to shoot flat base bullets of that diameter; or hollow base if that was all that was available. Might have been close to the experimental .41 Colt Special.

Was it this guy? https://cartridgeconversion.com/home-page

I think he was doing .41 Long Colt conversions for both heel-base bullets and .386" normal bullets that were close enough to modern cap-and-ball .36s as to be good enough? I had at one point thought about converting one of the less desirable 3rd gen Colt 1851s to .41 LC because reasons. The web page above doesn't seem to work anymore, with a 2021 copyright date. I haven't thought to try the email address and ask if he's still doing them.

[Jim Watson]

No, it was a gunzine writer or editor who used his pull with USFA to get a SAA made up with non-standard dimensions.

I have always wondered what the actual bullet and barrel diameters were for the various guns that did not make it into production, the .41 Colt Special, the 1904 .41 Automatic, the 9.8mm Colt, the 9.65mm FN.

[Nj Det 354]

The box of rounds I have are Remington in a red and green box.

[jh9]

The box of rounds I have are Remington in a red and green box.

https://cartridgecollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Remington-Cartridge-Box-Dates.pdf

That should help narrow it down. Red And Green narrows it down to 1934 to 1973.

[Nj Det 354]

Their the 1934 to 1942 Remington Clean Bore box.

[Lost River]

Another option if you are looking for low recoil loads, is this:

https://i.imgur.com/fq9xs9zh.jpg

I know a guy :cool:

The .38 Short Colt is a low recoil alternative, and pretty fun, especially in J Frames.